Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine has proven himself time and time again as one of the greatest live-action superhero characters ever, with excellent scenes in all ten of his movie appearances. Easily one of the greatest superhero castings of all time, Hugh Jackman’s performance as Wolverine has carried many scenes throughout the Fox X-Men movies. In fact, every one of the ten movie appearances Jackman’s Wolverine has had thus far has a single standout scene worthy of commendation.
Not all the Fox X-Men movies are created equally, with some being leagues ahead of others in terms of quality. However, each one manages to have at least one standout showing for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, whether it’s an intriguing bit of character development, an important narrative moment, or simply an exciting fight scene. There’s a reason the Australian actor’s return to the role in Deadpool & Wolverine was so hotly anticipated.
10. The X-Mansion Attack
X2
Arguably the best film of the original X-Men trilogy, it’s fitting that X2‘s best Wolverine scene is also simply one of its best scenes in general. When Stryker sends a secretive task force to infiltrate the X-Mansion, it’s up to Wolverine and the other senior mutants within the facility to ward off the strike force. What follows is a tense action scene as the home invaders are quickly humbled by the various powerful mutant abilities of the manor, including Wolverine’s.
Whereas Logan was once a vagrant drifter only surviving for his own sake, he now fights for a greater purpose
The scene is a great showing for Wolverine’s fighting and leadership skills, using dirty tricks like stabbing Stryker’s soldiers in the feet while instantly taking command of the situation by barking orders to Colossus, who quickly carries them out. It also shows how far he’s come character-wise — Whereas Logan was once a vagrant drifter only surviving for his own sake, he now fights for a greater purpose in an effort to protect the children of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. It’s no wonder the X2 mansion attack is still looked back upon so fondly.
9. Logan’s Death Scene
Logan
Few iconic superheroes in film have gotten as picture-perfect of an ending as Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in Logan.The film took Logan’s arc from a self-centered feral beast to a caring father figure to its natural conclusion, intimately caring for someone other than himself in both Professor X and Laura. While he isn’t able to save the former, Logan goes to great lengths to ensure the safety of X-23 and the other mutant children, taking a steroid that accelerates his fatal condition to give himself a necessary power boost.
Though he wins the fight against his evil clone, X-24, he only barely survives with fatal injuries, his heart stabbed through a tree. With his healing factor fading, Logan dies with Laura in his arms, fulfilling a prophecy made in the earlier film The Wolverine that he would die “with his heart in his hands.” It turns out that this prediction didn’t refer to a literal heart, but a figurative one in Laura, making the moment all the more bittersweet.
8. Deadpool & Wolverine’s Time Ripper Scene
Deadpool & Wolverine
As fantastic as Hugh Jackman’s retirement of the character in Logan was, it’s hard to say that anyone wasn’t excited for his return in Deadpool & Wolverine. The film technically evaded ruining Logan‘s ending by introducing a new variant of Wolverine, one who is plagued by doubt after he failed to save his universe’s X-Men.
Jackman brings his all to his return to the character, but the film’s standout scene for Wolverine has to be the final moment in which he joins hands with Deadpool in order to form an antimatter conduit capable of stopping the Time Ripper.
Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine has won several awards, including the 2009 Spike Video Game Award, four MTV Movie Awards, four People’s Choice Awards, a Saturn Award, and a Guinness World Record in 2019.
The two hold hands as an epic version of the film’s premiere needle drop Like a Prayer plays in the background. Wolverine’s doubts melt away in flashback as he gives up his life to save a universe, finally wearing the iconic Wolverine mask while his shirt dramatically rips off, revealing a deadly set of abs. Over-the-top, emotional, heartwarming and slightly erotic, this scene is perfect cherry on top of Deadpool & Wolverine‘s phenomenal ending.
7. Wolverine Saves A Japanese Soldier From The Atomic Bomb
The Wolverine
Speaking of The Wolverine, the film revolving around Logan’s solo adventure through the Japanese criminal and mutant underworld might not be the most engaging X-Men film ever, but still had plenty of opportunities for excellent Wolverine moments. However, the scene that leaves the biggest impression happens early in the film, which takes place during one of Wolverine’s many exploits as an immortal soldier during World War II. Imprisoned as a POW near Nagasaki in Imperial Japan, Wolverine witnesses the Allies’ use of the atomic bomb.
Scrambling to avoid the horror of the bomb’s blast, both Wolverine and one of his captors manage to make it into a largely protected well. When it becomes clear that the bomb’s destructive heatwave will still reach them, Wolverine saves the soldier’s life by blocking the plast with a piece of debris, suffering horrific burns along his back in the process. The soldier, Yashida, watches in awe as Wolverine’s skin knits itself together, setting up the rest of the film that would take place decades later.
6. Wolverine And Sabretooth Fight Through The Ages
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
While X-Men Origins: Wolverine might be the worst film to star Hugh Jackman in his iconic mutant role, his own performance still manages to shine through with a few standout scenes. There are several that come to mind in the otherwise pitiful film, such as his adamantium transformation in the Weapon X program or his first time trying out his new claws. However, it’s the opening credits of Wolverine and Sabretooth carving a procession of violence through multiple wars that remains the most memorable.
The mostly wordless montage shows the lengths the two’s comradely bond went through across human history, from the American Civil War all the way up to Vietnam. It also gives key details on the moral difference between the two warriors, with Wolverine finally ending the scene when he steps in to prevent Sabertooth from sexually assaulting a defenseless civilian. One of the best opening scenes of any superhero movie, it’s a shame this breathtaking sequence is stuck in an otherwise mediocre film.
5. Weapon X Is Set Loose In Stryker’s Facility
X-Men: Apocalypse
Taking place in the past and centering on the new version of the younger core X-Men cast, few fans expected Wolverine to make an appearance in X-Men: Apocalypse going in. However, Jackman managed to claim the movie for his filmography in an uncredited cameo as Wolverine himself, at this point simply a feral mutant known as Weapon X.
When the X-Men find themselves deep behind enemy lines in Stryker’s facility, they have no choice but to free Weapon X in hopes of causing a distraction big enough to let them escape.
Cause a distraction Wolverine certainly does as he tears his way through the facility, wearing nothing but the cybernetic monitoring devices of the program as he carves a bloody path to freedom. Using the feral form of Wolverine as a sort of environmental hazard was one of the most brilliant ideas of X-Men: Apocalypse, making for a great cameo that doesn’t overstay its welcome.
While this is Wolverine’s only scene in the film, it’s still one of the greatest of his entire run of X-Men movie appearances.
4. Wolverine Rejects Magneto And Professor X’s Offer
X-Men: First Class
His cameo in X-Men: Apocalypse is far from Wolverine’s only brief appearance in the Fox X-Men prequel timeline. In the very first film to kick off the new trilogy of movies, Wolverine appears ever-so-briefly during Erik and Charles’ montage in which they go around recruiting known mutants to their cause. He’s their only unsuccessful pitch, as the two barely manage to introduce themselves before the unbothered Logan eats up the PG-13 film’s one alloted f-bomb by saying “Go f**k yourself.”
This hilariously prompts Magneto and Professor X to wordlessly leave, though the interaction would come back to haunt Wolverine later. When he travels back in time to convince Charles Xavier to help him avert the disastrous future, Charles simply quotes the last thing he remembers Wolverine telling him, though he misremembers the phrase as “F**k off.” This scene sets up where Logan is mentally during the events of X-Men: First Class, allowing him to grow and cringe at his old behavior later.
3. Logan Admits His Love For Jean Grey
X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men: The Last Stand had a lot of problems, from its ridiculous portrayal of the long-awaited villain Juggernaut to its utter mishandling of the famous Dark Phoenix storyline from the comics. Still, there are a few poignant emotional beats in the film that do manage to land, especially Wolverine’s final interaction with Jean Grey. The Scott-Logan-Jean love triangle quickly became a tired aspect of the original X-Men trilogy, but that doesn’t make its bittersweet conclusion any sadder when it happens.
The only one who can survive the Dark Phoenix’s disintegration aura thanks to his healing factor, Wolverine has to be the one to stop the rampage of Jean’s alternate personality. Managing to break through to the real Jean for a few precious seconds just long enough to admit his love for her, Wolverine tearfully stabs her, making for a heartbreaking finale that goes on to haunt him in The Wolverine. That is, if one can ignore the plot hole that Logan could’ve easily used one of the many mutant cure vials lying around from the previous battle.
2. Wolverine Wakes Up In 1973
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Unlike the Days of Future Past comic, which saw Kitty Pryde herself go back in time to prevent the dystopian nightmare of a future the mutants faced, the film adaptation instead has Wolverine be the one flung into the past. Thanks to this change, one of the best Wolverine scenes ever got to happen as Logan wakes up in his 1973 body, showing just how far the character has come. Keeping in line with his former sleazeball personality, Hugh Jackman wakes up next to a strange woman he was supposed to be bodyguarding, shirtless and as jacked as ever.
The best part of this scene are Logan’s futile attempts to convince his co-workers that he’s from the future, and his coming to grips with his pre-adamantium body in the ensuing fight. It becomes clear that Logan had gotten used to his indestructible bones and razor-sharp claws, wincing at gunfire that can now shatter his skeleton and needing to strike harder than usual to find purchase with his natural claws. For highlighting personal growth and being consistent with Wolverine’s movie journey, this scene stands out as one of the character’s strongest.
1. Logan Gets Into A Bar Fight
X-Men
X-Men is the first film in the long-running superhero franchise centering on the iconic Marvel team. Wolverine and Professor X take center stage as they and the other X-Men attempt to stop Erik Lehnsherr (aka Magneto) after he has a violent response to the proposed Mutant Registration Act. Hugh Jackman stars as Wolverine, alongside Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, and Anna Paquin.
This moment single-handedly began a dynasty of cinematic superhero prowess that would go on to rule for two decades running, quickly establishing just how incredible Jackman was in the role. From his ferocity to his anti-social habits, Jackman was in sync with his most famous role from the very beginning. It’s hard to forget the slow seconds in which Wolverine‘s middle claw extends up against the hapless human thug’s throat, making for a stark image not soon to be forgotten.
