Hugh Jackman established his renowned career by appearing in the well-acclaimed live-adaptation of Marvel Comics, X-Men. Jackman had played the Wolverine nine times in live-action, with three origin films over the span of almost two decades, entitling Jackman to a Guinness World Record for the longest career as a Marvel character. Jackman's Wolverine was last seen on 2017's Logan, which is Jackman's way of saying goodbye to the character after starring for more than two decades. Logan was a box-office success, grossing over $619 million worldwide, and was also nominated for Best Adapted screenplay at the 2018 Academy Awards.
Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine added the hype for X-Men. Fans have labeled Jackman's casting for the Wolverine as "Perfection" and even until now, years after Jackman stepped off the role, it looks like Marvel is having a hard time rebooting the character after Jackman left a gold standard.
In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Hugh Jackman revealed how he was once detained before the filming of the first X-Men film at an airport in Canada due to lacking a required work visa. Jackman says that the experience was 'pathetic,' which might have caused the Oscar-nominated actor at risk of losing his most iconic role to date:
I just broke. It was pathetic. And he goes, "Go over there." And it was that room -- you know, like, the room. You don't want to be in that room. That room is bad. And I went in there, and I was there for like an hour and a half. And he made me wait. And I went to make a phone call. That guy literally is like, "Get off the phone now!" This is serious! You have no rights in here! You have no phone calls!" And I'm sitting there going, "Okay, first of all, I've just lost the biggest break of my life." "I'm going to go to jail, and I don't know what to do and..." So, I finally get up there, and he's like, "Listen, we're probably going to send you back on a plane.
And I said, "Listen, I'm sorry. It's just -- I've got this part in this thing, and they haven't got my visa." And he goes, "What's the thing?" And I said, "Well, it's 'X-Men.' It's like a comic book." He goes, "What?" Well, you mean like the animation thing, 'X-Men'?" And I goes, "Well, no, they're doing a live-action version of it." He goes, "What?" And I said, "Yeah." And he goes, "Well, what did you audition for?" And I said, "It's a character called Wolverine." He goes, "What?!" And he literally looked at me, and then he just -- to all his mates, he goes, "Hey, Jimmy, it's Wolverine! This is Wolverine!" Honestly, I went out there with a police escort, just to let me out. This guy made me sign autographs, everything. He was a mad "X-Men" fan. And that's the only reason I ended up getting the part."
Fortunately, Jackman successfully made out of the nerve-wracking situation and eventually proceeded with his most iconic role as the Wolverine for the 2000's X-Men film. Jackman reprised his role as Wolverine in 2003's X2 and 2006's X-men The Last Stand. Jackman then had his standalone spinoff as Wolverine for three films, ending with 2017's Logan.
Several years after Hugh Jackman's retirement as Wolverine, some die-hard fans want Jackman to reprise his role in the upcoming Marvel films such as Ryan Reynold's Deadpool 3 and the MCU highly-anticipated sequel, Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness. While nothing is confirmed yet for Jackman's comeback in the MCU, it might be the right time for the actor to reprise his fan-beloved role, especially now that Marvel owns the right to X-Men. If these fan petitions persist, Marvel might take these demands seriously and bring back Jackman's Wolverine into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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