James Mangold’s Logan (2017) was the last time that Hugh Jackman went shirtless and donned the silver claws as X-Men legend Wolverine. His latest feature-film role as Nicholas “Nick” Bannister in the neo-noir science-fiction film Reminiscence feels far removed from Jackman’s days as the sarcastic, loudmouthed mutant loner. Having first portrayed Logan Howlett/Wolverine in Bryan Singer’s X-Men, Jackman held the Guinness World Record for “longest career as a live-action Marvel character” until last year, when his streak was surpassed by Tobey Maguire and Willem Dafoe after their appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Thankfully, Wolverine will always live inside Hugh Jackman, regardless of whether he portrays the character on-screen or not. Jackman likely knows that he owes a lot of his success and fortune to Wolverine — and fans love the character after Jackman made an unforgettable impression 22 years ago. Nowadays, Jackman has returned to his theater days, starring as Professor Harold Hill in Meredith Willson’s The Music Man, which is now playing on Broadway.
After one such performance, presumably during the final moments in which the cast take their bows and receive applause, Jackman spotted an eager fan in the front row, waving a foam claw that resembled Wolverine’s iconic blades. Like the kind-hearted spirit that he is, Jackman entertained the request and took the foam claw, slipped it on, and posed as Wolverine for flashing cameras and his adoring public. Check out the video below, captioned: “There’s always one! And Tony Dimes is it. Thanks for coming to the show mate.”
It definitely feels strange to see Jackman out-of-character and dressed in full marching band attire, but still channeling his inner Wolverine. Regardless, Marvel fans and Hugh Jackman fans can rejoice, as it seems massively evident that Jackman still has many more years of Wolverine left to give, even if it isn’t in an official capacity.