Now, a new deepfake that replaces Jackman with Urban makes the strongest case yet for why the actor might the best choice to play the MCU’s new Wolverine. In the video below, YouTube user Stryder HD has digitally embedded Urban’s face onto Jackman’s head in scenes from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. While we have to question the YouTuber’s choice of movie, Urban does look very convincing as Marvel’s star mutant. Fans may want Urban as Wolverine, but does Urban want to play the mutant hero who first made his debut in the pages of The Incredible Hulk in 1974? And it doesn’t sound like Marvel Studios is actually considering the 50-year-old actor for the role either, judging from Kingsman star Taron Egerton’s own comments earlier this month. “I don’t think it would be wrong to say that,” Egerton told The New York Times when asked whether the actor would be interested in playing Wolverine in the MCU’s X-Men reboot. “I’d be excited, but I’d be apprehensive as well because Hugh is so associated with the role that I’d wonder if it’d be very difficult for someone else to do it. But hopefully, if it does come around, they’ll give me a shot.” The Times confirmed that Egerton has already met with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige about the role, but it’s unclear how far those talks have actually gone. Already, some fans are celebrating this turn of events. Besides his movie star status, Egerton also has one other thing going for him that a particularly vocal group of Marvel fans really care about: he’s a bit shorter than the 6-foot-2-inch Jackman. A common complaint during Jackman’s turn in the role from comic book nerds was that Jackman was too tall to play Wolverine, who is canonically a short king standing at only 5 feet 3 inches. Egerton, who is 5 feet 9 inches tall, gets Marvel a bit closer to that height. But height alone won’t decide whether any actor is right for the role. After Jackman’s 17 years as the big-screen version of character, it’ll undoubtedly be difficult for some viewers to warm to a new Wolverine regardless of looks. “I love those actors. I love them as human beings, and I love them as the characters,” longtime X-Men writer, producer, and director Simon Kinberg said to IGN in January. “So obviously, there’s a part of me that would be incredibly nostalgic and would be excited to see them. And certainly, I can’t imagine another person playing Wolverine, but I also couldn’t imagine another person playing James Bond. And I think that there’s an aspect of some of these characters where it’s like, there are a lot of great Hamlets over time. And I think even Hugh felt that with the end of Logan.” “As we’re nearing the end of Phase 4, I think people will start to see where this next saga is going,” Feige revealed to Total Film. “I think there have been many clues already, that are at least apparent to me, of where this whole saga is going. But we’ll be a little more direct about that in the coming months, to set a plan, so audiences who want to see the bigger picture can see a tiny, tiny, tiny bit more of the roadmap.” As of this moment, Marvel has yet to announce an X-Men project for the MCU, but it’s possible that could change in the next few weeks. Marvel Studios is set to make announcements about what’s next for the MCU at San Diego Comic-Con later this month as well as the D23 Expo in September.
