X-Men: Dark Phoenix director Simon Kinberg has explained why Hugh Jackman's clawed anti-hero Wolverine doesn't appear in the movie.
Jackman has portrayed Logan/Wolverine in basically every non-Deadpool title in Fox's franchise, so his absence from the action is notable.
Although he effectively bowed out in 2017's Logan, the current X-Men timeline does offer the character a chance to return, and the original Dark Phoenix comic is known for its love story between Wolverine and Jean Grey.
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However, speaking to Rolling Stone, Kinberg acknowledged that the age gap between actress Sophie Turner and Jackman made things slightly awkward.
He explained: "If you know the Dark Phoenix story, you'd want to really service the love story between Logan and Jean. And I think the notion of Hugh Jackman, as great as he looks for his age, and Sophie Turner – it didn't sit well with me. Or anyone else!"
Kinberg added that he wanted to keep the central focus on Jean anyway, adding: "There was an element of this being Jean's story. And I was committing so fully to it that I didn't want to run the risk of pulling away from Jean by going to the well of a fan-favourite character in these movies.
"I wanted this to be a very different experience of seeing an X-Men movie."
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X-Men: Dark Phoenix is out now in the UK and on Friday, June 7 in the US.
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20th Century Fox/Marvel X-Men: Days of Future Past - The Rogue Cut [streaming]
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy, NME and Yahoo Entertainment.
In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.
