Marvel Studios President/Chief Creative Officer Kevin Feige shared the lesson he learned from Hugh Jackman's Wolverine casting and how the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to follow it.
Jackman famously debuted as Logan/Wolverine in Fox's X-Men (2000), a movie that's often credited for ushering in the modern era of superhero comic book films. However, as noted in Abrams Books' The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, many fans were against Jackman playing the metal-clawed mutant due to him being taller and leaner than (at the time) typical comic book depictions of Wolverine.
"Who cares that he's so tall?" said Feige, speaking in an interview for the book. "He embodies the spirit of Wolverine, and that was a big lesson that I always took from that. It doesn't have to match the comic frame exactly. It has to match the spirit of it."
X-Men went on to become a critical and box office hit, launching a franchise that saw Jackman reprise his role as Wolverine in multiple sequels and spinoffs (some less successful and beloved than others), culminating with the Oscar-nominated Logan in 2017. Speaking earlier this year, Jackman recalled the first time he saw X-Men with an audience after sneaking into a Friday night screening in Times Square. "So I just walked in, sat up in the back, I watched the movie, and [it was like] woah," said Jackman. "We don't watch movies like that in Australia. There's no yelling and screaming and cheering, no 'Yo Wolverine!' and booing [the villains]. That was awesome."
The X-Men franchise is now in the process of being rebooted for the MCU following Disney's Fox purchase in 2019. Moreover, Jackman has already ruled out the idea of a Wolverine reprisal, insisting he's done with the role. "Let’s just be clear. I realized, before we shot Logan, I was like, we got the idea. We knew what it was going to be-ish, right? And I thought this is it," said Jackman in August. "And that really helped me, it really helped knowing I was going into my last season, that it was my last season that I made the most of it. And it’s still a character I hold close to my heart. But I know it’s done."
Marvel Studios has yet to make any official announcements regarding Wolverine's future on the big screen.
Source: The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe