Day by day, we’re beginning to form a clearer understanding of the potential Disney/Fox merger and, crucially, what it’ll mean for the MCU going forward.
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is reportedly keen to gain access to the X-Men and “cross-pollinate” its character roster with that of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has fueled rumors that Disney‘s pursuit of 21st Century Fox will leave the door open for Hugh Jackman to don the adamantium claws once again.
It’s a crossover that has been rumored for the best part of 20 years, and one that gained a tremendous boost after Marvel and Sony decided to incorporate Spider-Man into the MCU. But if Disney closes its landmark deal and assumes control of Fox’s entertainment assets, a Wolverine cameo in the Marvel franchise isn’t necessarily out of the question – it’ll merely involve an actor other than Hugh Jackman.
Via Collider:
“It’s interesting because for the whole 17 years I kept thinking that would be so great, like I would love to see, particularly, Iron Man and the Hulk and Wolverine together,” says Jackman. “And every time I saw an Avengers movie I could just see Wolverine in the middle of all of them like punching them all on the head.
But it was like, ‘Oh well, that’s not gonna happen,’ and it was interesting just when I first saw that headline — it was just the possibility of it and who knows what’s gonna happen, obviously — I was like, ‘Hang on!’ But I think, unfortunately, the ship has sailed for me, but for someone else I would like to see Wolverine in there.”
“The ship has sailed for me.” That’s a pretty succinct answer to the million-dollar question, so we imagine it’s very, very unlikely that Jackman will ever come out of his X-Men retirement – even if Disney and Fox make history with their groundbreaking merger.
The actor continued:
Never before have I felt the landscape so bare — maybe I should be worried about that. But… I just finished, wrapped a film with Jason Reitman called The Front Runner, which is a political comedy and I do feel right now very open and excited to have no idea what is coming next.
Beyond the back-to-back release of Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War (and Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man sequel, of course!), Marvel Studios will begin battening down the hatches in anticipation of Avengers 4. Still no mention of an official title for the super-sized sequel, but there is one thing we can tell you with absolute certainty: it’ll be with us on May 3rd, 2019.