While Hugh Jackman had a pretty solid career on the stage before breaking into film, it was his role as Wolverine in the X-Men franchise that made the man a global superstar. Considering that Jackman's going to return to the role of Wolverine at least one more time, after planning to retire from the character, it’s clear Jackman loves Wolverine, but his favorite superhero movies aren’t in the X-Men franchise. In fact they're not even Marvel. Both of his favorites are from DC.
Speaking with Variety, Hugh Jackman admits that his favorite superhero movies belong to the two big names in DC. He called seeing Richard Donner’s original Superman a “game changer.” As far as more modern superhero fare, Jackman loves the same Batman movie that the rest of us love, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. The actor explains…
My favorite superhero movie? Growing up, the first Superman. That was a game-changer. Dick Donner movie, Christopher Reeve. I'm gonna say, I'm thinking one of the Nolan Batmans. Dark Knight? I'm gonna go Dark Knight.
As favorite superhero movies go, it’s hard to go wrong with these choices. Richard Donner’s Superman is the movie that paved the way for all the others that came after. And as somebody else who first saw the movie as a kid, I can certainly attest to the way it completely changed the game. Seeing Superman come to life on the big screen was simply incredible.
And while Batman, along with Spider-Man, has been one of the characters to be on the big screen the most in the last few decades, most would agree that it hasn’t been done better than Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Even the rest of Nolan’s trilogy has trouble measuring up to the middle entry.
Jackman doesn’t mention the superhero movies that he’s actually starred in. He probably doesn’t even think of the X-Men franchise in the same way that he does other comic book movies. He’s probably proud of the films and his work, but saying your favorite superhero movie was one you were in would be weird.
While a lot of comic book movie fans might have a preference for Marvel or DC, the fact is that most fans watch everything, and Hugh Jackman is clearly one of those. He loves Batman and Superman but he like the MCU too. He admitted previously that had the Disney purchase of Fox happened sooner, it may have impacted his decision to stop playing Wolverine.
And ultimately, he did reconsider that decision. Hugh Jackman will play Wolverine at least one more time in the forthcoming Deadpool 3. Maybe, by the time it’s all over, it will become his favorite superhero movie.
