Hugh Jackman Teases Berserker Rage In James Mangold's 'Wolverine 3'
Wolverine 3 will be Hugh Jackman's last outing as the clawed mutant who has driven pretty much the entire X-Men franchise with the exception of X-Men: First Class. So far all we know is that the sequel will have some ties to the Old Man Logan comic book arc, and Patrick Stewart as Professor X will be an integral part of the movie.
But Jackman recently teased a couple more things that fans will be happy to see pop up in the sequel, one of which we haven't seen in any of the previous X-Men movies, and another is a familiar face.
Jackman appeared on the Sydney Confidential podcast (via THR) and spoke briefly about what's in store for Wolverine 3:
"There were a lot of calls for Victor Creed to come back... I must admit I was quite heartened by a number of people saying please don't make it the last, but I'm really excited about this last one, and if you're a comic book fan, then the words 'beserker rage' came up a lot, so if you know Wolverine, you'll understand."
Victor Creed is the name of the villain better known as Sabretooth. The character is a significant nemesis for Wolverine in the comic, but but he was neutered a little bit in the version played by Tyler Mane in X-Men back in 2000. And while Liev Schreiber's version of the characters was better in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the movie was just far too terrible for that to make much of a difference. Could one of them come back?
Jackman doesn't say whether or not he can meet the fans' request for the return of Sabretooth in this last outing, but the mention of some Wolverine 3 berserker rage should certainly pique their interest. In the comics, berserker rage is a moment in which Wolverine completely loses himself to his animal side and lets savage, mindless anger take over, becoming just as dangerous to his allies as his enemies. What's going to push Wolverine to this point in the sequel?
As for the Old Man Logan angle for Wolverine 3, we're not sure just how much it will influence the movie's narrative, but here's how that comic storyline begins:
No one knows what happened on the night the heroes fell. All we know is that they disappeared and evil triumphed and the bad guys have been calling the shots ever since. What happened to Wolverine is the biggest mystery of them all. Some say they hurt him like no one ever hurt before. Others say he just grew tired of all the fighting and retired to a simpler life. Either way he hasn't raised his voice or popped his claws in fifty years. His old friends would barely recognize him now.
It takes place in a world where super villains have divided the world's territories and are controlling everything, the way they've always wanted. That seems a little too wild for the cinematic universe of X-Men, but maybe the events of X-Men: Apocalypse set up for something like that? We'll just have to wait and see.
Wolverine 3, directed by James Mangold, arrives on March 3rd, 2017.