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Gaming One Actor Keeps Coming Up To Play The X-Men’s MCU Wolverine By Paul Tassi ,
Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. News and opinion about video games, television, movies and the internet. Follow Author Aug 07, 2026, 09:18am EDT --:-- / --:-- This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . There is a long list of actors who have either been confirmed or are simply rumored to be joining the MCU’s upcoming X-Men lineup. The latest is Kit Connor, former Heartbreaker star and future Elden Ring adaptation lead, reportedly cast as Cyclops , now filling out the love triangle of Jean Grey (Sadie Sink) and Emma Frost (Samara Weaving), if Marvel even decides to go down that road. But one character often left out of these conversations? Wolverine.
There are, generally speaking, not really even rumors about who might be close to playing the role in the MCU. There’s not even confirmation that Wolverine will actually arrive at the same time as when the first MCU X-Men team launches. Hugh Jackman has played the role for 25 years and is expected to show up in Secret Wars. It is not impossible that he, somehow, continues playing an “Old Man Logan” Wolverine in the new era, though that seems like a reach for his character and not a terribly good idea. One actor, however, keeps coming up who fans do think is a good idea.
The actor is Matt Wood, who is far from a household name, but every time there’s discussion of Wolverine in the MCU, his name isn’t far behind. His biggest role is playing John Belushi in Saturday Night , but if you look at him, you can see how fans are deeming him a “comic accurate” Wolverine.
If you’ve only watched the movies, you’re only familiar with the 6’2 Hugh Jackman in the part. However, in the comics, Logan is only 5’3, meant to be a small, angry ball of violence rather than have some traditional superhero stature. That sized Logan was played for laughs in Deadpool and Wolverine using actor Luke Bennett with Jackman’s face superimposed on his body. Matt Wood is 5’7, five inches shorter than Jackman, but that would be good enough to satisfy most fans hoping Logan goes back to his comic roots.
In his mid-30s, Wood would be older than some of the younger cast of the new X-Men (Sadie Sink is 24, Kit Connor is 22), but I mean, he’s 200 years old. So, is this plausible?
I agree that it could be fun to go more comic-accurate for Wolverine. I do think, however, that Disney/Marvel would have a hard time being convinced of that, given that few had a problem with Jackman being tall for over two decades in the role, and the comic fans who want this may be a relatively niche group.
I think, unfortunately, the larger issue may simply be that Wood is too unknown for the part. We’re going through a “young Hollywood” list here of potential actors, and Wolverine is such a key role that it would be a gamble giving it to Wood. Not that he doesn’t deserve the chance, but this is corporate casting in action.
Wood, for his part, is ready to do whatever it takes, at one point responding to all this fancasting:
He’s referencing how Chris Pratt went from chubby Parks and Recreation star to the hyper-jacked Star Lord, and of course, Hugh Jackman has had one of the wildest physiques in the Marvel universe…ever, even now at 57.
I think it’s a cool idea, but we’ll see if Marvel is even willing to move away from Jackman any time soon.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy .
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