Remember when we thought the last time we’d ever see Hugh Jackman play Wolverine in 2017’s Logan? That was true for half a decade, and then he changed his mind and decided to play a variant of the adamantium-clawed mutant in last year’s Deadpool & Wolverine. As it turns out, watching one of Eddie Murphy’s best movies played into Jackman deciding that it was worth returning to what arguably remains his most well-known role.
Jackman revealed this while he was speaking with Wicked: For Good’s Cynthia Erivo, a fellow musical theatre powerhouse, in the latest episode of Variety’s Actors on Actors series. When the actress asked him if we’ll see him play Wolverine again in any upcoming Marvel movies, he responded:
I don't know. It doesn't feel like the end. It really felt like the end after Logan. If I look back, I needed to claim it as the end. Truth, because I really believed in some things that I wanted that movie to be, and I had to fight for them. And I think I had to say, this is the last time I'm doing it. And I don't mind not doing it. And we did it, and there were parts of my brain, particularly when I saw Deadpool, I was like, ‘Ooh, I see 48 Hrs. I see Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte.’
Released in 1982, 48 Hrs. was Eddie Murphy’s film debut after making a name for himself in standup comedy and as a Saturday Night Live cast member. Murphy played Reggie Hammond, the convict who’s forced to team up with Nick Nolte’s Jack Cates, a San Francisco Police Inspector, to apprehend two hardened criminals. 48 Hrs. still ranks as one of the best buddy cop movies, and Murphy continues to think highly of it, though it just barely missed out on making the Mount Rushmore of his filmography.
So upon seeing the first Deadpool movie, Hugh Jackman was immediately thinking about delivering a 48 Hrs.-like dynamic with his Wolverine and Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson. However, Jackman didn’t initially act on this and stuck with Logan being his final outing. Considering how things turned out with Deadpool & Wolverine, he’s no longer willing to make such bold proclamations about his future as Wolverine, explaining:
But I would shove it down… because this is a little bit about Hugh 1.0, that I've told everyone that I'm done. I'm not one of those guys who says… And I went, ‘You know what? I changed my mind.’ It's not that big a deal. I don't even say I'm sorry. And it was so awesome, and I had more fun. I've done it 10 times. So I have all this evidence of how I felt, and I'm like, ‘I know this character and just be with Ryan and Shawn Levy, the director.’
Logan still functions exceptionally as the closing chapter of the Wolverine he’d been playing since 2000’s X-Men, but the Wolverine he’s playing now has a new lease on life after saving Earth-10005 with Deadpool and moving to this universe. That’s not to say that we’ll definitely see him reprising Logan in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, but at least he’s open to doing so rather than outright ruling it out. Besides, he doesn’t play to play Wolverine again to work with Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy, as the trio are reuniting for a non-Marvel movie.
If the rumors are true, though, Hugh Jackman will return as Wolverine in Avengers: Secret Wars and “more projects” if/when the day comes that the X-Men movies are rebooted for the MCU. For now, you can see his latest movie, Song Sung Blue, in theaters starting December 25, and 48 Hrs. can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription.
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