X-Men: Matthew Vaughn Wanted Tom Hardy To Play Wolverine

Another missed opportunity in comic book history...

By Simon Gallagher /

WhatCulture

Ever since Hugh Jackman hung up his claws and bowed out of the X-Men franchise with the fabulous Logan in some style, the question of what comes next for the franchise's most marketable brand has been a pretty insistent one.

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Though the idea of recasting the character has been widely discussed, with the next X-Men movie already in the works, it seems somewhat unlikely that we'll see anything until a solo project is announced or he becomes part of a Deadpool cross-over (like X-Force), so there may be some time to wait yet.

That hasn't stopped the speculation, however, with a movable feast of acting talent linked with the role as Jackman's replacement. And it turns out that one of those names - Tom Hardy - who Jackman himself suggested would make a great replacement, has already been considered in some way for the role.

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That's according to Matthew Vaughn, who is currently doing the publicity tour for KIngsman: The Golden Circle and has talked about his time directing X-Men movies.

Vaughn first spoke to Deadline to confirm that he wanted to make Days Of Future Past in a different way, with another film bridging between First Class and that movie, and almost casually dropped Hardy's name into the mix:

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"When we finished it, I remember saying to Simon Kinberg and Emma Watts; guys, this feels like it should be the third of the trilogy. It's such a big concept.”
"Why don't we do another, one set in the '70s, because of Young Wolverine, and then the third one is Days of Future Past, where you're seeing the Young Wolverine with, let's say it's Tom Hardy, and Hugh Jackman and all the other characters were together."

That clearly wasn't an accidental, off-hand comment either - it's something he really thought about, because he has now echoed the exact same sentiment to Den Of Geek when talking about the idea of a Kingsman trilogy with the final film amping up in scope and size:

"Yeah pretty much so and it was weird because with The Golden Circle it was also in my mind that hopefully – and again I don't want to jinx it - that for me there’s one more film to be made. I'm looking at The Golden Circle really as a bridge to number three, which is a much larger crazier world, which I felt would've been too big a leap for number two."

Clearly, his alternative approach to Days Of Future Past is a pet subject:

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"It’s actually a little bit how I felt about Days Of Future Past as well, I thought that should've been the third film, that should've been the ending and my plan was to do another X-Men in the seventies, but you meet a young Wolverine, like a Tom Hardy or someone, and then the third one is then when you bring all the characters together, because Days Of Future Past is a pretty hard concept to top."

There's that name again.

Hardy would definitely have made a great Wolverine - and he still could, even though he's playing Venom for Sony - all we need now is for Fox to start paying attention to how many people think it's a great idea.

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Read Next: 12 Actors Who Should Play Wolverine Next