Few actors will ever be as iconic in their comic book movie roles as Hugh Jackman was in portraying Wolverine. Fans were moved to tears when James Mangold brought the curtains down on the character in this year's Logan, wrapping a franchise that yielded the critically slammed X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009, and Mangold's first stab at the character in 2013's The Wolverine. Logan proved to be the most critically (even being touted as Oscar-worthy) and financially acclaimed of the lot, but what it did was signify just how perfect Jackman was for the role. He didn't simply play the Wolverine on-screen, Jackman was the Wolverine.

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The Aussie actor debuted in 2000 in Bryan Singer's X-Men and would go on to become the face of Fox's X-Verse. From X2 to Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand, Jackman stood head and shoulders above everyone else. Whether the film was panned by critics, whether it boasted a weak script or whether the cast failed to live up to expectations, one constant stood out over the years and that was Jackman. As he faded into the sunset 17 years later, Logan's death also marks the end of Jackman's appearances in these X-Men movies, as Mangold's swan song was written years ahead in a dystopian future where all the X-Men were dead.

And Jackman did indeed make it clear that he was done with the role and not looking back. There would be no more cameos like those he took on when Fox softly rebooted the X-Men with First Class and Apocalypse. The claws were retracted permanently and in the wake of Singer's Days of Future Past Jackman was now ready to officially hand the baton off to a younger generation of mutants for a new audience. But does that mean that Fox has to retire the character? When it comes to one of the biggest faces of Marvel Comics, the answer is a resounding no! Fox should get to recasting ASAP because they need to have their MVP on board as things get busier in their mutant universe over the next few years.

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The studio will be dishing out a lot of properties revolving around the X-Men with X-Men: Dark Phoenix and New Mutants already being two key projects. Now another has been confirmed with Drew Goddard directing the X-Force movie. With Cable and Deadpool (thanks to a couple solo films) currently at the center of Fox's setup, having Wolverine enter the fray would give Fox a trifecta to go toe-to-toe with the MCU's trio of Captain America, Iron Man and Thor, as well as the DCEU's trinity of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman.

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Some would argue that Fox already has this with the younger versions of Xavier, Magneto and Mystique but the reason why the aforementioned triple-threat makes sense is that Wolverine has been affiliated with the other two soldiers much more in the comics over the last few years. Wolverine brought Deadpool into Uncanny X-Force to ensure the black-ops team had their fair share of killers without a conscience, and Ryan Reynolds already begged Jackman to link up -- sadly it all came to no avail. Now Goddard has a chance to look past the shadow Jackman cast and merge this modern X-Force run with the '90s comics which saw the team founded by Cable after he groomed the New Mutants. In short, Goddard has the catalyst for all three badass anti-heroes to link up! The question now stands -- should Jackman's absence rob fans of this opportunity?

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Fox's bigwigs seem hesitant to recast, but they ought to realize the character is bigger than the actor. "We haven't even thought of the next iteration of Wolverine," director Simon Kinberg said in the past. "For all of us, we were keeping our fingers crossed that the audiences would respond to Logan the way they have. I can't visualize in my head another Wolverine, but -- if that day ever comes -- we would talk to Hugh [Jackman] about it." Hutch Parker, producer on Logan echoed similar sentiments when it came to possibly rebooting. The thing is Jackman himself has said it's "inevitable" so if he's cool with it, and Fox is willing to let him have a say on a new Wolverine, the studio should push on.

A bloodied Logan and X-23

And they don't even need to reboot the character fully. Fox has always been loose with continuity, ready to retcon. Now that Cable is in the mix, this means that so too is time-travel. Cable and Deadpool could easily pluck a young Logan from the timestream, or if Fox wants to amp things up a notch, grab a Logan from the multiverse. It's a comic book universe after all. Marvel Comics did this with Xavier's first batch of students and brought them to the Marvel-616 present day to interact with their future selves - Fox could rip a play straight from them. In addition to X-Force, this offers potential for a young, foul-mouthed Wolverine to join Mystique's X-Men and rekindle his rivalry with Cyclops for Jean.

Then there's also another dynamic to explore if Fox ever bring Logan's X-23 clone into the mix. Fans loved their dynamic in Mangold's finale so imagine how epic it would be to see her with a younger, brasher Wolverine, maybe just like in the Uncanny X-Force books again, where instead of an experienced father figure, Laura Kinney found herself staring into the eyes of a stone-cold killer. A Wolverine that isn't a seasoned soldier has so much potential in it, especially if Fox wants to continue the R-rated essence of the character, which fans lapped up in Logan. If we're lucky, maybe we could finally get Logan in the Wolverine costume as well! The possibilities are endless and a lot of that is due to how many books the character finds himself in. In fact, nowadays he's viewed as more of an Avenger than an X-Man, with a massive appeal not just limited to those who love reading about the Children of the Atom.

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Another major reason we need a new Wolverine is because there are still quite a few of his intimidating rogues we've yet to get a taste of. Forget the likes of William Stryker and Weapon X. Fans would kill to see enhanced soldiers such as Cyber and Omega Red rabidly hunting Wolverine. Then you've got the lupine villain Romulus who orchestrated so many disasters in Wolverine's life, as well as Daken, his son. Fox could easily use plot devices such as cloning, genetic tampering (as they did to bring X-24 to life) or again, time-travel, to shove Logan face to face against these enemies. Liev Schrieber's Sabretooth arc was never wrapped in the films as well after Origins, so there's another opportunity to have an inexperienced Logan face off against his brother.

RELATED: Logan Producer Teases More Plans for X-23 in the Future

When all's said and done, Jackman has endorsed moving forward. This offers a chance at evolving Wolverine and also, breathing fresh life into the character. We love what Jackman did but it makes no sense holding onto the past. Fox can't shelve such a big player on their team because the man who donned the suit retired. If anything, smart and creative writing can find a way to bring Wolverine back into the game again and give him the spotlight he deserves. After all, he isn't just an X-Man, he's one of the cornerstone faces in the entire history of comics. Jackman has recognized this and it's time Fox started to do the same.