Marvel fans have concocted a compelling take about why Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine continues to get more and more buff in successive X-Men films. The hypothetical head-canon, shared on Reddit, suggests that Wolverine is able to regrow his muscles stronger anytime he incurs physical damage, in keeping with the mutant’s powers of superhuman strength and healing factor.
“The more damage he takes,” writes Reddit user TheMediocreCritic, “the more his body compensates by building more muscle.” The theory tracks in terms of Jackman’s film appearances, given that the actor is noticeably smaller in the debut X-Men when his character hasn’t been involved in “heavy damage situations” for some time.
To substantiate the theory, Redditors point to Jackman’s less-muscly frame in early iterations when he “is taking little damage,” in comparison to later appearances where he is “constantly being shot, stabbed [and] blown up.” The theory holds extra weight when you consider that Jackman’s Wolverine is at his muscliest in films where his character is “fighting more often.”
Fellow Redditors were quick to highlight that the head-canon tracks, since “that’s how muscles grow in real life.” Others were less welcoming of the theory, pointing to Wolverine’s prequel films, like X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Days of Future Past, in which Jackman is more buff than his first X-Men debut. Like many fan theories, however, the idea is often more imaginative than the truth.
As another commenter points out, the reason for Jackman’s measly (for Jackman’s standards, at least) frame in early X-Men movies was not an in-universe plot point, but the rather boring reality of scheduling conflicts. Indeed, Jackman was cast in the role at the last minute after original choice Dougray Scott dropped out, leaving little time for the actor to beef up before filming.
Naturally, Jackman had ample time to more closely resemble the muscular hero after the first X-Men, which explains his ultra-ripped appearance in subsequent films. “I’m just a bit flabby,” Jackman told Variety of filming those early scenes. “It took me a while to work that out.”