Darcie examines the importance of Hugh Jackman donning Wolverine’s legendary costume in Deadpool And Wolverine.
Superhero movies are about to be back on top at the box office, with Deadpool and Wolverine hitting cinemas this week. The film is a triumph, a perfect combination of laughter, violence, and cameos. Besides these elements, there is one element of the film that fans love, including myself: Wolverine’s comic book-accurate costume. Causal, non-fans or even hardcore fans may ask why a costume in a superhero film is causing so much love. There is an excellent reason for this: we have not once seen Hugh Jackman in the iconic yellow costume until now! So, together, let’s explore why this costume is so important.
THE LOGAN LOOK
Let’s start with a little history. Hugh Jackman is the only actor to play a live-action version of Wolverine, which is incredible. Multiple actors have played most characters over the years. Most of the main X-Men characters have been played by at least two actors, yet Jackman has remained the ever-consistent face of Wolverine, appearing ten times—which puts him equal to Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man.
Jackman’s first appearance as Wolverine was in 2000 in X-Men, which was only his third film role. He went on to star in five other X-Men movies and three standalone Wolverine films before joining the MCU and starring opposite Ryan Reynolds. Despite this, the first time he appears in a comic-accurate costume is in 2024, twenty-four years after his first appearance. This timespan is one reason why seeing the yellow costume meant so much to fans.
The iconic costume first appeared in The Incredible Hulk, Vol. 1, 180, 1974. In this comic, Wolverine fights the Hulk. There is a nice nod to this in Deadpool and Wolverine. When Deadpool is searching for a worthy Wolverine, he stumbles upon one fighting the Hulk. It’s a short scene within a montage, but it’s something comic book fans will note immediately.
THE ICONIC SUIT
The costume was yellow with blue boots, gloves, a belt, and shoulder stripes. While yellow and blue are not typical colors to be matched, in this costume, they come together to form a striking, bold superhero look. The costume is complete with a mask featuring black detailing that covers the eyes and forms upwards into pointed ears. This original mask also featured a black nose and whiskers. However, a year later, the mask lost the nose and whiskers, thus creating the classic Wolverine costume, first appearing in Giant-Size X-Men Vol 11. Over the years, the costume has undergone various changes, but yellow has always been featured. This is why it’s so shocking that we had to wait 24 years to see Wolverine wear yellow in a live-action film. Wolverine is synonymous with yellow.
There have been hints, such as his black leather X-suit in the X-Men trilogy, which featured yellow piping. The decision to go for Black over yellow costumes was made, as it was felt that viewers might not take the film seriously if the team wore the comic book-accurate colorful costumes. So what changed between then and now?
THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE
The most significant change is the MCU. Bright comic box-accurate costumes have been featured since the start. The MCU proved you could do a bright costume justice without looking cheesy. They did this in several ways, including muting the colors and using practical-looking protective fabric. The MCU, of course, is not the first to have comic book-accurate costumes; Batman (1966) is an excellent example of comic book-accurate costumes, but these look cheesy. The fabric seems flimsy, offering no protection. It’s not armor but a fancy dress outfit. But by making the costumes into an armored version, the MCU created epic comic costumes.
With Jackman’s Wolverine now in the MCU, it makes sense for him to don the yellow. He would, after all, look out of place if he rocked up next to Deadpool in Black. The yellow makes sense and has been a massive hit with audiences and the production crew, who fell silent upon seeing Hugh dressed up for the first time on set.
I wonder which accurate costume we will see next? Perhaps we will even see some more Wolverine costumes in the future. But for now, we can all rejoice in seeing the classic yellow and blue costume on the big screen.
DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE is playing in cinemas everywhere now.
Darcie Gray is the Fashion Editor of The Future of the Force. Aside from being a passionate Star Wars fan, she loves every genre of movies and she channels her passion for film into her personal blog Just Another Film Blog. Follow her on Twitter where she shares her love of film regularly.
