Hugh Jackman Says "Wolverine 3" is His Last

You get only two more times to see the iconic actor in the role...maybe.

Story by Matt Cummings

The X-men film series has seemingly gone through its own version of the classic Phoenix storyline: critics have largely panned its poor plots, with some of the early films failing to hold up under today's Avengers standards. One thing that cannot be denied is its extremely strong casting: Ian McKellan as Magneto and Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier have been excellent, some say iconic. But standing atop that list is Hugh Jackman, whose portrayal of the mutant Wolverine has made him a household name. Unfortunately, you're only going to get two more chances to see him suit up the Adamantium claws, if recent posts by the actor are to be believed.

On Saturday, the 46 year old sent out this message via Instagram:

WOLVERINE ...ONE LAST TIME. HJ https://t.co/Z8ANwmIS8d

— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) March 28, 2015

A photo posted by Hugh Jackman (@thehughjackman) on Mar 28, 2015 at 10:40am PDT

The writing (or claws in this case) has been on the wall for several months now. Almost a year ago, Jackman said this to SFX Magazine about how much longer he could go on in the role:

“I don’t know yet. We’re talking it through. I still am very ambitious for the character. And tonally I feel like we corrected the ship with the last one. But I feel we can still go further, in a way. If I did another one I’m 99.9% sure it would be the last, so that will inform what it is for me.”

It's obvious from the quote that Jackman was considering retirement at that time, which now has been confirmed by the Instagram posting. However, it does throw a curveball into Wolverine 3 and 20th Century Fox's longterm plans, as the most recent (and very good) Days of Future Past basically reset the universe, allowing for plenty of new adventures, including the upcoming Apocalypse. Will Director James Mangold go far into the future with Wolverine 3, dusting off the Old Man Logan storyline? In it, all superheroes have been eliminated, with Wolverine having caused the destruction of his fellow teammates. If Mangold and Jackman were to go in that direction, it would be a powerful conclusion to the actor's famed run.

However there has been a rumor going around - and it's a BIG one - that Jackman would stick around, not to play Wolverine, but Cable. A time-travelling mutant from the future, Cable is portrayed in the Ultimate Marvel Comics - where much of the movie universe is based - as the future version of Wolverine. Cable is also a part of X-Force, which we know has already received a script and could go into production at any time. Since he and Deadpool have had adventures in the past, and we know time-travel is now a part of the movie series, it's possible we could see Jackman move from one role to another.

There is plenty of time to see this worked out: Jackman will most likely appear with Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool (scheduled for February 12, 2016), is a definite for X-men: Apocalypse (May 27th, 2016), with Wolverine 3 to be released on March 3, 2017.

What do you think about this news? Are we seeing Jackman's last run? Join the conversation below!

Discuss this review with fellow SJF fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @SandwichJohnFilms, and follow author Matt Cummings at @mfc90125.