Exclusive: Russo Brothers Interested In Wolverine Movie
According to our trusted and proven sources, the Russo Brothers are sniffing around the prospect of a solo Wolverine movie.
When the Walt Disney Company acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019, they brought on a whole bunch of incredible intellectual properties, but also the expectations surrounding them. Perhaps most anticipated of all, Disney acquired the rights for the entire X-Men franchise, finally opening the gateway for mutants to entire the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Intriguingly, our trusted and proven sources have told us that the directing team of the Russo Brothers is interested in directing a new solo Wolverine movie.
Undoubtedly, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige is going to be very, very careful about how he properly introduces the X-Men into the MCU, particularly their breakout star Wolverine. But the opportunity of getting the Russo Brothers to make a Wolverine movie must also make the Disney executive brass salivate. After all, Wolverine has historically been the most popular X-Men character by far and the only one generally considered able to carry a solo movie (sorry, Gambit). And in the other corner, the Russo Brothers are one of only two directorial teams to have made two films that grossed over two billion dollars at the box office, along with the one-man team of James Cameron.
That has to be a very tempting proposition for everyone concerned. It stands to reason that Marvel Studios would look into bringing back the Russo Brothers, their most commercially successful directors, for an important project like a Wolverine movie. Our exclusive report that Taron Egerton has been taking talks with Marvel to portray the clawed, cigar-smoking mutant was recently confirmed, which also makes it certain that Kevin Feige is actively looking to introduce mutants into the MCU proper. While Patrick Stewart’s Professor Charles Xavier did show up briefly in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it can be explained away that was an alternate universe and does not really count. After all, if Sam Raimi says that the abrupt introduction of the Fantastic Four into Marvel movies was pretty much fan service, it probably does not mean a lot that Professor X was there too.
If the Russo Brothers are up for a Wolverine movie, that would mean either displacing some of their many upcoming projects or that Anthony and Joseph are going to be working double-time for the foreseeable future. Their next upcoming project is The Gray Man starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans, reportedly the most expensive project ever for Netflix. They also are attached to direct The Electric State, an adaptation of a Simon Stålenhag graphic novel, for Netflix; that one will star Millie Bobby Brown and possibly Chris Pratt. Furthermore, the Russo Brothers are developing a spy series titled Citadel for Amazon Prime Video. In short, the Russo Brothers will be doing a whole lot of work for Disney’s direct competition before they get around to Wolverine.
On the other hand, the Russo Brothers are currently set to produce a live-action version of Hercules for Disney and an animated Superfudge movie to stream on Disney+. So they have not turned their back on the Mouse House entirely and it seems very possible we will be seeing a formal announcement of the Russo Brothers’ Wolverine movie any day now.
