The Last Thing the MCU’s X-Men Need is a Brand-New Wolverine (Not Yet)

One of the most thrilling notions of the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe era is that we may soon have a mansion full of mutant students, let alone the five original members of the X-Men: Jean Grey (or Marvel Girl), Cyclops, Beast, Iceman, and Angel, alongside their founder and educator, Professor Charles Xavier. Characters from Fox’s X-Men universe are confirmed to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, for instance, but we’re also supposedly about to see the debut of a brand-new MCU X-Men character via Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

This would be enormously impactful because it’d be our first non-Fox X-Men character who belongs wholly to the MCU. Moreover, it suggests that the newest wave of X-Men characters will once again be played by actors who are in their early-20s, which is exciting. But, against all odds, the MCU shouldn’t feature a new Wolverine anytime soon.

The MCU’s X-Men May Be a Batch of Young Adults

Sadie Sink with a bloody nose in Fear Street

Sadie Sink is currently 23. There’s nothing saying that other X-Men can’t be younger or older, and yet this rumored casting for Jean Grey, if legitimate, would imply that the MCU will cast young adults as its new X-Men, whether that’s for the sake of franchise longevity or for younger audiences to have a team affiliation that leans a little closer to their demographic.

For example, if Sadie Sink truly is playing Jean Grey, whoever’s cast as Cyclops is likely expected to be roughly the same age, not 10-or-so years older.

Similarly, it would be gravely jarring if Logan’s Wolverine is played by a young adult actor. It can be difficult to remember that he’s not 10 or 20 years older than the other X-Men, but 200 years older, and his aging process is slowed exponentially, resulting in him looking like he’s in his 40s.

To be fair, any Logan that succeeds Hugh Jackman’s will be unprecedented, and it’s anyone’s guess what route the MCU will go with the character. The MCU has a rare opportunity to begin its X-Men journey with a Wolverine who is a young adult, though, and that’s via Dafne Keen’s Laura.

Dafne Keen, Not Hugh Jackman, Should Be the MCU’s Wolverine

Elektra wants to like Laura Kinney more than Logan.

One excuse to have an age-relevant Wolverine would be to nudge Dafne Keen’s Laura back into the MCU, if the X-Men are all going to be in their early-to-mid-20s, as she’s currently 21. That’d be easier said than done, however, and perhaps not all that satisfying, unless fans are huge fans of Logan and Deadpool & Wolverine and are adamant about seeing Wolverine in the next iteration of live-action X-Men.

Conversely, it would probably be ideal if the MCU refused to entertain the idea of Laura or any other Fox-era X-Men characters being brought back permanently. For Laura, specifically, this would already be the second time that a multiversal event is why she appeared, following her cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine.

But, even if Deadpool & Wolverine behaved like a beautiful swan song for non-MCU superhero projects like The Fantastic Four, Blade, and Elektra, Fox’s X-Men clearly haven’t been erased from the picture yet. If Channing Tatum’s Gambit is in Avengers: Doomsday, after all, there’s no reason why Dafne Keen’s Laura shouldn’t be reprised, though it’d likely be Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine coming back, if anything.

Still, the MCU hopefully isn’t so desperate to have a Wolverine in its initial X-Men roster that it drags Laura through a multiverse wormhole, even if Dafne Keen is in the same age demographic as Sadie Sink. It’d be preferable to have Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey and all other MCU X-Men be novel, without any tethers to the multiverse or any non-MCU franchise.

There is literally no Laura/X-23/Wolverine without a Logan, who was born in the 1800s and almost always looks between the ages of 40 to 50 in most media, but there can always be a Logan despite how old the rest of the X-Men are. This was teased in X-Men: Apocalypse, where Logan could look like he’s in his 40s, even if he is actually centuries old, while the rest of the X-Men are barely allowed to purchase alcohol in the U.S., and he could take on a mentor role.

Wolverine Deserves a Break

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine popping his claws

Indeed, an older Wolverine mentoring younger X-Men isn’t unheard of. In particular, this was a great dynamic in the animated X-Men: Evolution show, where the X-Men were teenagers.

This could be a potentially fantastic route for the MCU to go with its X-Men. That said, Laura or Logan notwithstanding, the MCU doesn’t need Wolverine to eclipse its other X-Men and replicate the sins of the Fox universe.

Wolverine has earned a long rest on the roster’s bench after single-handedly carrying Fox’s X-Men universe on his back for the last 26 years. Hugh Jackman can’t be revered as an irreplaceable figure if fans ever want another Wolverine, no matter how long he’s played the character for, but the need for X-Men characters like Jean Grey to be reinterpreted and properly represented is much more dire in the meantime.