Deadpool & Wolverine star Ryan Reynolds made one promise when he announced Hugh Jackman's return, that Marvel Studios seems to be breaking. For the first three years after Disney assumed control of 20th Century Fox, and with it the rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four in 2019, updates on Deadpool 3 were few and far between as Marvel Studios tried to work out a storyline. That all changed in September 2022, when Ryan Reynolds offered the exciting news that the MCU threequel will finally bring back Hugh Jackman's Wolverine for the long-awaited team-up with his fourth-wall-breaking Wade Wilson.
As part of Reynolds' exciting update, which dropped just under two years before Deadpool & Wolverine's release in July 2024, he asked the Marvel veteran, "Hey Hugh, you wanna play Wolverine one more time?" Now, insider reports indicate that Marvel Studios is gearing up to break this promise of Jackman returning for just "one more" outing, giving him a key role in multiple MCU projects.
Fans may not be waiting long to see James "Logan" Howlett again, as Marvel Studios is reportedly taking steps to hide his role in Avengers: Doomsday, meaning he would be back on screens on December 18, 2026.
Scooper Daniel Richtman also claimed on Patreon that Jackman's Wolverine will play a "major role" in Avengers: Secret Wars alongside Reynolds' Deadpool, as well as both Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland's Spider-Men.
Even beyond Secret Wars and into Phase 7, it seems Marvel Studios won't be letting go anytime soon, making Wade Wilson's joke about Jackman playing the role "till he's 90" look even more real by the day. The studio is reportedly developing a new Wolverine movie that could once again star the Fox actor.
Meanwhile, after Deadpool & Wolverine's billion-dollar, record-breaking success, further reporting stated that Marvel Studios was eager to reteam the chaotic mutant duo for another movie that would likely be Deadpool 4.
If Jackman does stick around in the MCU, he could one day crossover with his third iteration of the X-Men, after meeting both the younger and older Fox casts throughout his tenure. That said, Marvel Studios looks to have a different main character in mind for its X-Men reboot, with Logan set to be absent for now.
It should be noted that Reynolds' promise for Jackman to only play Wolverine "one more time" was genuine at the time. But, as plans evolved and, most notably, when Deadpool & Wolverine became such a box office success, it became financially insensible to abandon the actor.
Marvel Studios Needs to Let Go of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine
Hugh Jackman's Wolverine went on a 17-year journey under 20th Century Fox, that came to a beautiful conclusion with his demise in Logan. Fans were once scared that Deadpool & Wolverine's time-traveling hijinks would sabotage this outcome, but instead, it honored Logan's Fox legacy while introducing a fresh Variant, still played by Jackman, who could appear in future projects.
In many ways, this Wolverine opens up new doors given his unique history of failing his X-Men and through his more comic-booky identity. But it's hard to see why such a path couldn't be taken with a new actor since, while recasting Jackman won't be an easy task, it will inevitably happen one day, so why not now?
For several years, fans have been throwing around fan casts for who could play Wolverine next, such as Taron Egerton and Jeremy Allen White. The closest that the MCU has so far gone to replacing Jackman was with the Cavillrine, as Henry Cavill donned the claws for a brief Deadpool & Wolverine cameo.
Ultimately, as the Fox star remains one of the most beloved superhero actors of all time, his return for the Multiverse Saga's climax makes perfect sense, especially since it will allow the MCU to fulfil longtime hopes for Jackman's Wolverine to meet other fan favorites. But when Marvel Studios ushers in its post-Secret Wars reset, it would arguably be a lazy fan-service-centric decision not to recast the role.
