Marvel's Wolverine has arrived on PlayStation 5 with a complicated early conversation surrounding it. Mixed reviews and heavily circulated clips have made the game an easy target online, while some players have also argued that the wider mood around Sony has intensified the response. There are fair discussions to be had about the game's story, presentation, and the large amount of mutant history it attempts to bring together. But amid that noise, one part of Insomniac Games' Wolverine adventure deserves considerably more attention: Liam McIntyre's performance as Logan.
McIntyre takes on one of pop culture's most recognizable heroes, and he does it without simply trying to recreate Hugh Jackman's interpretation. That distinction matters, especially now that Marvel Studios is building toward a fresh live-action X-Men era. The next generation of the team is beginning to emerge, but Wolverine--the character who has served as the most durable face of the X-Men on film for decades--has not yet been publicly attached to a new actor.
That leaves a major question hanging over Marvel's mutant plans. Who follows Hugh Jackman as Wolverine? McIntyre may not be the obvious conventional answer, but his work in Marvel's Wolverine makes him a genuinely persuasive candidate.
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The challenge of replacing Hugh Jackman
Any actor playing Wolverine after Hugh Jackman would inherit an unusually difficult assignment. Jackman first played Logan in 2000's X-Men, beginning a run that spanned roughly a quarter-century. He remained associated with the role through changing casts, a prequel-era reset, and the evolving structure of the wider superhero-film landscape. Few performers have been able to inhabit a major comic-book character for so long, much less make that character so central to an entire franchise identity.
For useful background on this topic, read Halloween the Game crossplay Guide: Settings, Friends and Cross-Progression.
His apparent farewell arrived with 2017's Logan, a film built around finality and the physical cost of the character's long life. Yet Jackman returned in 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine, proving that even a seemingly definitive comic-book exit can be revisited in an era shaped by multiverses and crossover events. There has also been speculation around whether he could appear in Avengers: Doomsday, expected in December, though it remains unclear whether the discussion is playful misdirection or a meaningful indication of his involvement.
Regardless of whether Jackman returns again, Marvel is moving forward with a new class of X-Men characters. A new Logan will eventually be necessary if the studio intends to establish a lasting mutant corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe rather than endlessly orbiting a previous version of the role.
An MCU X-Men lineup is taking form without Logan
Several names have been associated with the incoming X-Men roster. Sadie Sink has debuted as the telepath Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Kit Connor is attached to Cyclops, while Samara Weaving is connected to Emma Frost. Inde Naverrette has been linked with Rogue, Maya Boyd with Storm, Christopher Abbot with Professor X, and Adam Driver with Mr. Sinister.
That is a notable collection of characters. It suggests Marvel is laying foundations for stories that go beyond simply reintroducing the original team lineup in familiar form. Jean, Cyclops, Rogue, Storm, Emma Frost, Charles Xavier, and Mr. Sinister provide the ingredients for a broad mutant saga, potentially spanning team politics, psychic conflict, generational divides, and the ongoing tension between Xavier's ideals and harsher approaches to mutant survival.
But there is a conspicuous blank space in that group: Logan.
Marvel's hesitation would be understandable. Recasting Wolverine is not just another superhero casting decision. Jackman's version has been the reliable constant across a sprawling series of films. The risk is that a replacement is judged only on how closely he resembles the prior performance, rather than on whether he can make the character feel vital in a different era. The best route forward is not to seek a Jackman imitation. It is to find an actor capable of preserving Logan's core contradictions while giving audiences a fresh perspective.
McIntyre finds a different emotional register
That is where McIntyre's work in Marvel's Wolverine becomes relevant. Insomniac's Logan is still recognizably Wolverine: bruised by history, dangerous when pushed, sardonic, stubborn, and haunted by the violence bound up in his identity. He is not transformed into a completely different character merely to distinguish the game from the movies.
At the same time, the performance has a different texture from Jackman's established screen version. McIntyre plays Wolverine with a touch more openness beneath the defensive exterior. The character can still sound angry and exhausted, but there is a gentler quality in his interactions that makes the pain feel less like a familiar pose and more like a wound he is trying, often unsuccessfully, to live around.
That does not mean the game abandons Wolverine's rough edges. Logan remains prickly, volatile, and burdened. McIntyre's strength is that he allows all of those traits to coexist with compassion rather than treating gruffness as the character's only mode. His Wolverine can be tender without becoming soft, and furious without reducing every intense moment to a growl.
It is a balance that would be valuable in the MCU. Wolverine works best when his rage has emotional stakes. The claws and berserker energy are iconic, but they matter more when audiences can understand what he protects, what he regrets, and why he keeps people at a distance. McIntyre demonstrates that range across a game that effectively gives Marvel a lengthy sample of his ability to carry Logan's voice and personality.
A long-form audition, even when the story is uneven
Insomniac's game is not without complications. Its approach to Wolverine mythology takes substantial creative liberties, which may frustrate readers who prefer a more rigidly comic-faithful take. The story also reaches for a great deal at once, drawing on several Logan arcs and X-Men ideas in ways that can become difficult to track for anyone without at least some familiarity with mutant comic history.
That density can create a strange effect: the game has plenty of material, but not every thread gets the breathing room it needs. Wolverine's history is enormous, filled with secret programs, shifting allegiances, lost memories, personal tragedies, and connections to virtually every corner of the mutant world. Trying to fit too much of that legacy into one narrative can make individual developments feel crowded.
McIntyre nevertheless remains one of the game's more dependable elements. Even when the writing asks Logan to carry an intimidating amount of lore, he gives the character a stable emotional center. He makes it clear when Wolverine is masking hurt with irritation, when he is reaching the edge of his patience, and when a rare moment of connection cuts through the armor.
The game's facial rendering has also drawn criticism for inconsistent results, and it does not always present McIntyre's likeness in the most convincing fashion. Outside that uneven digital representation, however, he has the physical presence associated with the part. He looks capable of playing Wolverine in live action, though the traditional comic-book height issue would remain.
The short Wolverine question is not going away
Comic readers have long pointed out that Wolverine is famously shorter than many of the actors who have played or been considered for him. Logan's compact build is part of his visual identity on the page, helping differentiate him from the towering, broad-shouldered superheroes around him. It also adds to his feral, deceptively powerful quality.
McIntyre is 6'1", so casting him would not finally deliver the comic-accurate shorter Wolverine that many fans have hoped to see. Jackman was also substantially taller than the character's classic comic portrayal, and McIntyre would continue that tradition rather than break it.
Still, height is only one part of the equation. A shorter actor could certainly bring something visually fresh to the role, and there is a valid argument that Marvel should embrace that aspect of Logan's design. Yet a successful Wolverine needs more than the correct measurements. He needs menace, melancholy, warmth, humor, and the sense that his anger is always being held in check by effort rather than absence. McIntyre has shown he can handle that demanding mixture.
Why a game performer could be the smart choice
There is also an appealing logic to Marvel considering an actor who has already played Wolverine in a major modern game. Voice and performance work are not lesser versions of live action; they demand precision, imagination, and consistency. Actors must establish character through vocal control and motion while relying on technology and collaborators to complete the physical image. In a role like Wolverine, where tone is every bit as important as visual silhouette, that experience is meaningful.
McIntyre would arrive with the advantage of understanding what makes Logan distinct without being locked into the exact rhythms of the previous film portrayal. He would not be entering the part cold, but neither would he be carrying the same decades-long screen association as Jackman. That is potentially the ideal middle ground for an MCU reboot: continuity of character knowledge paired with room for reinvention.
Marvel has not announced its next Wolverine, and there is no indication that McIntyre is being considered. The new X-Men cast itself will need time to develop before audiences know what shape the larger franchise will take. But the question is no longer theoretical. With Jean Grey, Cyclops, Rogue, Storm, Professor X, Emma Frost, and Mr. Sinister entering the conversation, Logan's absence becomes increasingly difficult to ignore.
When Marvel does choose its Wolverine, it should prioritize an actor who can make the character feel like more than a tribute act. Liam McIntyre's performance in Marvel's Wolverine suggests he understands the assignment. He does not erase the shadow of the past, nor should he. Instead, he shows that there is still another version of Logan waiting to be explored.
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