The opening war montage of X-Men Origins: Wolverine shows what the prequel movie should’ve focused on. After Fox’s first trilogy of X-Men films concluded, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine was the most popular character in the franchise. As a result, the studio wanted more of him and decided to give him a solo film. Directed by Gavin Hood, X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a significant miss.
Although the purpose of the movie was to show the origin of Wolverine, his film also incorporated many elements of the larger X-Men world. X-Men Origins: Wolverine introduced a poor version of Gambit, young Cyclops and Emma Frost, and completely messed up Deadpool. With poor VFX and a lackluster story, critics largely hated the film and general audiences didn’t respond positively either, as X-Men Origins: Wolverine only made $373 million at the box office. Despite all the problems that the movie has, there is a great idea for a Wolverine movie right at the beginning.
After X-Men Origins: Wolverine opened with the beginning of Logan’s mutation, the movie teases viewers with arguably the most intriguing aspect of the entire film: Wolverine and Sabertooth (Liev Schreiber) fighting in major wars throughout human history. The close friends are shown in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War. This montage teases viewers with a fascinating concept that would’ve shown Wolverine’s origin as a fighter and protector. It’s an exciting sequence that could’ve made for a great premise for a Wolverine solo film, one where his and Sabertooth’s bond is the focus.
Instead of focusing on the war element, X-Men Origins: Wolverine re-explores the Weapon X program, which the original X-Men trilogy teased the most important pieces of already. There was no need to show the entire process again (especially with the story that surrounded it). Although the actual story of X-Men Origins: Wolverine allowed for multiple X-Men connections, this still could’ve happened in a war-focused Wolverine film. But the important difference is that Wolverine would have a larger spotlight and could’ve been largely freed from the X-Men canon.
Since Fox didn’t take advantage of a Wolverine war film, it will be interesting to see if Marvel Studios considers this as they plan how to reboot Wolverine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They’ve done a historical war film before with Captain America: The First Avenger, so they could take a similar approach with Wolverine. The big difference between the two films, though, is that Wolverine’s could span multiple wars. He could even help establish how mutants have been part of the MCU for decades - they were just in hiding. If this concept is used, it could even be a chance to have Chris Evans cameo as Captain America and have him momentarily fight alongside Wolverine in WWII. Since X-Men Origins: Wolverine didn’t revolve around the war story, the MCU might be the only chance for this premise to be fully explored.
