Summary

In 2000, the movie X-Men introduced the superhero Wolverine and took the world by storm. He'd long been one of the most popular characters in modern comic books, but the movies brought his cool and savage persona into mainstream pop culture. He became the breakout hit of the X-Men franchise and got his own trilogy spinning off from the main series, always played by the Australian actor Hugh Jackman to perfection.

Despite initially stating that 2017's Logan would be his last time portraying the character, Jackman decided to return for the upcoming Deadpool 3, set in the MCU. Fans were thrilled to hear the news that Jackman would finally be debuting in the MCU after playing the character for so long.

RELATED: Hugh Jackman's 10 Best Performances

20 Jackman Was Not The First Choice For The Role

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in X-Men

Wolverine is Hugh Jackman. Hugh Jackman is Wolverine. It's hard to imagine anyone else playing the role of the brooding mutant, but Jackman wasn't the first choice to play the character in the first film. That belonged to his good friend Russell Crowe.

Crowe was director Bryan Singer's first choice for Wolverine, coming off of his Oscar-winning performance in Gladiator. Crowe turned down the role because he did not want to be typecast as a "wolfy" type of character, citing that wolves were part of his performance as Maximus. Crowe then recommended Jackman as Wolverine, and he auditioned while filming had already begun.

19 Jackman's Wife Did Not Want Him To Take The Part

Wolverine leaping in Wolverine

Wolverine has been an iconic role and catapulted the relatively unknown Jackman into the A-list. At the time of X-Men, Jackman had only done small movies and TV shows in his native Australia as well as performing onstage at the National Theatre in London. His performance as Logan shot him to super stardom, which almost did not happen if he followed his wife's advice.

Jackman and Deborra Lee Furness met on the set of the Australian TV show Correlli and have been married for 27 years. When he received the script, Furness thought Wolverine was "ridiculous." Fortunately for everyone, he decided to follow his heart, and the role paid off in a big way. In her defense, he says she's been right about everything else.

RELATED: Wolverine's 10 Coolest Powers

18 Jackman Was Inspired By Mad Max And Dirty Harry

Mel Gibson as Mad Max in Road Warrior

Logan has always been a dark and troubled loner who travels in an uncertain world dispensing justice. He only wants to be alone and prefers to speak through violence rather than with words. There have been other iconic loners in movies, and Jackman says he studied them to prepare for the role.

In many of his scenes in the first film, Wolverine says only a few words or is completely silent. Jackman has said it was a challenge for him because he needed to act more with his gestures, facial expressions, and movements than his voice. To help with it, Jackman watched Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry movies and Mel Gibson's Road Warrior to see how they acted using their bodies instead of their voices.

17 Jackman Is A Foot Taller Than Wolverine

Wolverine between Cyclops and Jean Grey talking

One of the things that defines Wolverine is his height. Logan is extremely short, only 5'3" in the comics, which might explain some of his attitude. His shortness somehow makes him cooler, because he never seems self-conscious about it. On the contrary, he's scrappy and fearless, attacking enemies many times his size including the Hulk and the gigantic Sentinels.

When Jackman got to set, he faced a challenge that he might not have faced before; he was too tall. In real life, Jackman is 6'3". The studio worried fans wouldn't accept a tall Wolverine, so they tried special techniques to make hima appear shorter. Singer shot him from the waist up and at high angles, and other cast members even wore platform shoes to give them height over Jackman.

RELATED: 10 Powers Wolverine Technically Has (But Never Uses)

16 Wolverine Stabbed Rogue, But They Nearly Killed Each Other

Wolverine says goodbye to Rogue

In the first film, what brings Logan to the X-Mansion and introduces him to the X-Men is a young mutant Rogue. She ends up at the bar where Logan is cage fighting and witnesses him using his powers. They form a close bond, but he nearly kills her by mistake.

While asleep, Logan is having nightmares of his past and Rogue goes to wake him up. Startled, he stabs Rogue straight through the shoulder. Thinking he has killed her, Rogue uses her ability to absorb some of Logan's healing power to heal herself but in turn, almost kills Logan. Both felt bad about the situation but were fortunate that neither had died.

15 Wolverine Was Meant To Cameo In Spider-Man

Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man crawls one the side of a skyscraper.

Marvel kicked off its shared cinematic universe idea with a cameo from Nick Fury in Iron Man, but it wasn't the first attempt. In 2002, Sam Raimi directed the first big-screen adaptation of Spider-Man and it was the launch of a new franchise for Sony.

In an interview from 2013, Hugh Jackman revealed they had planned for him to have a scene in Spider-Man, which would have been a brief walk-on or cameo. Apparently, there was a dispute about where the Wolverine costume was at the time and a problem with the rights. Fox owned the rights to Wolverine and would have charged too much to Sony for the brief moment.

14 Wolverine Has Been Held Back By The PG-13 Rating

Wolverine jumping onto to soldiers in X-Men 2

Deadpool was a smash hit both critically and commercially, but it also broke new ground as an R-rated movie. Up until its release, Hollywood believed that an R-rated superhero movie wouldn't make as much money. That's why Wolverine had always been relatively toned down in the movies. It's hard to get a rage-filled superhero whose power involves swinging razor-sharp claws to appeal to wide audiences.

X-Men was a PG-13 franchise, which meant that various cuts had to be made in regard to Wolverine. Apparently some of the X-Mansion fight scene in X2: X-Men United was too much for the ratings board, causing it to originally receive an R-rating. They had to cut some shots of Wolverine stabbing the soldiers to get the rating they wanted. Logan finally showed the true violence that Wolverine brought to the world, much to the delight of longtime fans.

13 Jackman Nearly Hurt Himself As A Result Of A Prank On X2

Wolverine bloody in a war flashback

One of the big draws in X2: X-Men United was the answer to the mystery of where Wolverine came from. In the movie, it was revealed that Wolverine was created in a secret experiment by the mutant-hating scientist William Stryker. The film depicts Logan's fusion with adamantium and escaping Stryker's lair.

The moment proved to be a highlight, not just for the audience, but for the cast and crew as well. While filming the scene, Jackman was actually naked running down the corridor, so he asked for a closed set. In one take, Jackman rounded the corner to find all the female crew waiting for him, waving dollar bills. In a panic, Jackman covered himself with his hands, forgetting he still wore metal claws on them. Jackman was lucky not to be seriously injured in the ordeal.

12 X-Men Origins: Wolverine Was Inspired By The Origin Comic

Wolverine awakening after his Adamantium transplant

In 2001, Marvel released a six-issue miniseries called Origin, which changed Wolverine forever. It finally revealed the life story of Wolverine as James Howlett and how he came to grow to adulthood in 19th-century Canada. The series ended decades of speculation and contradictions about who Wolverine was and where he came from.

Some felt that the series took away the mystery that so many people loved about Wolverine, but Marvel felt there wasn't much choice. It turned out that there were fears within Marvel that Fox planned to create an origin prequel for Wolverine, and that if Marvel didn't set out an official origin for the character, Fox would make one for him. Things worked out because the miniseries turned out to be the inspiration for the opening of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

RELATED: 10 Harsh Realities Of Working With Wolverine

11 Wolverine Killed His Birth Father

Young James Howlett Wolverine Origins

The very beginning of X-Men Origins: Wolverine finds a young James Howlett witnessing his father being killed by the groundskeeper Thomas Logan. The entire ordeal triggers James' mutation, and he flies into a rage and kills Thomas. Before he dies, Thomas reveals that he is James' actual father.

This was the first of many unfortunate situations Wolverine would find himself in over the next 200-ish years. Logan has always been a tragic hero, and while he loses some of his memories by the end of the film, the pain and anguish he feels every day does not go away.

10 X-Men Origins: Wolverine Changed Some Of Logan's Comic Elements

Wolverine standing in a field in X-Men Origins

With X-Men Origins: Wolverine viewers saw the story of how Logan became Wolverine and a lot of it came from the comics. However, it was not a straight adaptation, as the movie took some liberties. For instance, in the movie, Logan is born in 1845 and is shown fighting through the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War. That made him older than the comic version, where Wolverine was born in the 1880s.

One of the biggest changes came in the relationship between Wolverine and his archenemy, Sabretooth. In the comics, the two had a bitter feud with Sabretooth torturing and killing many of Wolverine's greatest loves, including Silver Fox. In X-Men Origins, Sabretooth became Wolverine's brother, which added a much more personal dynamic to their battles.

RELATED: 10 Most Controversial Marvel Costume Changes

9 X-Men Origins: Wolverine Had Multiple Endings

Wolverine sitting in Japan

Before the X-Men Origins: Wolverine was released, director Gavin Hood revealed that they had filmed several secret endings to the movie, and claimed they would be putting them into the prints sent to theaters, so different audiences would see different endings. This did not come to fruition, but the endings were filmed.

The mid-credits scene saw Stryker walking down the road and being picked up by soldiers for the murder of the general he had killed, with the post-credits scene revealing that Weapon XI survived his decapitation by Wolverine. Another ending featured on the home release showed Wolverine in a Japanese bar where someone asks if he's drinking to forget, and he says he's drinking to remember. This led to speculation that the next sequel would feature the famous 1982 limited series that featured Wolverine in Japan.

8 Jackman Used Water Dehydration To Be As Cut As Possible

Hugh Jackman posing as Wolverine

One of the first publicity photos for The Wolverine showed a shirtless Logan that shocked the Internet with his rippling muscles and bulging veins. In the actual movie, during the samurai sword fight, we saw Jackman looking more cut than ever. It was impressive, but it turned out Jackman took drastic methods to achieve the look.

In interviews, Jackman explained that days before key shirtless scenes, he would drink four gallons of water a day, then go 24 hours without drinking anything at all. That would dehydrate him and remove all the water under his skin, something bodybuilders utilize before competitions. That kind of dehydration left him dizzy and faint, and despite having a trainer on hand advising and keeping an eye on him, he did not recommend it to anyone.

RELATED: 5 Reasons The Dark Night Is The Greatest Superhero Film Ever Made (& 5 Reasons Its Logan)

7 The Prologue Altered The Release Date In Japan

Wolverine looking up from a hole in the ground

One of the key moments The Wolverine was the opening prologue, when Logan was held in a P.O.W. camp near Nagasaki during World War II. When the atomic bomb was dropped, Logan was freed by a Japanese officer, whom he rescued from the blast by covering the officer with his own body. That officer later turned out to be Yashida, who tried to transfer Wolverine's rapid healing to himself.

The scene is a key moment for Wolverine but also caused a problem with the marketing and release of the film. On August 9, 1945, the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The film was released in the United States in July, but wasn't released in Japan until September. It was only able to muster a mere $7.9 million in box office earnings from Japan.

6 The Wolverine Prologue Contradicts X-Men Origins: WolverineHugh Jackman as Wolverine holding a katana

After he is summoned to Japan to see Yashida for one last time, Logan is reminded of when they met in Nagasaki during the atomic bombings. Later on in the film, we see Yashida gift Logan a samurai sword and Logan learns about the meaning of it. While the scene is great and gives Logan a personal attachment to the story, it directly contradicts the previous film.

At the end of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Logan is shot in the head with an adamantium bullet by Stryker that causes him to lose all of his memories before that moment, which takes place in the 1960s. So in the present day, how could Logan remember something from 1945? This plot hole can be chalked up to ignoring the previous film for the sake of the story, but it is still one of the more frustrating plot holes in the X-Men franchise.

5 "Kuzuri" Is Japanese For "Wolverine"

Wolverine in a Japanese lab

Throughout The Wolverine, Yashida and others call Logan "Kuzuri," which the young Mariko claims is the name of a Japanese animal. She described how her father told her he was saved from the Nagasaki bomb by a kuzuri, which had magic powers. That is how the kuzuri became a legendary part of her family and childhood.

Her description makes the kuzuri seem like a mythical Japanese animal, which may have been how Yashida imagined Logan, who had metal claws and healed quickly from the firestorm of the bomb. In reality, "kuzuri" is just the Japanese word for "wolverine." This helps Logan come to terms with his past and embrace who he truly is.

The yellow Wolverine costume in a deleted scene

Wolverine's costume has gone through many changes over the years, but it had never been featured in the films, at least a comic-accurate one. This has been a complaint from fans of the franchise, who found it disappointing that Jackman never sported the accurate suit. That almost changed with The Wolverine.

In a deleted scene for The Wolverine, Logan was given a case by Yukio. When he opened the case, he found it contained an armored version of his classic yellow gloves and winged mask. Jackman has said he and the producers just never felt the costume would fit the tone of the movies. The suit was also CGI, as when the scene was filmed Jackman was reacting to nothing in the case, but the scene just did not fit for the film.

RELATED: 10 Best Predictions For Hugh Jackman's Wolverine In Deadpool 3

3 How Wolverine Got His Adamantium Claws Back Went Unexplained

Logan Leads Two Generations In X Men Days Of Future Past

In the post-credits scene of The Wolverine, Logan is reunited with Magneto and Professor X as they need his help for the war that is coming. This leads directly into X-Men: Days of Future Past, which takes place in a future where mutants have been nearly wiped out by the Sentinels.

Logan is seen in the future with his adamantium claws, which is bizarre because the last time he was seen on screen they were chopped off by the Silver Samurai and regenerated as bone claws. So how did Logan get the adamantium back? It went unexplained in the film, but it is generally suggested that Magneto helped forge them back since he can control various metals.

2 Logan Fought His Greatest Enemy: Himself

Hugh Jackman as both James "Logan" Howlett/Wolverine and X-24 in Logan.

In Logan, Logan is tasked with bringing a young mutant to safety who comes from the same Transigen program he was a part of when getting his adamantium skeleton. While on the run, they take shelter with a family only for tragedy to strike when Charles Xavier is killed by Logan's clone, X-24.

Logan was shocked to see a clone of his younger self and was eventually killed by it at the end of the film. It was a very poetic ending for Logan as his biggest enemy was always himself as he tried to be a good person, but eventually, his violent past would catch up with him and he would do terrible things. He was able to redeem himself by getting Laura and her friends to safety before dying, giving him a heartbreaking but satisfying ending to the franchise.

1 Jackman Will Return & Wear The Iconic Suit In Deadpool 3

Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool walks next to Hugh Jackman's Wolverine

Much to the surprise of everyone, Jackman announced in 2022 that he would be returning to the role of Wolverine for the upcoming Deadpool 3 alongside Ryan Reynolds. Fans were thrilled to see Jackman back and that he would be making his MCU debut, but it got even better when the cameras started rolling.

The first official image from the film showed Jackman sporting a comic-accurate suit for the character, long on the top of fans' list to see Jackman finally wear. Deadpool 3 is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated superhero films yet, and the MCU's first R-rated film, and Jackman should slip back into the role with ease.