After retiring from his role as Wolverine, Hugh Jackman surprised fans with a thrilling announcement this October, declaring his return as the powerful mutant in Shawn Levy’s upcoming Deadpool 3 beside Ryan Reynolds.
The Australian actor has been playing the role of Logan, aka, Wolverine for as long as 17 years. But did you know that Hugh Jackman had absolutely no idea whatsoever about what exactly a Wolverine was when he first played the part in Bryan Singer’s 2000 film, X-Men?
Well, the Logan star was completely lost on the origins of the character on the set of the very first X-men movie, as he admitted not knowing a single thing about Wolverine and his depiction in the Marvel comics.
Hugh Jackman had no idea about Wolverine’s origins
Back in 2018, Hugh Jackman appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where upon being asked about his work in the 2000 film from the X-men franchise, he revealed that he didn’t even know “what a Wolverine was” and believed that his character had originated from wolves.
“I didn’t know what a Wolverine was and I’d never heard of such an animal,” Jackman said as he explained how he’d ended up assuming that it was a wolf instead. “And I did study wolves,” he stated, claiming that it was all he knew about his character.
Jackman even recalled the moment on set when he was about to shoot a fighting scene, during which he was practicing body movements similar to those of a wolf by doing things like sniffing the ground. And it was then that the director approached him, after which the Van Helsing star’s misconception about his character was clarified.
“I put in the hours and I turned up on set for a fight rehearsal and I was just incorporating some of that, you know, wolves always have their nose to the ground, and always kind look into their eyes because they’re smelling you. And the director goes, ‘Yeah uh…What are you doing man, with the body?’ I said, ‘come here, like, I was thinking, you know, I was doing some work on the wolves…And he goes, ‘Wolves? Why wolves? You’re playing a Wolverine.’ And I go, ‘Well, it’s not an animal.’ And he goes, ‘Yeah it is, like, go to the zoo.'”
The actor of the 2017 film, The Greatest Showman remarked how “humiliating” that moment was for him, but at the same time, he himself seemed to have a good laugh out of it.
Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is coming back in Deadpool 3
Jackman announced his departure from playing the role of the mercurial mutant after his 2017 film, Logan, claiming that he would no longer be seen as Wolverine. But surprisingly enough for fans, he reprised the role just a while ago with his superhuman character set to make an exciting comeback in the third installation of Deadpool alongside Ryan Reynolds‘ superhero of the same name.
This unanticipated return of one of the most popular characters from the X-men franchise has also led to tons of speculation about what this means for Wolverine’s future and whether Jackman’s reprisal of the role is a temporary one or not. However, more on that end is yet to be revealed.
Deadpool 3 will premiere in theatres on November 8, 2024.
Related: Hugh Jackman Reveals His Wolverine Will Be Much ‘Angrier’ Than Before in Deadpool 3
Source: Youtube
