Why won’t Marvel let Hugh Jackman’s character Wolverine retire in peace? | film

TThis was a time when Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine appearance kind of made sense. He burst out of a dungeon in full Weapon Accept it: Fast, self-contained sideshows that understand the sacred rule that such things should be fun and brief. They also arrived at a time when Jackman wasn’t carrying the weight of 25 years of audience investment.

Last week, in an appearance on the BBC’s Graham Norton Show, Jackman revealed that he had stopped himself from saying no to future appearances as the gruff mutant. “I never say ‘never’ again,” he said. “But I meant it when I said ‘never’, until the day I changed my mind. But I actually did for a few years. I meant it.” There are suggestions that he could make a brief appearance in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday film, in order to capitalize on the success of the billion-dollar hit Deadpool & Wolverine, although he was not mentioned in the endless streamer earlier this year, in which most of the main cast members were revealed.

This would of course be a terrible idea. Cameo Wolverine has been done to death, and the only reason he’s showing up in Marvel’s next major episode is because he was somehow pivotal to its events. He may be responsible for the multiversal barrier that leads Doctor Doom out of the old universe we encountered in Fantastic Four: First Steps, and into the main series. Maybe he’s the reluctant hinge, the weary hero whose sole narrative goal now is to shut down one universe so another can open up.

Others have suggested that Jackman’s future role in the Marvel universe could serve as a kind of nostalgic mascot for the next generation of X-Men, whenever the studio is expected to parachute in from other realities (or elsewhere) during the events of the next two Avengers films. But when the young mutants appear, will they immediately feel second-rate next to the ultimate Wolverine? Marvel needs its new mutants to carry the franchise – will having the guy who’s done this for a quarter century undermine the reboot’s goal before it’s even released?

There’s no doubt that Jackman as Wolverine could go gold at the box office. Fox wouldn’t have allowed him three highly mercurial solo outings if he hadn’t had dynamite in the suit. But there’s only so many times you can throw out different versions of the same always-weary claw before even die-hard fans start to feel like they’re trapped in a Groundhog Day franchise. Fox already cast Old Man Logan in 2017.

There’s an argument to be made that the more Marvel relies on Jackman for cheap dopamine hits, the less power he has left. Each new appearance reduces the value of the last. But if it has to happen, make it a solo outing with Jackman front and center. Provide a story that doesn’t end with him sacrificing himself for the greater good, or building up someone else’s character, but allows him to wander the half-wild outback where all good Wolverines eventually retire.