X-Men Origins: Wolverine | |
---|---|
Directed by | Gavin Hood |
Screenplay by | |
Based on | |
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Donald McAlpine |
Edited by |
|
Music by | Harry Gregson-Williams |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 107 minutes |
Country | United States [1] [2] |
Language | English |
Budget | $150 million [3] |
Box office | $373 million [3] |
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a 2009 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics fictional character Wolverine. It is the fourth installment of the X-Men film series, the first installment of the Wolverine trilogy within the series, and a spin-off/prequel to X-Men (2000). The film was directed by Gavin Hood, written by David Benioff and Skip Woods, and produced by Hugh Jackman, who stars as the titular character, alongside Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Dominic Monaghan, and Ryan Reynolds. The film's plot details Wolverine's childhood as James Howlett, his time with Major William Stryker's Team X, the bonding of Wolverine's skeleton with the indestructible metal adamantium during the Weapon X program and his relationship with his half-brother Victor Creed.
The film was mostly shot in Australia and New Zealand, with Canada also serving as a location. Filming took place from January to May 2008. Production and post-production were troubled, with delays due to the weather and Jackman's other commitments, an incomplete screenplay that was still being written in Los Angeles while principal photography rolled in Australia, conflicts arising between director Hood and Fox's executives over the film's direction, and an unfinished workprint being leaked on the internet a month before the film's debut.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine was released on May 1, 2009, by 20th Century Fox. The film received mixed reviews from critics. It opened at the top of the North American box office and grossed $179 million in the United States and Canada and $373 million worldwide. Two subsequent films, The Wolverine and Logan , were released in 2013 and 2017, respectively. Beginning with Deadpool (2016), Reynolds would star as a new version of his Origins character, Wade Wilson (as the titular character). Later, both Jackman and Reynolds would star together in the 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine .
In 1845, James Howlett, a boy living in the Northwest Territories, witnesses his father's murder by groundskeeper Thomas Logan. Rage activates the boy's mutation: bone claws that protrude from his knuckles, and he impales Thomas, who reveals that he is James' biological father before dying. James flees with Thomas' other son, Victor Creed, James' elder half-brother, who has sharp claw nails and a healing factor mutation like James. They spend the next century fighting in the American Civil War, both World Wars, and the Vietnam War. In Vietnam, the increasingly violent Victor attempts to rape a Vietnamese woman and kills a senior officer who tries to stop him. James returns to Victor and rushes to defend him. The pair is sentenced to execution by firing squad, which they survive. Major William Stryker offers them membership in Team X, a group of mutants including marksman Agent Zero, katana-wielding mercenary Wade Wilson, teleporter John Wraith, super-strong and invulnerable Fred Dukes, and technopath Chris Bradley. They join the team for a few missions, with James using the alias Logan, but Victor and half of the group's lack of self-control and empathy causes Logan to leave.
Six years later, Logan works as a logger in Canada, where he lives with his girlfriend Kayla Silverfox. Stryker and Zero approach Logan, reporting that Wade and Bradley have been killed, revealing someone is targeting the team. Logan refuses to rejoin Stryker, but after finding Kayla's bloodied body in the woods, he realizes that Victor is responsible. He finds Victor at a bar and loses the subsequent fight. Stryker explains that Victor has gone rogue and offers Logan a way to become strong enough to get his revenge. Logan undergoes a painful operation to reinforce his skeleton with adamantium, a virtually indestructible metal. Stryker orders that Logan's memory be erased so he can be used as their personal weapon, but Logan overhears and escapes to a nearby farm, where an elderly couple takes him in. Zero kills the couple the following morning and tries to kill Logan, but Logan takes down Zero's helicopter, killing him as he swears to kill both Stryker and Victor.
Logan locates Wraith and Dukes at a boxing gym in Las Vegas. Dukes, who has ballooned in size due to a guilt-induced eating disorder, explains that Victor still works for Stryker, hunting down mutants for Stryker to experiment on at his new laboratory, located at "The Island". Dukes also mentions Remy "Gambit" LeBeau, the only one who escaped from the island and therefore knew its location. Wraith and Logan find Gambit in New Orleans, and then both fight Victor, who kills Wraith and extracts his DNA. Agreeing to help release mutants that Stryker has captured, Gambit takes Logan to Stryker's facility on Three Mile Island. Logan learns that Kayla is alive, having been forced by Stryker into surveilling him in exchange for her sister's safety. However, Stryker refuses to release her sister and denies Victor the adamantium bonding promised for his service, claiming that test results revealed Victor would not survive the operation. Stryker activates Wade, now known as Weapon XI, a "mutant killer" with the powers of multiple mutants.
As Logan and Victor fight off Weapon XI, Kayla is mortally wounded while leading the captive mutants to Professor Charles Xavier and safety. After Logan kills Weapon XI, Stryker arrives and shoots Logan in the head with an adamantium bullet, rendering him unconscious. Before Stryker can shoot Kayla, she grabs him and uses her mutant power to persuade him to turn around and walk away until his feet bleed, then succumbs to her injuries. Logan regains consciousness but has lost his memory. He notices his dog tags read "Logan" on one side and "Wolverine" on the other; he pauses upon noticing Kayla's body but does not recognize her.
In a mid-credits scene, Stryker is detained for questioning by MPs in connection with the death of General Munson, whom Stryker murdered to protect his experiment. In a post-credits scene, Weapon XI's hand crawls out of the rocks and touches his still living head.
Additionally, Tim Pocock portrays the young Scott Summers. Max Cullen and Julia Blake portrayed Travis Hudson and Heather Hudson, an elderly couple who take care of Wolverine after his adamantium bonding. The Hudsons are heavily adapted from the comics' James MacDonald and Heather Hudson. Tahyna Tozzi portrays Emma, a mutant with the power to turn her skin into diamond, who in the film is Silverfox's sister. [33] The film depiction of Emma was originally intended to be Emma Frost. However it was noted that she does not exhibit the character's traditional telepathic abilities. It is later revealed by Bryan Singer that this character is actually not Emma Frost, but instead a mutant with similar abilities. January Jones portrayed the actual Emma Frost in the next film, X-Men: First Class . [34] Wolverine's parents also appeared in the film; Aaron Jeffery portrayed Thomas Logan while Alice Parkinson portrayed Elizabeth Howlett and Peter O'Brien appeared as John Howlett. The film includes numerous cameo appearances of younger versions of characters from the previous films, including Jason Stryker (William's lobotomized telepathic son whom he keeps in cryogenic suspension). [35] There was a cameo for a young Storm, which can be seen in the trailer, but it was removed from the released film. [36] Patrick Stewart (digitally rejuvenated) also makes an uncredited cameo as a younger Charles Xavier / Professor X who appeared to have not yet lost the use of his legs. [37] Asher Keddie played Dr. Carol Frost. [38] Poker player Daniel Negreanu has a cameo. Phil Hellmuth wanted to join him but was unable because he committed to an event in Toronto. [39] X-Men co-creator Stan Lee said he would cameo, but Lee ended up not appearing in the film as he could not attend filming in Australia. [40] [41]
David Benioff pursued the project for almost three years before he was hired to write the script in October 2004. [42] [43] In preparing to write the script, he reread Barry Windsor-Smith's "Weapon X" story, as well as Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's 1982 limited series on the character (his favorite storyline). [42] [44] Also serving as inspiration was the 2001 limited series Origin , which reveals Wolverine's life before Weapon X. [45] Jackman collaborated on the script, which he wanted to be more of a character piece compared with the previous X-Men films. [46] Skip Woods, who had written Hitman for Fox, was later hired to revise and rewrite Benioff's script. [47] Benioff had aimed for a "darker and a bit more brutal" story, writing it with an R rating in mind, although he acknowledged the film's final tone would rest with the producers and director. [42]
Deadpool had been developed for his own film by Reynolds and David S. Goyer at New Line Cinema in 2003, but the project fell apart as they focused on Blade: Trinity and an aborted spin-off. [30] Benioff wrote the character into the script in a manner Jackman described as fun, but would also deviate from some of his traits. Similarly, Gambit was a character who the filmmakers had tried to put in the previous X-Men films. Jackman liked Gambit because he is a "loose cannon" like Wolverine, stating their relationship echoes that of Wolverine and Pyro in the original trilogy. [5] David Ayer contributed to the script. [48] Benioff finished his draft in October 2006 and Jackman stated there would be a year before shooting, [49] as he was scheduled to start filming Australia during 2007. [50] Before the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike began, James Vanderbilt and Scott Silver were hired for a last-minute rewrite. [51]
Gavin Hood was announced as director of the project in July 2007 for a 2008 release. [52] Previously, X-Men and X2 director Bryan Singer and X-Men: The Last Stand director Brett Ratner were interested in returning to the franchise, [53] [54] while Alexandre Aja and Len Wiseman also wanted the job. [55] [56] Zack Snyder, who was approached for The Last Stand, turned down this film because he was directing Watchmen . [57] Jackman saw parallels between Logan and the main character in Hood's previous film Tsotsi . [11] Hood explained that while he was not a comic book fan, he "realized that the character of Wolverine, I think his great appeal lies in the fact that he's someone who in some ways, is filled with a great deal of self-loathing by his own nature and he's constantly at war with his own nature". [58] The director described the film's themes as focusing on Wolverine's inner struggle between his animalistic savagery and noble human qualities. Hood enjoyed the previous films, but set out to give the spin-off a different feel. [59] Hood also suggested to make the implied blood relation of Wolverine and Sabretooth into them explicitly being half brothers, as it would help "build up the emotional power of the film". [60] In October, Fox announced a May 1, 2009, release date and the X-Men Origins prefix. [13]
Preliminary shooting took place at the Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, during late 2007. [61] Principal photography began in January 2008 in New Zealand. [62] One of the filming locations that was selected was Dunedin. [63] Controversy arose as the Queenstown Lakes District Council disputed the Department of Labour's decision to allow Fox to store explosives in the local ice skating rink. Fox moved some of the explosives to another area. [64] The explosives were used for a shot of the exploding Hudson Farm, a scene which required 13 cameras. [65] Jackman and Palermo's Woz Productions reached an agreement with the council to allow recycling specialists on set to advise the production on being environmentally friendly. [66] According to Hood, the screenplay was still incomplete as filming begun, with the production in Australia receiving regularly new script pages from Los Angeles, at times in the night before shooting. [67]
Filming continued at Fox (where most of the shooting was done) and New Orleans, Louisiana. [13] Cockatoo Island was used for Stryker's facility; the enormous buildings there saved money on digitally expanding a set. [11] Production of the film was predicted to generate A$60 million for Sydney's economy. [68] Principal photography ended by May 23. The second unit continued filming in New Zealand until March 23 and were scheduled to continue filming for two weeks following the first unit's wrap. [69] This included a flashback to Logan during the Normandy Landings, which was shot at Blacksmiths, New South Wales. [70]
Hood and Fox were in dispute on the film's direction. One of the disputes involved the depiction of Wolverine as an Army veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, with the executives arguing that audiences would not be interested in such heavy themes. [71] The studio had two replacements lined up before Richard Donner, husband of producer Lauren Shuler Donner, flew to Australia to ease on-set tensions. [72] Hood remarked, "Out of healthy and sometimes very rigorous debate, things get better. [...] I hope the film's better because of the debates. If nobody were talking about us, we'd be in trouble!" [11] Hood added he and Thomas Rothman were both "forceful" personalities in creative meetings but they had never had a "stand-up" argument. [73] In January 2009, after delays due to weather and scheduling conflicts, such as Hugh Jackman's publicity commitments for Australia , production moved to Vancouver, mostly at Kitsilano Secondary School and in University of British Columbia. [74] [75] Work there included finishing scenes with Ryan Reynolds, who had been working on two other films during principal photography. [76]
Gavin Hood announced that multiple "secret endings" exist for the film and that the endings will differ from print to print of the film. [77] One version shows Wolverine drinking in a Japanese bar. The bartender asks if he is drinking to forget, to which Logan replies that he is drinking to remember. [78] The other ending shows Weapon XI on the rubble of the destroyed tower, trying to touch his severed head. [79]
More than 1,000 shots of Wolverine have visual effects in them, which required three effects supervisors and 17 different companies to work on the film. [80] The most prominent was Hydraulx, who had also worked in the X-Men trilogy and was responsible for the battle in Three Mile Island and Gambit's powers. Many elements were totally generated through computer-generated imagery, such as the adamantium injection machine, the scene with Gambit's plane and Wolverine tearing through a door with his newly enhanced claws. [80] CGI bone claws were also created for some scenes because the props did not look good in close-ups. [81] Extensive usage of matte paintings was also made, with Matte World Digital creating five different mattes for the final scene of the film—a pullback depicting the destroyed Three Mile Island—and Gavin Hood handing company Hatch Productions pictures of favelas as reference for the Africa scenes. [80] [81]
Composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, the score for X-Men Origins: Wolverine was mixed by Malcolm Luker, engineered by Costa Kotselas, and featured Martin Tillman on the electric cello. [82] Gregson-Williams earlier met Hood during the 63rd Golden Globe Awards dinner party where they were nominated for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Tsotsi (both 2005), and the collaborative discussions led him to the initial interest for the film's score. [83] The score was recorded at the Newman Scoring Stage in 20th Century Fox Studios, with Gregson-Williams conducting a 78-piece orchestra and a 40-member vocal choir. [84] Varèse Sarabande released the soundtrack on April 28, 2009.
On March 31, 2009, a full-length DVD-quality workprint of the film without a timecode or watermark, with some unfinished effects shots, a different typeface for titles and casting, and alternate sound effects was leaked online. [85] [86] [87] The studio said it would be able to determine the source of the leak using forensic marks in the workprint. The FBI and MPAA began investigating the illegal posting. [86] Fox estimated the workprint was downloaded roughly 4.5 million times by the time Wolverine was released in theaters. [88] As of 2014, Fox estimates that a minimum of 15 million people downloaded it. [89]
The print contained a reference to Rising Sun Pictures, an Australian visual effects company working on the film. [85] The company denied that they ever had a full copy of the film. [90] Executive producer Thomas Rothman claimed the leaked version lacked the ten minutes added during pick-ups in January 2009. [87] [90] However, the theatrical version of the film has no extra scenes that were not included in the leaked workprint. [91] Both versions run exactly 107 minutes, but director Gavin Hood said "another ending exists that features the film's villain." [87] The original upload was traced to a Bronx man named Gilberto Sanchez, who uploaded it to the site Megaupload in March 2009. [92] [93] According to Sanchez, he bought the unlicensed DVD copy from a Korean man. [92] Sanchez was sentenced to one year in federal prison. [93]
Ted Gagliano, President of Feature Post Production at Fox, later revealed that the leak originated from a preview copy prepared for Rupert Murdoch at short notice with inadequate security. [94]
Roger Friedman, a freelance gossip blogger for Fox News—a channel also owned by Fox's parent company News Corporation—was fired for writing a review of the film using the leaked unfinished copy, which he downloaded from the Internet. [95] [96] He described how easy it was to find and download the film even if the original source of the leak was no longer available on the web. The article he wrote for his column on the Fox News website was immediately removed. [97] Bruce Simmons wrote in Screen Rant : "What was Friedman thinking?" Not only was it foolish for him to review the movie, but then "he bragged" about how easy it was to find and download the pirated version. [98] [99] "When you work for the bank, you should not brag that you stole their money!" [98] [99]
Among the companies which provided tie-in merchandising were 7-Eleven, [100] Papa John's Pizza, [101] [102] and Schick. [103] Hugh Jackman also posed as Wolverine for the Got Milk? campaign. [104] In February 2009, Hasbro released a film-related toyline, featuring action figures and a glove with retractable claws. [105] In April, Marvel debuted a new comic series, Wolverine: Weapon X , which writer Jason Aaron said that while not directly influenced by the film, was written considering people who would get interested in Wolverine comics after watching the film. [106]
In December 2009, Hot Toys released the 12 inch highly detailed figure of Wolverine based on the movie with Hugh Jackman's likeness.
Raven Software developed a video game based on the film with the same name, which Activision published. [107] Marc Guggenheim wrote the script, [108] while Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, [109] and will.i.am voiced their characters from the film. [110] The storyline goes beyond the one from the film, including other villains from the comics such as the Sentinels and the Wendigo, [111] as well as the appearance of Mystique, who was in the other three X-Men films. [112]
X-Men Origins: Wolverine was released on April 29, 2009, in the UK, Denmark, South Africa, and Australia; April 30, 2009 in the Philippines and in the Dominican Republic; and May 1, 2009, in the United States and Canada. A contest was held on the official website to determine the location of the world premiere on April 27. In the end, the Harkins at the Tempe Marketplace in Tempe, Arizona won the premiere. [113] The release in Mexico was delayed until the end of May due to an outbreak of H1N1 flu in the country. [114] On April 22, nine days before the release of the film, it was reported that X-Men Origins: Wolverine was outselling Iron Man "3-to-1 at the same point in the sales cycle (nine days prior to the film's release)." [115]
During its first day of wide release, Wolverine took in an estimated $35 million, [116] with almost $5 million of that from midnight showings. [117] The earnings placed the film as the 16th highest-grossing opening day ever (22nd with ticket-price inflation). [116] It went on to be number one film at the box office with a total of $85 million. [118] [119] Among summer kick-offs, it ranked fifth behind Spider-Man , X2, Spider-Man 3 , and Iron Man and it was in the top ten of comic book adaptations. [119] The opening was lower than the last film in the franchise, X-Men: The Last Stand, as well as X2, but higher than X-Men, the first film in the series. [119]
The worldwide opening was over $158.1 million, but Fox stated that some markets underperformed, mostly due to the leaked workprint in countries with illegal downloading problems. [88] However, in an article for the "piracy issue" of Screen International magazine, film critic John Hazelton was doubtful of this explanation, writing that the film's initial performance was "uncertain" as the outbreak of swine flu in territories with the worst copyright infringement problems means that other territories did not compare at all. [120]
While it received largely unfavorable reviews from critics, the film has been a financial success at the box office. According to Box Office Mojo Wolverine has grossed approximately $179,883,157 in the United States and Canada. It took in another $193,179,707 in other territories, giving it a worldwide total of $373,062,864. [3]
On September 15, 2009, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released X-Men Origins: Wolverine on DVD and Blu-ray disc. The two-disc Blu-ray includes commentary by Hood, another commentary by producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter, the featurette "The Roots of Wolverine: A Conversation with X-Men creators Stan Lee and Len Wein", the featurette "Wolverine Unleashed: The Complete Origins", 10 character chronicles, two more featurettes, a trivia track, deleted scenes with commentary from Hood, two alternate sequences, a Fox Movie Channel premiere featurette and imdb BD Live technology. Disc two of the set includes a digital copy. [121] In addition, a Wal-Mart exclusive 3-disc set, which includes a standard DVD copy of the film was also released. [122] The two-DVD special edition includes the two commentaries, the featurette with Stan Lee and Len Wein, an origins featurette, deleted and alternate scenes, and an anti-smoking PSA on disc one; disc two has a digital copy of the film. The single-disc DVD release has the origins featurette and anti-smoking PSA. [121]
Wolverine was the highest selling and most rented DVD release of the week, selling over three million copies, [123] 850,000 of them on Blu-ray. [124] Through its first six weeks the DVD has sold 3.79 million copies, generating $64.27 million in sales. [125]
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 38% based on 259 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Though Hugh Jackman gives his all, he can't help X-Men Origins: Wolverine overcome a cliche-ridden script and familiar narrative." [126] On Metacritic the film has a score of 40 out of 100, based on reviews from 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [127] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. [128] [129]
Richard Corliss of TIME commented on the film's standing among other Marvel films, saying that it is "an O.K., not great, Marvel movie that tells the early story of the prime X-Man, and attempts to make it climax in a perfect coupling with the start of the known trilogy." He also said that "superhero mythologies can be so complicated, only a lonely comic-book-reading kid could make sense of it all." [130] James Mullinger of GQ also commented on the structure of the story in saying that the "film clumsily tries to explain the origins of James [Howlett], AKA Wolverine, which had wisely only ever been briefly referred to in the original X-Men saga. In doing so, it creates a fairly bland plot which is full of holes." [131] Peter Rainer of The Christian Science Monitor also praised Jackman's performance, saying that "Hugh Jackman demonstrates that you can segue effortlessly from a tuxedoed song-and-dance man at the Oscars to a feral gent with adamantium claws and berserker rage." [132] Claudia Puig of USA Today considered the movie "well-acted, with spectacular action and witty one-liners". [133]
Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four and asked about the title character, "Why should I care about this guy? He feels no pain and nothing can kill him, so therefore he's essentially a story device for action sequences." [134] James Berardinelli gave Wolverine two and a half stars out of four, calling the action scenes competently executed but not memorable, and considering that when dealing with Wolverine's past "there's little creativity evident in the way those blanks are filled in", and that the revelations made Wolverine "less compelling". [135] Comparatively, Bill Gibron of AMC's Filmcritic.com website gave the film a positive "4.0 out of 5 stars," saying that although Hugh Jackman is "capable of carrying even the most mediocre effort, he singlehandedly makes X-Men Origins: Wolverine an excellent start to the summer 2009 season." He predicted "there will be purists who balk at how Hood and his screenwriters mangle and manipulate the mythology;" and further said that "any ending which leaves several characters unexplained and unaccounted for can't really seal the full entertainment deal." [136]
Regarding Wolverine within the context of the X-Men film series, Tom Charity of CNN commented: "Serviceable but inescapably redundant, this Wolverine movie does just enough to keep the X-Men franchise on life support, but the filmmakers will have to come up with some evolutionary changes soon if it's going to escape X-tinction." [137] Similarly, A. O. Scott of The New York Times expressed that "X-Men Origins: Wolverine will most likely manage to cash in on the popularity of the earlier episodes, but it is the latest evidence that the superhero movie is suffering from serious imaginative fatigue." [138] On a more negative note, Philip French of The Observer said that the film's "dull, bone-crushing, special-effects stuff" is "of interest only to hardcore fans who've probably read it all in Marvel comics." [139]
Sukhdev Sandhu of The Daily Telegraph stated that "Wolverine is an artificial stimulus package of the most unsatisfying kind. Aggressively advertised and hyped to the hills, it will no doubt attract full houses at first; after that though, when word-of-mouth buzz-kill goes into overdrive, there's bound to be widespread deflation and a palpable feeling of being conned." [140] Similarly, Orlando Parfitt of IGN (UK) praised the performances of the actors and the action scenes, but stated that the film felt underdeveloped: "There's an enjoyable time to be had with Wolverine, but it's also somewhat unsatisfying." [141] Furthermore, Scott Mendelson of The Huffington Post gave the film a grade of "D", noting that "Wolverine was the lead character of [the X-Men] films, and we've already learned everything we need to know from the films in said franchise," adding that "the extra information given here actually serves to make the character of Logan/Wolverine less interesting." [142] Steven Rea also felt that the film injured the character by proving that "how the hero acquired his special powers turns out to be a whole lot less interesting than what he does with them", while also being "a mash-up of meaningless combat sequences (meaningless because Logan/Wolverine is just about unstoppable), sub-par visual effects, template backstory, and some goofy Liev Schreiber-as-a-villain thespianizing". [143]
Hugh Jackman later confessed being unhappy with the final result of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The actor wanted primarily a film that would deepen the Wolverine character, but "somehow the first Wolverine movie ended up looking like the fourth X-Men — just with different characters." He tried to avert the same results while doing the character's next solo film: 2013's The Wolverine . [144]
Two cases exist of adolescents injecting themselves with elemental mercury after watching X-Men Origins: Wolverine and incorrectly believing this would convert their bones to metal similar to how Wolverine obtains his adamantium skeleton. [145] [146]
X-Men Origins: Wolverine was set to be the first of a series of X-Men Origins prequels, with the next being focused on Erik Lensherr / Magneto. [147] However, this entered development hell and was eventually canceled, with elements instead being incorporated in X-Men: First Class (2011). [148] [149]
A second Wolverine film, titled The Wolverine (2013), was set years after X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) as a standalone sequel. [150] X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) was confirmed to erase the events of Wolverine through retroactive continuity. [151] A third Wolverine film titled Logan was released on March 3, 2017. [152] At one point, Schreiber was discussed as being in talks to reprise his role in Logan. [153]
The spin-off film Deadpool (2016) and its sequel Deadpool 2 (2018) feature Ryan Reynolds reprising his role as Deadpool, albeit in a more faithful depiction of the comics. Several jokes in both films are aimed at X-Men Origins: Wolverine due to the negative reaction to Weapon XI's portrayal in the film. [154] A mid-credits scene in Deadpool 2 depicts Deadpool traveling backwards in time to the events of this film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, to unceremoniously kill the widely criticized interpretation of the character, Weapon XI. The scene was pulled off using archival footage of Jackman from the film and with the help of stand-ins. [155]
Reynolds and Jackman eventually appeared together again as their respective characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), where Reynolds reprises his role from the spin-off Deadpool series of the franchise, while Jackman portrays a Wolverine "variant" in a comic-accurate yellow-suit as the co-lead, along with multiple alternate "variants" of Logan from the multiverse. [156] Sabretooth appears in the movie, notably called Wolverine's "brother", a plot point first showcased in this movie. Schreiber doesn't return to portray the character instead, Tyler Mane reprises the role from X-Men (2000). [157] Gambit appears in the movie as well, depicted in a more comic-accurate look with Cajun accent unlike this movie's incarnation of the character. Kitsch doesn't reprise the role instead Channing Tatum portrays the character, who was attached to star in an unproduced Gambit film in the X-Men film series. [158]
X2 is a 2003 American superhero film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris and David Hayter, from a story by Singer, Hayter and Zak Penn. The film is based on the X-Men superhero team appearing in Marvel Comics. It is the sequel to X-Men (2000), as well as the second installment in the X-Men film series, and features an ensemble cast including Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Bruce Davison, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Kelly Hu, and Anna Paquin. The plot, inspired by the graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills, concerns the genocidal Colonel William Stryker leading an assault on Professor Xavier's school to build his own version of Xavier's mutant-tracking computer, Cerebro, in order to destroy every mutant on Earth and to save the human race from them, forcing the X-Men to team up with the Brotherhood of Mutants to stop Stryker and save the mutant race.
Kestrel is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
X-Men: The Official Game is a 2006 beat 'em up video game developed by Z-Axis and published by Activision. It is a tie-in to X-Men: The Last Stand. The game covers the events between the films X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand, specifically following the characters of Logan, Iceman, and Nightcrawler. It also bridges the gap between the two films, explaining why Nightcrawler is not present for The Last Stand, and also introduces new foes for the game, such as HYDRA. The game uses several voice actors from the X-Men film series including Hugh Jackman, Alan Cumming, Shawn Ashmore, Patrick Stewart, Tyler Mane, and Eric Dane.
X-Men is an American superhero film series based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. The series was produced by 20th Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment from 2000 to 2020.
Wolverine is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is one of the few X-Men characters to be included in every media adaptation of the X-Men franchise, including film, television, cartoons, anime, and podcasts.
X-Men is a 2000 American superhero film directed by Bryan Singer from a screenplay by David Hayter and a story by Singer and Tom DeSanto, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Featuring an ensemble cast consisting of Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Bruce Davison, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Ray Park, and Anna Paquin, the film depicts a world where an unknown proportion of people are mutants, possessing superhuman powers that make them distrusted by normal humans. It focuses on mutants Wolverine and Rogue as they are brought into a conflict between two groups with radically different approaches to bringing about the acceptance of mutant-kind: Charles Xavier's X-Men, and the Brotherhood of Mutants, led by Magneto.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a action-adventure game based on the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The game release coincided with the release of the film on May 1, 2009, for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows, Wii, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable. A version of the game was also released for mobile phones. The game was developed primarily by Raven Software through the use of Unreal Engine 3. Its ESRB rating has varied widely across platforms, with the non-Nintendo console and PC versions being entitled the Uncaged Edition and receiving a Mature 17+ rating to provide players an opportunity to experience the uncensored graphic violence of the natural use of Wolverine's abilities, the Nintendo DS version receiving an Everyone 10+ rating due to its violence being tamed by reduced resolution and graphics, and the Wii, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable versions receiving a Teen rating by featuring standard superhero violence consistent with what was seen in the PG-13 rated film.
This is a list of non-comics media appearances of Gambit.
The X-Men are a fictional superhero team created by Marvel Comics that appear in comic books and other forms of media.
"Weapon X" is a comic book story arc written and illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith and published by American company Marvel Comics. The story arc appears in Marvel Comics Presents #72–84 and tells the story of Wolverine during his time in Weapon X. Only the prologue and part of the final chapter are told from the perspective of Wolverine, who is in a near mindless state for the bulk of the story. Instead, three members of the Weapon X team serve as the protagonists: Abraham Cornelius, Carol Hines, and a man referred to within the story as only "the Professor".
The Wolverine is a 2013 superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Wolverine. It is the sixth installment in the X-Men film series, the second installment in the trilogy of Wolverine films after X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), and a spin-off/sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). Directed by James Mangold from a screenplay written by Scott Frank and Mark Bomback, based on the 1982 limited series Wolverine by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, it stars Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine, alongside Svetlana Khodchenkova, Rila Fukushima, Tao Okamoto, Hiroyuki Sanada, Will Yun Lee and Famke Janssen. Following the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, Logan travels to Japan, where he engages an old acquaintance in a struggle that has lasting consequences. Stripped of his healing powers, Wolverine must battle deadly samurai while struggling with guilt over Jean Grey's death.
Logan is a 2017 American superhero film starring Hugh Jackman as the titular character. It is the tenth film in the X-Men film series, the third and final installment in the Wolverine trilogy, following X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and The Wolverine (2013), and a standalone sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). The film, which takes inspiration from the "Old Man Logan" comics storyline by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven, follows an aged Wolverine and an extremely ill Charles Xavier who must defend a young mutant named Laura from the Reavers led by Donald Pierce and Zander Rice. The film is produced by 20th Century Fox, Marvel Entertainment, TSG Entertainment and The Donners' Company, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is directed by James Mangold, who co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Green and Scott Frank from a story by Mangold. In addition to Jackman, the film also stars Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, and introduces Dafne Keen in her film debut as Laura.
Deadpool is a 2016 American black comedy superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Directed by Tim Miller and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, it is a spin-off of the X-Men film series and its overall eighth installment. The film stars Ryan Reynolds in the title role, alongside Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T.J. Miller, Gina Carano, and Brianna Hildebrand. In the film, Wade Wilson hunts the man responsible for giving him mutant abilities and a scarred physical appearance, becoming the antihero Deadpool.
Deadpool & Wolverine is a 2024 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Deadpool and Wolverine. Produced by Marvel Studios, Maximum Effort, and 21 Laps Entertainment, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the 34th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the sequel to Deadpool (2016) and Deadpool 2 (2018). The film was directed by Shawn Levy from a screenplay he wrote with Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Zeb Wells. Reynolds and Hugh Jackman respectively star as Wade Wilson / Deadpool and Logan / Wolverine, alongside Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Aaron Stanford, and Matthew Macfadyen. In the film, Deadpool learns that the Time Variance Authority plans to destroy his universe and works with a reluctant Wolverine from another universe to stop them.
Gambit is an unproduced American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It was intended to be an installment of the X-Men film series. Before its cancellation, the film had been written by Josh Zetumer based on a story by the character's creator Chris Claremont. Channing Tatum was set to star in the title role.
Wade Winston Wilson, also known as Deadpool, is a character portrayed by Ryan Reynolds in 20th Century Fox's X-Men film series and later the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise produced by Marvel Studios. Based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza, he was loosely adapted for his first appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), in which he is depicted as a member of Major William Stryker's Team X who is transformed into a genetically altered mutant killer known as Weapon XI, before being defeated by his former teammate Wolverine. This iteration of the character was negatively received by both critics and fans alike for deviating from the source material.
James Howlett, known as Logan and by his codename Wolverine, is a fictional character who originated as the main protagonist and central figure of 20th Century Fox's X-Men film series, having appeared in nine films since his introduction in X-Men (2000), including both ensemble and solo films. He is portrayed by Hugh Jackman and is based on the Marvel Comics character Wolverine, created by Len Wein and John Romita Sr. Jackman later portrayed multiple alternate "variants" of Logan from the multiverse in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), produced by Marvel Studios and set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), with Troye Sivan portraying a young Logan in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), and Henry Cavill portraying a variant dubbed "Cavillrine" in the former film.
Professor Charles Francis Xavier, also known simply by his codename Professor X, is a fictional character primarily portrayed by Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, and Harry Lloyd in 20th Century Fox's X-Men franchise and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) franchise produced by Marvel Studios, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link){{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)