Hugh Jackman Kicks Off New Year With Polar Bear Plunge

Hugh Jackman might be best known for starring on Broadway and in the X-Men movies, but the beloved actor is taking on a brand-new challenge to ring in the new year. On Monday, Jackman took to Twitter to share a video of himself participating in the polar plunge challenge, in which participants deliberately submerge themselves in freezing-cold water, something Jackman has done on social media himself multiple times. You can check it out below.

This video comes as Jackman’s 2024 is poised to be significant, with him returning to the role of Logan Howlett / Wolverine in Marvel Studios’ Deadpool 3. The film is scheduled to make its debut on July 26th.

Who Is in the Cast of Deadpool 3?

Deadpool 3 will star Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson / Deadpool, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Morena Baccarin as Vanessa Carlysle, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Stefan Kapičić as Piotr Rasputin/Colossus, and Emma Corrin and Matthew Macfadyen in currently-unknown roles. Jennifer Garner will be reprising her role as Elektra.

“I think you’re giving me too much credit,” Reynolds explained in a previous interview with Collider. “I don’t believe that I’m responsible for Hugh coming back. I always wanted Hugh to come back. My first meeting with Kevin Feige when Disney bought Fox years ago, maybe three years ago, or three and a half, four years ago, I’m not sure, was about doing a movie with the two of us, a Deadpool Wolverine movie. And that was not possible at the time. And then Hugh just happened to call at that perfect moment and express that he’d be interested in coming back and doing this one more time. And the contents of that conversation, I’ll let Hugh, because I know it’s only inevitable that you and Hugh are going to speak at some point soon, I’m sure. I’ll let Hugh answer that on his own. But he expressed interest in coming back, and then it was my job to take that to Kevin Feige one more time and sell it.”

Why Was Deadpool 3 Delayed?

As Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy explained in an interview this past fall, Deadpool 3 was halfway through production prior to the work stoppage caused by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA Hollywood strikes. Amid the strikes, Marvel Studios also paused production or pre-production on their upcoming films Thunderbolts and Blade, as well as their upcoming Wonder Man Disney+ series.

“Well, like the rest of our industry, or at least large swaths of it, we are paused. We were halfway through filming Deadpool, co-starring Wolverine. It was a joy every day, and that chemistry is, I have to say, spoiler alert, it is as relentlessly awesome as we had all hoped it would be,” Levy revealed. “But we are halfway through filming, we shut down, our crew and the rest of us are awaiting a fair and equitable deal that ends these strikes and puts our industry and certainly inclusive of our movie back at work.” 

What do you think of Hugh Jackman’s polar plunge video? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!