Wolverine 3 Release Date and Cast: Will Hugh Jackman Go Down the 'Old Man Logan' road?

Jul 28, 2015 04:59 PM EDT

There is no doubt that comic book movies are big bucks for Hollywood, and Marvel Studios puts out some of the biggest money-makers in the past decade with its Cinematic Universe.  In addition to the new X-men movie that will appear in theaters next summer, fans of the mutant team franchise can also expect to see Hugh Jackman play Wolverine for one last time in the Wolverine 3, the third time he has appeared in a solo film.  This is what is known about the Release Date and Cast. 

It will be two years until this next Wolverine film will be in theaters, and it doesn't look like a script has been penned yet.  The only reason why I can speculate that is that Hugh Jackman has taken to twitter to see what fans want to see.  The hashtag of #OneLastTime signifies that another actor is going to take his place for future X-Men films, and the A-list actor is calling out to his fans to ask what they want Wolverine to do on screen before someone other than Jackman will take over. 

The suggestions have been various references to famous Wolverine foes of the past, like his epic confrontations with the Hulk.  That could be difficult to do such a crossover with heroes from The Avengers movie series given how certain studios own rights to certain Marvel characters. 

The one rumor that seems to come up is that Wolverine 3 will use the "Old Man Logan" storyline, according to SlashFilm.  This is based on a comic series written by Mark Millar, who created many comic books that made it to the big screen like Kick-Ass, Wanted, and Kingsman: The Secret Service

The "Old Man Logan" series took place in a dystopian future world where the Marvel heroes and villains had a huge battle, with the villains winning.  Logan has abandoned his superhero identity and settled down with a wife and kids, but has to do a job that takes him across the villain-controlled wasteland. 

Honestly, I can't think of a better storyline to conclude Jackman's role as Wolverine.  The solo Wolverine films are not considered worth high praise as many consider X-Men Origins: Wolverine to be one of the worst Marvel films, and its successor, simply titled The Wolverine, also did not fare well. 

If Marvel went with Wolverine 3: Old Man Logan, it would be a chance to see Hugh Jackman hack and slash through X-men villains from a future time, and would be a great send-off to the actor.   Jackman really was able to channel the iconic character from the comic expertly, and it will be very difficult for any actor to replace him without being compared to Jackman. 

So far, there is no word on who will be starring with Jackman in Wolverine 3.  The official imdb page just calls it "Untitled Wolverine Sequel", with Patrick Stewart rumored to be reprising his role as Professor X. 

The third Wolverine movie is expected to hit theaters on March 3, 2017.  This will be the same year as the sequel to Fantastic Four that will hit theaters this summer.