Is Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine going to appear in Avengers: Doomsday and/or Avengers: Secret Wars? Even just a few years ago, the idea of his version of the iconic X-Men character crossing over into the MCU seemed like little more than a pipe dream. Logan was a definitive ending for the character, and Jackman had seemingly put away the claws for good. But then multiverses became a common focus of comic book movies, and everyone from Tobey Maguire to Patrick Stewart reprised their superhero roles. Jackman himself eventually returned for Deadpool & Wolverine, and now an Avengers movie appearance doesn’t seem quite so fanciful an idea.
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Avengers: Doomsday‘s cast assembled several of Jackman’s old X-Men cohorts in its first wave of announcements, including Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, and Alan Cumming. That alone suggested we’d probably see Jackman back in action at least one more time, but more recent reports that Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool will be in Doomsday only solidify that idea. With the two characters having teamed up already, and Reynolds being the one who brought Jackman out of super-retirement, it seems extremely likely Wolverine will be in the fifth Avengers movie. Honestly, at this point, it’d be more shocking if he isn’t in it, or at least in Secret Wars if not Doomsday.
Should Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine Return In Avengers: Doomsday?
In a way, it’s not only seemingly inevitable that Jackman will return, but obvious he should. His portrayal of Wolverine is one of the all-time great comic book movie performances and, with so many of the other Fox X-Men cast back in the fold, it’d feel a little bit weird to not have him included. Assuming that we get at least one big team-up scene in the movie with Professor X, Cyclops, Magneto, Mystique, and Nightcrawler, plus any others who might be brought back too (like, say, Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey or Halle Berry’s Storm), then yeah, Wolverine probably should be part of that.
However, that speaks to the wider problem with Doomsday, and in particular with Jackman coming back as Wolverine. The movie is taking the recent trend of characters returning via the multiverse to the extreme. Too many superhero movies have been reliant on cameos and nostalgia, chasing viral moments over strong narratives because it’s proved to be a quick ticket to box office success. Doomsday has to overcome that problem regardless of whether Logan is a character in the movie or not but, given he’d be one of the most notable returnees, it’d certainly add to it.
The character was given a perfect farewell in Logan, which has one of the best finales of any superhero movie ever made. Deadpool & Wolverine didn’t ruin that ending, but was it as strong an outing? Did it live up to the standard of that movie, and was it really worth it? The $1.3 billion it grossed at the box office says yes, which is probably all that matters, but there’s no reality where it captures the raw, powerful emotion and lasting impact of what Logan did. Jackman returning again just gets us further away from that, even if he is playing a variant.
Wolverine Returning Causes An X-Men Problem
The other issue with Wolverine and the other X-Men characters joining the MCU is that it holds back Marvel Studios’ own X-Men reboot. That probably isn’t coming until Phase 7, post-Secret Wars, where we’ll be seeing a retooled universe that deals with the fallout from that movie and the many changes it may bring. The idea of “new” versions of characters is something Marvel has already had to deal with, and hasn’t accomplished perfectly. Anthony Mackie is a worthy new Captain America and great in the role, but Brave New World didn’t deliver at the box office. Kevin Feige put some of the blame on that being “the first without Chris Evans.” [via Deadline]
Those problems may only deepen. Marvel hasn’t done enough to establish the new heroes it introduced in Phases 4 and 5: Sam Wilson fully became Captain America in a 2021 Disney+ TV show, and then didn’t appear in a movie until 2025. Shang-Chi hasn’t been seen since his 2021 solo movie. The Eternals will probably never return. And the biggest hype instead comes for the legacy characters: Spider-Man: No Way Home bringing back Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men, the many cameos of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Jackman himself in Deadpool & Wolverine. It’s not coincidence they’re the biggest box office hits in Marvel’s Phases 4-6 (so far). It’s also no coincidence Robert Downey Jr. is coming back as well.
It’s easy to see how Jackman, in particular, contributes to that when it comes to the X-Men reboot. We’ve seen other versions of several of those characters, but, a quick Henry Cavill gag cameo aside, there’s only even been one Wolverine. Replacing him would be a mammoth task even if he’d never returned after Logan. But if he ends up in the MCU proper with Doomsday/Secret Wars, it feels like an even more monumental undertaking. Unless, of course, it kills him off again – but then we already saw that done brilliantly. That’s not intended as any slight on Jackman: if he does come back, we can assume he’ll absolutely bring it. But maybe some things are just better left as they are.
Avengers: Doomsday will be released on December 18th, 2026. Secret Wars follows on December 17th, 2027.
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