There’s been a lot of discussion — for years, but particularly this weekend — about who should play Marvel Studios’s Wolverine. Yes, Hugh Jackman reprises the role in Deadpool & Wolverine, and there’s even a running joke about how Disney will have him play the role until he’s 90. But there’s a far more obvious solution: Kevin Feige and company should cast Dafne Keen as the MCU‘s Wolverine.
Spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine after this point.
To jump back and give a little context here, Keen was first introduced as Laura Kinney, aka X-23, in 2017’s Logan. The then 11-year-old played the clone of Wolverine, except with slightly different claws and a bit of a friendlier attitude. She returns in Deadpool & Wolverine as a denizen of The Void, the place at the End of Time introduced in Loki where the TVA (Time Variance Authority) sends things they don’t want anymore. It’s basically their big, multiversal garbage dump.
What Laura is doing there is never really explained, though the plot of the movie concerns the end of Logan — where Logan dies — as the cause of the unraveling of the timeline where the Fox X-Men movies exist. The now 19-year-old Keen reprises her role as Laura in a few key scenes… Giving this version of Wolverine a pep talk, and later battling the Juggernaut to help save Deadpool’s (Ryan Reynolds) universe. She’s subsequently consumed by Alioth, a smoke monster that lives in The Void. But after saving the multiverse, Deadpool makes a deal with the TVA to bring her back from the dead. The movie ends with Laura, Wolverine, Deadpool, and all of Deadpool’s friends hanging out and having a good time.
So yes, Jackman is still around in another universe next door to the MCU’s 616 by the end of the movie. And in a montage sequence about 30 or so minutes in, we meet a Variant of Wolverine played by Henry Cavill, called the Cavillrine by Deadpool, leading to a ton of fan speculation that the former Superman actor will be taking over the role.
Both of those options are fine, of course. Jackman will almost definitely reprise his role in the multiversal mash-up movie Avengers: Secret Wars. And despite his devotion to playing Warhammer 40,000, Cavill probably has the time and definitely has the muscle to suit up as Wolverine in an MCU X-Men movie.

But the far, far better option here is ditching Logan as the MCU’s Wolverine entirely, and instead having Dafne Keen suit up in the future. There’s even precedent, with Laura taking on the moniker of Wolverine in the Marvel Comics source material for the past few years.
It also opens up new story opportunities. This is 100% nothing against Jackman, but we’ve told Logan’s story. Many times. In many movies. Over the course of now 24 years, we’ve seen his past, his present, and his future. We, as a movie-going audience, are all good on James “Logan” Howlett as a character on screen.
On the other hand, Laura Kinney was seen as a kid in Logan, and briefly in Deadpool & Wolverine. There’s a lot more you can do with her character. More to explore emotionally, more room to grow… You name it. The world is wide open for what Marvel can — and should — do with the character formerly known as X-23.
There’s an even more practical reason, though. Not to be ageist, but Jackman is currently 55. Henry Cavill is 41 years old. That’s not ancient or anything, but if you want to extend a franchise, that’s starting to push things a little bit. On the other hand, Keen is 19-years-old. And based on both her scenes in Deadpool & Wolverine, and as Jecki in Star Wars: The Acolyte, she is an action star in the making. She’s got the chops and attitude to make it work — and in both this weekend’s movie, and her abbreviated Star Wars role, people loved her.
Marvel has a real opportunity on their hands with Keen: an actress people love, in a role they love, who has the screen magnetism necessary to be a star, and is young enough that you can keep X-Men movies and solo movies going for decades to come. Plus, and this is important to fans too: even with the appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine, we haven’t seen her suit up yet. Finally getting her in that Wolverine suit would be a geek out moment for an entire generation of comic book, and movie fans.
But even beyond all that, it’s not only the best decision, it’s the only decision. Any actor who takes over Wolverine is going to have to live up to nearly half a century of Jackman’s beloved performance. Keen, meanwhile, has the ability to surpass that.
So let’s make it happen, Marvel. Your big Hall H panel is tonight at San Diego Comic-Con. In a few short weeks is D23. You’ve got multiple opportunities to make an announcement that fans will love, and will hopefully make some great movies, too. Make the right choice: hire Dafne Keen as the new Wolverine.
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