[UPDATE: Be sure to check out our in-depth breakdown and analysis of the trailer!]
It had to happen. Perhaps it was just inevitable. Looking at it from the perspective of long-time fans or from a marketing standpoint, it just made sense. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine needs to be in X-Men: Apocalypse.
And he is.
It’s not as spoiler now to say that the early rumors and reports (as self-contradictory as many of them were) that Wolverine would make an appearance in the followup to X-Men: Days of Future Past. It’s not a spoiler because the studio, Twentieth Century Fox, really wants you to know this fact. That’s why Hugh Jackman appears in the new (and final) trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse.
Some fans may not like having this particular surprise spoiled and there is an argument to be made about whether or not this is or should have been kept a surprise - but from a business perspective, it was a given. Outside of Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is Fox’s only bankable star - so just like Warner Bros. included Wonder Woman in its marketing for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and just like Marvel Studios made sure fans knew Spider-Man would suit up for Captain America: Civil War, so too is Fox leaning on one of its most popular characters to help sell the studio’s 2016 team-up event movie.
And since the marketing has mostly been met with mixed reactions (the studio isn’t very good at crafting marketing materials for their non-Deadpool Marvel movies), Fox had to do something to build hype in the wake of the buzz of Captain America: Civil War if the studio hopes to also find blockbuster success at the box office in May.
The will he, won’t he saga of whether or not Jackman’s Wolverine will appear in X-Men: Apocalypse has finally come to an end. For over a year there has been speculation and rumors claiming one or the other, but now we know it’s true. And given how X-Men: Days of Future Past concluded the story arc of ’70s Wolverine, it would have been a misstep to not to explain what happened to him after Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) seemingly rescued him. But maybe she didn’t do such a great job since somehow Stryker got ahold of Wolvy once again in the new timeline.
W. pic.twitter.com/afhMx2ELnr— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) April 25, 2016
And it’s pretty clear Stryker isn’t trying to help the X-Men save the world here since Wolverine and the young X-Men take out many of Stryker’s soldiers on their way out. Here are some official HD stills from the final X-Men: Apocalypse trailer which also features a few classic Marvel Comics elements (Quicksilver namedropping Magneto as his father and the Storm vs. Cyclops fight):
Wolverine has been in every X-Men movie, if we count pictures of Hugh Jackman in Deadpool. As such, it’s important to include him in Apocalypse at least in some capacity - since Wolverine 3 is next in line for the studio.
More: Wolverine 3 Is Set In The Future
X-Men: Apocalypse opens in theaters May 27, 2016, followed by Wolverine 3 on March 3rd, 2017, and unannounced X-Men films on October 6th, 2017 (possibly Gambit), January 12th, 2018 (possibly Deadpool 2), and July 13th, 2018. The New Mutants is also in development.
Source: 20th Century Fox
