Wolverine's leaving Rant / Fox Superhero Universe FUTURE Part 2

So this showed up a few days ago and it was on Hugh Jackman's instagram. In short, Jackman stated that Wolverine 3, will be his last go as the iconic character. 

This is actually pretty big news. 

Ever since 2000, Hugh Jackman has been playing this role and has really made his name synonymous

with the character.

There are very few actors who have become the figure head for superheroes since the surge of superhero films in the past decade. Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man is one example, the other example is Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.

Its just a matter of this actor being in this role for so long, doing a phenomenal job at the role, and its hard to think of anybody that could take over in the role.

I think there is a differentiation between some characters mainly because of Edward Norton's departure from The Hulk. They were able to find a replacement that worked really well in Mark Ruffalo. I think for some characters, it is possible. And then there are characters that it really doesn't seem possible at all. And Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is one of those characters.

So the question is... are we going to see Wolverine in X-men: Apocalypse?

Honestly right now... it doesn't look like it.

I'm not even sure if the film has started filming yet. There's been a lot of new casting and it really seems as though the focus is going to be on Charles Xavier and his school for gifted youngsters. There's a new Cyclops, there's a new Jean Grey, there's a new Storm. Nightcrawler is going to be in it, Evan Peters as Quicksilver is going to be back.

Honestly, everyone seems to be in it... except for Wolverine.

So I don't know. I think Wolverine might still be in it with a smaller part but I would not be surprised if this new X-men film is starting the trend of having no Wolverine in them.

And then there's Wolverine 3, which sounds pretty cool because its going to be both Jackman and Patrick Stewart's last outing as their respective heroes. Its going to be an adventure with Wolverine and Charles Xavier.

So what does this mean for the rest of the X-men/ Fox studios Universe?

Changing of the Guard

First off I think it means that Days of Future Past was a bigger changing of the guard than we thought it was.

I think it served as a proper way to say good bye to a lot of the characters we knew from the first trilogy, but those were characters we had not seen for years now. It was good to say good bye once again, but I think this movie was more a final performance for Hugh Jackman in an X-men film. Even if Wolverine shows up in Apocalypse, I think the third Wolverine movie is going to be more of an epilogue to his story and give him the absolute good bye since he was more of a quintessential part of the cinematic universe.

From now on, the story is centered more on other X-men. It is no longer Wolverine's story, it is now the story of Charles Xavier, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, and the other actual X-men. And that I'm actually kind of excited for. It'll be good to see a movie that is more focused on The X-men, instead of Wolverine... and the whoever wants to join in on his adventure.

And that fits with what Days of Future Past was. A lot of it was focused on Wolverine, at least in the beginning, but then there's really a shift from his story, to the story of the First Class cast. In essence, Apocalypse will be end of the transition and possibly move into the new face of the franchise.

And what is that face?

X-men: Babies!

The more I think about it, that is a little bit of an overstatement.

While there is going to be a lot of this in the new phase of X-men...

There is also going to be this...

And this...

So is it as dramatic as I'm thinking it will be? No. I think there will still be that older generation in these X-men films. But while there is going to be Channing Tatum, James McEvoy, and Michael Fassbender around to make sure this doesn't turn into X-men: the high school years. I still think they are going to shift the focus towards these youngins.

This is for two reasons. 

First one, the transition group probably wants to move on. 

When I speak of "The transition group", I'm talking about the First Class cast. I can't speak for McEvoy and Fassbender, but it has been confirmed that Jennifer Lawrence is done after Apocalypse.

Jennifer Lawrence of course played Mystique in First Class and Days of Future Past, and she was

awesome. But I'm thinking that JLaw is trying to move on from the genre films that got her famous and move on to bigger and better things.

And I don't blame her. As much as I like to see talent in these superhero films, I could see how its hard to get into a film franchise like X-men and expect to only be in for one movie.

So I have to wonder how long McEvoy and Fassbender want to stick around after Apocalypse is over. And in what capacity.

I think its inevitable for Tye Sheridan and Sophie Turner to eventually take over and become the focus of this X-men Universe.

Also, thinking from the perspective of a studio, that makes sense as well.

You could probably fit McEvoy, Fassbender, Lawrence, the guy who plays Beast (who also is leaving after Apocalypse) as the principle cast of that second trilogy. They are the focus, they had them for a good five years by the time Apocalypse is done, which is about the same time they had the original cast from the first X-men to The Last Stand. Right now seems to be the time to start transitioning in a new cast for the next trilogy after Apocalypse.

I also think that's what the studio is thinking, because they're doing it for similar properties in their franchise.

I.E: Fantastic Four

You can throw all the examples of older cast members of Gambit, Professor X, Magneto, Deadpool, all you want. But the fact of the matter is, Fox is going for a superhero team, made up of really young actors.

Right now, I would not say Fox is at all in danger of losing its properties. They aren't in any kind of financial trouble like Sony was, and with the popularity of Days of Future Past, I don't think Fox is going to lose any of its properties to Marvel anytime soon...

But that doesn't mean they're not worried about it.

The fact of the matter is, I remember a time way before I was really interested in this battle of property rights, that I thought the X-men franchise was coming to an end. I thought X-men: The Last Stand was going to give way to a fourth X-men film, but it didn't. And when it didn't I remember thinking Fox was really spinning its wheels, desperately trying to find something to keep this franchise alive. I thought the idea of origin stories was really silly and if they weren't going to continue to a fourth X-men movie, why are they continuing at all?

I thought they got really lucky with X-men First Class, but I had no idea where they were headed with this.

And to tie it all back, I think they were incredibly lucky that Hugh Jackman loves the part of Wolverine so much that he was willing to come back and do X-men origins: Wolverine (even though that movie was terrible). I think they got lucky that he was willing to do a Wolverine Standalone film.

To me, it seemed like those three movies was the opportunity for Fox to spin their wheels, just long enough to keep their properties, keep the superhero section of their studio afloat until Days of Future Past came to them.

But like I said, Origins was awful. First Class, I really liked but didn't feel like it was really building to anything until Days of Future Past came out, and I didn't like The Wolverine that much.

I don't know what Fox has in store, but I'm wondering if they can survive without Wolverine. With the departure of a lot of good actors from what I am now calling "the Transition trilogy", a lot of pressure is now on the "post Apocalypse cast".

This is the term I'll use for Sheridan, Turner, Shipp, Tatum, and Reynolds.

So what is that future going to look like?

Well, I really hope Fox has their "post-apocalyptic" future mapped out.

Without a lot of knowledge of comic books, I do know that Scott Summers and Jean Grey are part of what used to be the original X-men. The team before Wolverine.

And I think they're headed towards that team.

Furthermore, I think they're headed towards a team up with X-men and The Fantastic Four, which could be really cool.

And hey, if Sheridan, Turner, and Shipp impress me during Apocalypse, I'm totally down for this X-men universe to continue with them helming it. I'm fine with Fox going in the direction of having a really young cast for all their franchises because that's sometime mainstream comic book movies haven't really done. Its a way they can kind of differentiate themselves.

And to tie it back one more time to Hugh Jackman's departure as Wolverine, I think if the "Post-Apocalyptic team" does well and carries on to their own trilogy, a few years might pass and it might be time to do the Old Man Logan storyline.

Now, I probably have a better knowledge of comic books than most people but barely. I honestly do not know that much about the Old Man Logan storyline.

From what I just read two minutes ago, I'm realizing that a lot of that story is dependent on other characters from the Marvel comics. Hulk plays a huge part in that story, Hawkeye plays a huge part in that story. From what little I know about it, it will be very hard to do an Old Man storyline while the studios still have their separate properties.

That being said, even having Hugh Jackman come back ten, fifteen years from now as an older version of Wolverine, would be absolutely phenomenal.

And I could actually see it happening. I could see Fox shifting focus towards Cyclops, towards Jean Grey, towards other X-men and really having these films be Wolverine-less for many years. As much as people want to speculate on who could play Wolverine after Jackman is done, I don't think anybody will for a long while.

And honestly, I don't want anybody to take his place anytime soon.

We honestly don't need a Wolverine who isn't Hugh Jackman right now.

Again, I don't know a lot about the comics, but I don't need to. Stories can be made focusing on other characters. They're adaptations of the comics for the movies. I really don't think Fox has any intentions of recasting Wolverine any time soon.

And anyway, why would you want to?

Again, Hugh Jackman is so iconic as Wolverine and has made such a long lasting impression on the entire franchise that I think having a new Wolverine would just be confusing.

I think the only time you could bring in a new Wolverine that isn't 10 or 15 years down the road, is if you reboot the series... which the X-men franchise might need.

I hate to say that in light of how Days of Future Past was, but maybe its time to wipe the slate clean and reboot the franchise.

And hey, maybe if that's the case. Maybe you reboot the franchise in a world where this new Wolverine could maybe, I don't know, BE A FREAKING AVENGER!!

I really feel like I've been harping on Fox in this post, but the honest to god truth is, that I kind of feel like the X-men franchise has always been Wolverine's story. He's been the catalyst, he's been the vehicle. Now I'm not totally sure if that responsibility can just be handed off to Channing Tatum and a bunch of 18 year old kids!

It all depends on what Apocalypse ends up being, but how honestly, how long do you think Fox can survive without Jackman's Wolverine?

I've been going on for a while so I think that's a good place to stop. In short, I can only applaud Hugh Jackman for his work, speculate on what could happen, and flat out say, I think its the beginning of the end of the X-men universe being separated from the host. What do you think?

Do you think Fox will survive without Jackman? Do you think the X-men Babies can carry on without Jackman? What do you think of the new Deadpool movie coming out? Comment and Discuss below! Also shoot me a tweet on Twitter @cmhaugen24 and follow me to get more updates on movie news and reviews.

I'll leave you with this. This rant has given me a headache so I'm not trying that hard. Here's a How it Should Have Ended for Days of Future Past. I haven't done that right? Enjoy!