Here's Why Fans Are Convinced Taron Egerton Is The Next Wolverine
The world of entertainment rolls along from story to story. It's a cyclical business that goes from spring TV shows to summer blockbusters, and the fall premieres followed by winter award season. But in 2019, one story hangs heavy over everything: Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox and how it will play out going into the 2020s. Will the Marvel Cinematic Universe somehow grow even more dominant? Will Disney revive The Fantastic Four and The X-Men? Who will be cast in those roles? The latest question is whether or not Taron Egerton will play Wolverine, one of the most significant parts when 20th Century Fox was adapting the series.
It's a natural question. Egerton is part of a batch of up-and-coming stars. He's already cemented himself with the Kingsman franchise and the Elton John biopic Rocketman, as Elton's handpicked choice to play the singer. He'll star next in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance on Netflix. So a role in what has become the world's largest superhero franchise can't be far off.
Egerton himself admits he's gunning for the role, which was once held by Hugh Jackman. The two have a lot in common. Before Jackman's jacked-up look at the famous mutant, he started his career as a song and dance man, much like Egerton.
Not to mention, Egerton also has the square-jawed, intense wolfish look about him as well:
Speaking to Variety, Egerton admitted he was hoping Marvel's President Kevin Feige might call.
I love Marvel, and I love the movies, and I’d love the excuse to get in shape. I’d love to be a part of it, whether [Wolverine] is realistic or not, I don’t know.
For someone else to take on Wolverine would represent a passing of the X-Men torch. Even though most of the mutants were recast with younger actors when the X-Men rebooted for First Class in 2011, Wolverine was not. Jackman is the only actor to hold the role since The X-Men in 1999 playing the mutant across nine films in 17 years.
Egerton would be an excellent choice, as he's worked with Jackman in 2016's Eddie the Eagle. He's also willing to call Jackman up and get his blessing before any batons are passed.
All that being said, there's no guarantee the Marvel Cinematic Universe's version of The X-Men will include Wolverine right away. There are somewhere on the order of 100 X-Men characters that have appeared in the comics over the decades. One of the big complaints about 20th Century Fox's adaptation was the inability to move beyond the same set of half dozen characters, considering the sheer wealth of material.
Moreover, should the MCU decide to start over with the original team, that's a group that didn't include Wolverine. The first X-men were Professor X, Cyclops, Iceman, Angel, Beast, and Phoenix. Considering that's already a pretty straight-white-male heavy lineup, the MCU would most likely want to booster it with more diverse characters like Storm, Moonstar, or Prodigy.
But movie audiences are big fans of Wolverine, so it's hard to see the MCU leaving the character out entirely. If so, Taron Egerton would be a pretty choice answer to cast.
