Deadpool & Wolverine became one of the most successful movies of all time, helping to push Hugh Jackman’s turn as the iconic Marvel character over a new milestone. Jackman’s last performance as the character prior to Deadpool & Wolverine was in Logan back in 2017, which was originally going to be the last time Jackman portrayed Wolverine after playing the character for over two decades in various X-Men movies. Things changed, of course, and Hugh Jackman reprized his role once more, helping lead the franchise into greater success than ever before.

Deadpool & Wolverine proved that Hugh Jackman still had what it took to play Wolverine, opening up the possibility for his return in other upcoming MCU projects. Jackman as Wolverine has proven to be financially successful since 2000, but it was Deadpool & Wolverine that took him past an incredibly impressive box office milestone.

Hugh Jackman Only Sat Out 2 X-Men Movies

Aside from the first two Deadpool movies (which basically exist as their own thing), there are only two X-Men films that Hugh Jackman didn’t appear in. These were Dark Phoenix and New Mutants, as those films also came out after Jackman had initially finished his tenure as Wolverine. Appearing in nine other films in the franchise prior to Deadpool & Wolverine shows not only how popular Hugh Jackman is as Wolverine, but the dedication he has to the character.

Interestingly, the two lowest-grossing movies in the X-Men franchise are the ones that Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine didn’t appear in.

It all started with Jackman’s Wolverine stealing the show in X-Men, and eventually, he became the only character from the first X-Men trilogy to get his own film. The franchise peaked at the box office with X-Men: Days of Future Past, and his swan song with Logan is considered one of the best comic book movies ever made. Hugh Jackman has done it all as the character, and experienced various amounts of financial success in the process. That is why it is so impressive that Deadpool & Wolverine took that success to even greater heights.

Deadpool & Wolverine Took Jackman’s X-Men Appearances Past $5.5bn

Prior to Deadpool & Wolverine, the X-Men franchise was relatively successful at the box office. Some movies did poorly, but overall most of them were at least a moderate success. Despite that, none managed to reach into the top 25 of the highest grossing superhero movies of all time, until Deadpool & Wolverine landed at the number 6 spot overall. Its total gross was north of $1.3 billion, an astronomical number.

With Deadpool & Wolverine adding to Hugh Jackman’s total box office as the character, it helped push his total gross past $5.5 billion, an incredibly impressive number that few actors could ever even dream of. Deadpool finally joining the MCU and Hugh Jackman’s return as Wolverine after walking away was the perfect blend to make the film so successful, truly adding a cherry on top of Jackman’s already impressive resume as the character.

Hugh Jackman’s Brand Makes His MCU Future Inevitable

When Logan came out, it genuinely felt like the last time Hugh Jackman would play Wolverine, and it was a fitting send-off. However, this wasn’t the case, and his return as the character in Deadpool & Wolverine truly showed just how much star power Hugh Jackman has as Wolverine and as an actor. Because of this, it still makes it hard to move on from Jackman as Wolverine, and this continued popularity essentially makes his return to the MCU once again inevitable.

There is no confirmation yet about which characters will be included in Avengers: Secret Wars, but Jackman returning feels likely, given that it is the grand culmination of the Multiverse Saga and what feels like the final closing chapter of various Marvel comic book universes. He is too popular as Wolverine for Marvel Studios to ignore. When the time comes for the MCU to actually introduce all the mutants into the main universe, it might be hard to picture anyone else playing the character.

Hugh Jackman has seen immeasurable success playing Logan for over two decades, but it was his turn as the character in Deadpool & Wolverine that truly took it to the next level, showing just how much star power he has. Because of the box office success of the film, Jackman returning again in the future doesn’t seem so far-fetched. It would also give the actor an opportunity to add to the box office total of his time as Wolverine, making it even more impressive.