Hugh Jackman may have played Wolverine on screen for the past 24 years… But Wesley Snipes has him beat, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
The news comes via Guinness themselves, who revealed that Jackman was expected to beat the record for longest career as a live action Marvel character previously held by Patrick Stewart, who appeared as Charles Xavier in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, 22 years after first playing the character in 2000’s X-Men. Jackman’s return to Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine would push the record to 24 years — Jackman also appeared in the 2000 movie — and he would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for that pesky Wesley Snipes.
Spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine past this point, but Snipes appears in a supporting role as Blade, the character he previously played in three Blade movies starting 1998. Per Guinness, that sets the record at 25 years and 340 days, more than Jackman’s span of playing Wolverine.
In addition, Snipes also snagged the record for longest gap between character appearances in Marvel films. He last played Blade in Blade: Trinity in 2004, giving him a 20-year gap playing the role. The previous record-holder there was Alfred Molina for playing Doctor Octopus, with a 17-year gap between 2004’s Spider-Man 2 and 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
For Snipes’s part, he was floored by the honor(s), posting on X (formerly Twitter), “Whuuuut?! Really? Do I get a certificate too? Lordy Lordy Lordy…Thank you @GWR, I’m your fan!”
That said, Snipes might not want to get too comfortable with those records. There’s a pretty good chance multiple legacy characters will be returning for the 2027 debuting Avengers: Secret Wars, the culmination of Marvel’s multiverse saga. While Blade and Wolverine could both return for the film, keeping things even, if Howard the Duck makes an appearance, he’s going to leave them all in the dust.
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