The Avengers are currently on a semi-hiatus within the Marvel Cinematic Universe after their last epic adventure in 2019's Avengers: Endgame. However, that leaves room for other classic MCU teams like the upcoming take on the X-Men, which should feature top-notch characters from past movies like Cyclops, Storm, and especially Wolverine.
Although fan-casts run rampant for most of Marvel's mutants ahead of their MCU debut, almost none is more popular than James Logan after Hugh Jackman's extensive 17-year run in Fox's X-Men saga. With Jackman now officially retired from the role, even though there's the potential that he could come back in a cameo capacity, Marvel has a tall task with recasting a new version of the clawed anti-hero.
Rocketman's Taron Edgerton has thrown his name into the ring for the role while Harry Potter icon Daniel Radcliffe has taken the idea into consideration on a few occasions.
Now, two of Marvel's most successful directors have shared their idea about who should don the claws and mutton chops, pointing out one of their most frequent MCU collaborators from the past few years.
Russos Pick Their Casting for Wolverine
Speaking with Brandon Davis on the Phase Zero Podcast, Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo discussed the idea of working with Captain America star Chris Evans again.
When asked who they'd want to see Evans play, given that it has to be a different character from the Multiverse, Joe Russo quickly replied with "Wolverine." Noting how much range and physically Evans uses with his work, Russo was intrigued by how different Wolverine is from Cap and how he'd love to see Evans change course in that way:
“Evans has incredible range and great physicality, and he’s real good at body control. He’s an incredible actor. I don’t mean this in a bad way, but he’s nothing like Captain America. Steve Rogers is very controlled and quiet, understated. Chris is energetic and funny and charismatic, and he brings a lot of energy to set. I’d love to see him do something like Wolverine.”
Why Do the Russos Want Chris Evans as Wolverine?
While Chris Evans is certainly content to leave his role as Captain America in the past, he's recently opened up about the idea of revisiting the MCU in other ways. He teased how fun it would be to suit up as his version of Johnny Storm from Fox's Fantastic Four movies, adding that character through the Multiverse after Marvel brought more other-worldly characters in Doctor Strange 2.
Even with two Marvel characters under his belt, Joe Russo sees plenty of potential for Evans to bring a unique take on James Logan following Hugh Jackman's performance in nearly a dozen separate films. Evans has the same feel in terms of size, being just about as tall as Jackman, and he's shown in other movies that he can portray a similar gruff and brooding persona in the same way that Wolverine does.
It seems fairly unlikely that Evans would actually take on a Marvel role that he's never done before, especially as Marvel works to bring its own version of the X-Men to the big screen at some point. But with the Russo brothers putting that idea out into the open, anything is possible.
