Don’t recast Wolverine, we already know who she should be

Hugh Jackman recently said that he was sure that one day Wolverine would be recast. In truth, there is no need because we’ve already met the next Wolverine.

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The most recent Wolverine film, Logan, was easily the best representation we’ve seen of the character and possibly even one of the best X-Men movie so far. It captured the visceral nature of the character while balancing it against the softer sentimental side of Logan. It was a powerful send-off for Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.

The X-Men, in general, have always been about assembled or found families so it makes since that Wolverine would have so many connections to younger characters. In the earlier movies he was always protective of characters like Rogue. In the comics, he has had many young proteges that were like adoptive daughters to him.

Dafne Keen as young Laura might have been the best thing about Logan, even though the whole film brought a lot to the table. She portrayed a violent side to a young character that was still just looking for her own family in the world. Laura found a father-like figure with Logan and a family with the other escaped mutants in the film.

Comic book continuity can be confusing. I mean there are currently three active characters that are some version of Wolverine. Laura Kinney, or X-23, officially took on the title of the All-New Wolverine several months ago with her own self-titled series. There is the old man version of Logan that came from the alternate timeline that inspired the film and another son of Wolverine that hails from a completely different reality who recently joined one of the X-Men teams. My focus today though is Laura.

Dafne Keen as Laura Kinney is ready to carry on the name of Wolverine and there is no need to cast anyone else. Someday when the X-Men film series are inevitably rebooted perhaps you could find another male actor to take on Wolverine, but right now the shadow of Hugh Jackman looms too large and trying to replace him would be a high stakes proposition. However, passing the torch onto his adoptive daughter seems like a clear choice and don’t tell me it can’t be done.

We’ve already dealt with alternate timelines once in the X-Men films and that was one of the better ones. It would be all too easy to have Laura sent back in time somehow or the team of mutants sent forward in time. In fact, a younger female Wolverine would actually fit into the current team dynamic of the on-screen X-Men. My fear is that this version of Laura Kinney will be praised, but forgotten in favor of just recasting Logan and moving on with the same old same old.

With Cable appearing in Deadpool 2 and a reboot of the dark Phoenix story on its way, it is not impossible to think that the X-Men could bring in a character like Laura Kinney to the main film series. They’ve already got a New Mutants and X-Force movie planned for the future so it would be a good time to invest in some world building if 20th Century Fox plans on keeping the future of the X-Men in their hands.

Next: James Mangold hints at the return of X-23

Logan is available on DVD and Blu-ray right now, be sure to check it out.