Ever since Hugh Jackman retired from playing the Wolverine, fans have been speculating about who should next play the iconic X-Men character. A recent piece of fan art suggested that The Boys star Antony Starr should play the mutant in the MCU.
Starr plays the devious Homelander in Amazon Prime’s The Boys, a Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg-produced series based on the comic book with the same name. The show follows a group of corrupt superheroes who abuse their powers for wealth and fame. The large ensemble cast includes Karl Urban as Billy Butcher, Jack Quaid as Hughie, Tomer Kapon as Frenchie, Erin Moriarty as Annie January, and Chace Crawford as the Deep. Last year, Supernatural’s Jensen Ackles was cast to play Soldier Boy in the upcoming third season.
Before The Boys, Starr was best known for playing an ex-con and master thief in the critically acclaimed Cinemax series Banshee. The gritty show, which ran from 2013-2016, was created by Jonathan Tropper and David Schickler. It followed a man (Starr) who adopts a new identity after being released from prison. Banshee was released on HBO Max this past February.
Popular freelance artist Aitesam Farooq recently posted a hyper-realistic art piece that imagines Starr as the Wolverine. In the image, Starr has Wolverine’s signature sideburns and is wearing an outfit from the 2004 comic book series Astonishing X-Men. Farooq asserts that Starr would make a great Wolverine based on his performance in Banshee. The art piece went viral and even caught Starr’s attention on Instagram, where the actor said, “Note to self...learn how to grow pork chop sideburns!”
Hugh Jackman notably played Logan/Wolverine in nine X-Men films. The once indestructible character died in his daughter’s arms in director James Mangold's Logan. The film grossed $619 million on a $97 million budget and received an Academy Awards nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Following the film’s release, Jackman has stated numerous times that he will no longer play the iconic mutant. Of course, Disney has since acquired the rights to the X-Men from 20th Century Fox, which means characters like the Wolverine, Human Torch, and Magneto can now be shown in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Marvel has yet to announce when the Wolverine will be introduced into the MCU and who will play the iconic role. Earlier this month, fans started an online petition to cast Letterkenny's Jared Keeso as Wolverine. The petition is called "Disney needs to cast Jared Keeso as Wolverine should they reboot X-Men" and has almost 5,000 signatures. Meanwhile, Avengers: Endgame co-director, Joe Russo, told Lights Camera Barstool that he’d love to take a crack at Wolverine, but it will be hard to find a successor to Jackman. “To realize him on screen, it’s very hard because Hugh Jackman's performance is definitive," said Russo.
The X-Men films are now available on Disney Plus and The Boys is now available on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: spdrmnkyxxiii|Instagram