MCU fans know who should play the new Wolverine – and it’s not Henry Cavill

The MCU is still on its quest for a new Wolverine, but fans already know who should play it – X-23 actor Dafne Keen.

There are a lot of exciting Wolverine variants knocking around the MCU multiverse now, thanks to Deadpool & Wolverine. Several turned heads, including beleaguered DCEU star Henry Cavill’s shock appearance as “The Cavillrine.”

But fans have already zeroed in on who they want to be the MCU’s Wolverine: Logan star Dafne Keen, who returns for Deadpool & Wolverine as Logan’s clone Laura/X-23.

Posts on social media accounts like X-Men Updates are popping off as fans speak out in solidarity with the casting.

“BEGIN??” one fan exclaimed. “I have been saying this for YEARS!”

“25 years of Wolverine, I’m ready for X-23 to take her place in the franchise,” another said.

“Marvel please give this to Dafne Keen after Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is done. Please,” another added.

As usual, while many accounts are calling for Keen to play Wolverine, others are expressing disdain for the casting. Still, others are making the typical bad faith claims that it’s “woke” or nonsense to replace a male character with their female counterpart.

Of course, there is a pretty notable precedence for this, in that in the comics, Laura has long abandoned her X-23 identity and has gone by the Wolverine codename for years.

Marvel Comics

Laura is canonically Marvel’s second Wolverine, using the name simultaneously with Logan.

Laura adopted the Wolverine codename in 2016, stepping up to fill the void left by her adoptive father after his death. Though she briefly reverted to the X-23 codename once he returned, it didn’t last long, and they’ve both called themselves Wolverine for years now.

Bringing in Keen as the new Wolverine may be exactly what is needed at this point. Jackman’s 20-year career is going to be a measuring stick, and his inevitable replacement will be compared to him. But bringing in someone radically different would make it unique enough that fans may not make that direct comparison.

For now, we don’t know what the MCU plans to do with Wolverine. While Deadpool & Wolverine joked about making Jackman play the role until he was 90, all we have at present are persistent rumors that he’ll be returning as Logan down the road.

Laura herself has been given an opening to play a bigger role, too, being saved as a part of the MCU in Deadpool & Wolverine’s closing moments. Given how Keen’s role in The Acolyte panned out, it definitely seems as though she’s free to play the role should the MCU come calling.

Check out our full rundown of Deadpool & Wolverine’s box office haul so far, all of its cameos, and our ranking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s movies.