Marvel’s Wolverine Search Keeps Landing on Jeremy Allen White

What the Reports Say

The rumor picked up in early November. Industry reporter Jeff Sneider wrote in his newsletter that he had heard White met with Marvel about a small role in the X-Men reboot. Other insiders went further and said White, along with a second unnamed actor, had wrapped meetings with Marvel about Wolverine specifically.

Then came the complication. ComicBookMovie reported that a source it trusts had heard Logan is not currently in the X-Men script at all. If both reports are accurate, Marvel may be talking to actors about the character’s future well before he has a place in the next movie. A small role, as Sneider described it, would fit a cameo or a setup for later.

White also has history here. He has said in past interviews that an earlier meeting with Marvel didn’t go well, and he has never sounded desperate to join a superhero franchise. When asked about the Wolverine fancast last year, his response was polite and noncommittal.

Why Fans Keep Picking Him

The fancast has been around since The Bear made him a star, and it comes down to two things. The first is height. White is about 5’7″, which puts him much closer to the comic book Logan than Hugh Jackman ever was. The second is the performance. Carmy Berzatto barely holds his temper together from one service to the next, and a lot of fans see a straight line from that kitchen to Logan’s rage.

The case against him is mostly about box office. His recent movies haven’t been big commercial hits, and Wolverine is one of the most valuable characters Marvel owns. There is also the question of Hugh Jackman, who returned in Deadpool & Wolverine and has long been rumored to appear in Avengers: Secret Wars. A new Wolverine can’t fully arrive until that chapter closes.

The Rest of the Mutant Rumor Mill

Wolverine wasn’t the only mutant on the table in Chapter 299. The crew also worked through rumors around Alpha Flight and X-Force, which tie into reports from a week earlier that Ryan Reynolds is developing an Alpha Flight project. Deadpool’s possible role in Secret Wars got its own round of theories. And Ben Wang, who is in talks to play Iceman, is the closest thing the X-Men reboot has to a confirmed young cast so far.

The episode didn’t stay on Marvel. The crew opened with the DC Studios shake-up and the exit of James Gunn and Peter Safran, then moved through Robert Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult in the James Bond conversation, the animated John Wick prequel, the Stranger Things prequel and Ahsoka season 2.

Distance NERDing wants your pick, and it’s the same question every fan forum is arguing about this week: who should play Wolverine? Drop your answer in the comments on the episode or find the crew on their socials.