Wolverine has been through a lot during his time as a pop-culture icon. Whether we're talking his Marvel Comics origins, his animated adventures, the legendary Fox X-Men movies, or his recent return to the screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Logan has been going through it for eternity. And, despite that, he always finds a way to battle back.
Marvel continues to make the most of the broody hero, telling stories so hard-hitting that they simply couldn't be done with anyone else. Now, we're all wondering if Hugh Jackman's portrayal will return to screens in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. After all, Deadpool and Wolverine was one of the franchise's Multiverse Saga mainstays, so it would make sense to include both of those characters in what is expected to be Part 1 of that Multiverse Saga's grand finale.
But that's his potential MCU pathway. Before we get there, however, the character's fate has taken an unexpected turn in the source material, with the Wolverine mantle in danger of falling under the tutelage of multiple new characters.
Marvel Comics introduces four new Wolverine clones to take the place of the original
Wolverine is going to find himself out-clawed in the not-too-distant future. Marvel Comics' The Uncanny X-Men No. 38 (by Gail Simone and Juan Frigeri) will see four new Wolverine clones that will look to do battle with Logan himself. Although the issue doesn't arrive on shelves until November, the synopsis teases that the clones will be "damaged mutants" who "have been made into cheap but brutal knockoffs".
The cover art teases that Wolverine himself be doing battle with the knockoffs and it's hard to argue with the fact that he may be outmatched with his potential replacements. While we would never bet against Logan, these four unhinged replicas all sport his signature adamantium claws while also wearing what appears to be Weapon X experimentation equipment. Yes, that suggests that they were experimented on, built, and created just as Logan was when at his most feral. How does the original hope to contend with all four of them?
The X-Men always find a way to bounce back regardless of the odds and Wolverine will undoubtedly do the same. After all, this isn't the first time that he has been replaced by those who created him - in universe and by Marvel Comics themselves - as the claw-wielding mutant has battled clones before. Heck, earlier this year Marvel put the infamous Taskmaster front and center with Wolverine's own claws and healing factor. How do you make one of the most powerful mutants feel obsolete? By giving his iconic adamantium claws to the one person who also has everyone else's abilities and skills too.
All things considered it is highly unlikely that these clones will post long-term danger to Wolverine. It will be a task and a half to overcome now for sure, but with Hugh Jackman's on-screen return as the live-action iteration of Logan inevitable in one of the two upcoming MCU movies, Marvel Comics will undoubtedly be determined to remind readers just how unstoppable Logan is. No attempted replacements will stop that.
Why Hugh Jackman will still play the MCU's Logan (starting with a reported Avengers: Doomsday return)
While Wolverine may have had to contend with many replacements over the years in Marvel Comics, his live-action counterpart hasn't had that constant battle. Don't get us wrong, the final appearance of the cinematic version for almost a whole decade saw him die after defeating a brutal, barbaric clone of himself in 2017's Logan, but as Deadpool likes to remind us: Marvel will always bring Wolverine back... even if he's 90!
Hugh Jackman is renowned with the Wolverine character in the same way that Robert Downey Jr. is with Iron Man, Chris Evans is with Captain America, and Chris Hemsworth is with Thor it's simply impossible to imagine anyone else playing that role. So, when Marvel Studios managed to coax him back for Deadpool and Wolverine in 2024, it wasn't designed as a nostalgia-fest (even if the movie was technically a nostalgia-fest), it was to be the first of a potentially full-time return as the character.
Although Jackman is not listed among the cast members of Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel has already begun rolling out teases that he and Ryan Reynolds'' Deadpool will make cameo appearances in the film (by having each actor "disrupt" Marvel Studios panels at respective events looking for a potential role in the movie). Furthermore, a number of reports have suggested that Logan will appear in the opening moments of the movie, setting up a bigger, full-time role in 2027's sequel Avengers: Secret Wars.
What's even more interesting is that Marvel Studios is recasting the X-Men for a brand new reboot movie set in the MCU for 2028. Spider-Man: Brand New Day's Sadie Sink will reprise her role as Jean Grey, joined by Heartstopper star Kit Connor as Cyclops, Obsession's Inde Navarette as Rogue, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Maya Boyd as Storm, and Christopher Abbott as Professor X (with Adam Driver being the first actor to bring Mister Sinister to life). There will be some other X-Men characters (such as Beast and Magneto) that will be cast in the near-future, but one recasting that isn't expected is Wolverine.
A number of reports from 2024 and 2025 have suggested that Marvel's X-Men reboot would aim for a younger cast while opting not to include Wolverine. The reason? To keep Jackman's veteran Wolverine around in the Mutants Era instead. He would likely act as a mentor to the young mutants in training in the same way that he did in animated series X-Men: Evolution instead of actually being one of them. And, three quarters into 2026 with a casting announcement already made, it definitely seems as if those reports are shaping up to be true.
As we said earlier, Jackman's casting as Wolverine is one of the most iconic in superhero history. It's hard to imagine anyone else playing the character at this point and with Marvel Studios now having that portrayal of the character (albeit as a different version from the one that dominated the X-Men movies) in the MCU, you can rest assured that they wouldn't be looking to recast that role anytime soon.
As Deadpool likes to say: 'Till he's '90!!
The Uncanny X-Men No. 38 arrives on November 4, 2026. Avengers: Doomsday arrives in movie theaters on December 18, 2026.
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