Hugh Jackman’s Last Time Donning a Wolverine Costume

Looking Ahead to 2017’s as Yet Untitled Wolverine Film

By Shrey Sankalp

I don’t know about you, but I’m plenty sad.

How couldn’t I be? It’s the end of an era.

After years of raining down sweet, sweet hell with his admantium claws, the story of Wolverine finally comes to an end in the March of 2017.

If you were to ask any comic book fan who their favorite onscreen superheroes are, there’s a one in three chance the answer will be Wolverine. 

That might perplex you because the Wolverine depicted on screen is hardly comic book accurate – he’s tall, doesn’t wear the outlandish yellow costume, and has a gruffness befitting models. 

FOX

And yet he is a favorite to many.

That, is down to one man, and one man only – Hugh Jackman.

When a not exactly famous Australian actor known for musicals was cast as this gruff Canadian badass in 2000, the world was sceptical, and rightfully so. Without the costume, the height and the demeanor, there was no way they could pull off a convincing onscreen Wolverine, but as Jackman prepares to leave us with one final R-rated romp based on one of the most beloved comic books of all time, those very same people are in tears.

Over the course of last 17 years and about a dozen films, Jackman redefined the character in his own image, to a point where he is the definitive version of the character, and the yellow costumed one is more like him. Everywhere you see Wolverine, you think Jackman.

If you get a chance to visit San Diego during Comic Con, just take a look at the number of people in Wolverine costumes, and I bet you they will either be the classic tank top and jeans costumes, or the leather armor costumes that Jackman wore, not the yellow costume. 

Now I’m a comic book fan, and I don’t mean no disrespect to the yellow costume, and before Wolvie’s final bow, I’d like to see it on screen, that’s for sure, and there’s reasonable evidence to believe we might just see it this time, because if not now, then never.

This film is going to be directed by James Mangold, who also directed The Wolverine, and in a deleted scene from that film, Wolverine was shown being handed the iconic costume.

Seeing how James Mangold is back to finish off this story, I’m inclined to believe he will want to break out that costume.

James Mangold stayed true to the comics in The Wolverine, and while his adaptation of Old Man Logan cannot be a direct adaptation for logistical reasons, I believe it will pay a decent homage, and the yellow costume will eventually show up as an Easter Egg if nothing else.

I wish there was more information available about the film at the moment, but the production team has been keeping everything tightly under wraps. Thanks to Jackman’s Instagram, we do know the filming has completed, and some leaked set photos reveal a very dishevelled looking Jackman and Patrick Stewart (I could swear they looked like two old men who went out on a bender late last night to convince themselves they’re still young and immediately regretted in the next morning) in the middle of tense action sequences. 

FOX

The hair and the beards are different (and a lot grayer) from 2014’s Days of Future Past, and there are no costumes to be seen, so it’s safe to assume the film’s events take place somewhere in the future, but with X-Men’s laughably convoluted timelines, nothing is certain.

The film is rumored to feature X-23 in some form (she’s got a great costume, by the way, but with Fox’s track on costume accuracy, we might just get another leather armor costume, or worse, no costume yet again), and while the new cast’s roles haven’t been revealed, Boyd Hallbrook (of Narcos fame, also known as the guy with the constant narration sounding like a super bored Henry Cavill doing the impersonation of a super bored Matthew McConaughey) is speculated to be playing the film’s villain.

Whether he’s a mutant, or a human villain, likely won’t be clarified until the film’s trailer drops.

While we will have to wait to see how the final film turns out, what we’ve seen so far hints that Fox is taking the last Wolverine film rather seriously – they have kept the whole thing very secret, dropped no marketing materials yet, and finally allowed Wolverine to unleash his claws with a decidedly non-friendly and indulgent R-rating (God bless Deadpool for that).

Kids love Wolverine, and if Fox is willing to sacrifice that demographic and settle for fewer costumes and toys sold next year, it must be serious.

It must be deadly serious.

And our man deserves no less.