Hugh Jackman has only made a handful of movies since stepping away from his career-defining role as the X-Men franchise’s Wolverine, but his choice of parts have clearly been taken in an effort to start firmly distancing himself from his iconic tenure as the mutton-chopped mutant.
The Greatest Showman was an obvious project to tackle given the actor’s unabashed love of musical theater, while The Front Runner and Bad Education saw him venture into more dramatic territory and win widespread critical acclaim, with the latter landing him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.
There was also a voice performance in Laika’s overlooked box office bomb Missing Link, while he’s toured the world with his The Man. The Music. The Show. live extravaganza and will return to Broadway next year in The Music Man. Despite all of this, though, the Wolverine rumors will never go away, and the latest report says that Marvel Studios have actively approached the 52 year-old with an offer to return in an unnamed upcoming project.
Of course, just because he’s received an offer it doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to reprise the part, and Jackman appears to have made his peace with the fact he won’t get to play in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s sandbox, something he admitted he’d definitely have been game for if the Fox takeover had only happened a couple of years earlier.
That being said, the actor will continue to find himself linked with a return as Wolverine until he either flat out denies that he’d even contemplate the idea, or someone else ends up being cast in the role for the MCU’s impending reboot.