The 'Wolverine 3' Villains Have Been Maybe, Sort Of Revealed (Possibly)

It's starting to look like the goal of the currently filming Wolverine 3 is to send Hugh Jackman's adamantium-clawed superhero out with a bloody bang by throwing as many villains at him as possible. We already know that Narcos star Boyd Holbrook will play the lead villain, an original character reportedly created specifically for this film and that Richard E. Grant will play a "mad scientist" of some kind. Even the post-credits scene in X-Men: Apocalypse appears to be setting up a future villain whose identity will lurk behind this link for those who wish to know.

Now, a new report claims to know about another group of villains that will menace Wolverine in his cinematic swan song and fans will be pleased to note that they have been ripped straight from the comics. Some of you may find this to be a minor spoiler, so feel free to stop reading now if you don't want to know about the Wolverine 3 villains.

Naturally, you should take all of this with a healthy dose of salt until we hear something official. So consider this all a big "maybe" until 20th Century Fox gives in and confirms it.

The Nerdist, citing a source close to the production, claims that the Reavers will show up in Wolverine 3. Although not especially well-known beyond comic book fanatics, the Reavers have menaced the X-Men (and Wolverine in particular) since Chris Claremont's acclaimed X-Men run in the late '80s and early '90s. Although the make-up and goals of the group have shifted over time, they have always been cyborgs and they have almost always hated Mutants and have gone out of their way to destroy them. In their most famous iteration, they worked under the orders of Donald Pierce, a genocidal maniac who wanted to destroy all Mutants. Could this be who Richard E. Grant is playing in the film?

Although Wolverine 3 is supposedly an adaptation of Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's "Old Man Logan" storyline, following an aging Wolverine in an ugly dystopian future, the Reavers don't play a role in that story at all. That means director James Mangold and writers Michael Green and David James Kelly are doing what the rest of the X-Men movies have done so far – using the comics as more a suggestion than a guideline. That's perfectly fine, as long as the final movie is good (and Mangold's The Wolverine is very good).

The same Nerdist post also speculates that this iteration of the Reavers may allow for the return of a few classic X-Men villains, which is fun to think about if you want to put on your nerd theory hat for a little while:

What if the creative team behind Wolverine 3 is taking a more creative, looser approach to the Reavers, and might use this as a chance to have Wolverine face off against all of his biggest foes for one final fight? If Essex Corp. is using the blood of various mutants to build the Reavers, could they reincarnate cyborg versions of the greatest enemies Wolverine has faced across the X-Men cinematic universe? Maybe this is just wishful thinking, but we've heard small rumblings that Liev Schreiber might be returning as Sabretooth...

Wolverine 3 will open on March 3, 2017.