Claws For Thought: Liev Schreiber Pens Love Letter To Wolverine After 'Logan'

Pass the tissues to mop up the blood and the tears, it is time for an emotional farewell as after 17 years we are waving goodbye to Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Over nine films we have bulked and sulked with the clawed Canadian, who bows out of his role with James Mangold's #Logan. The third chapter in the Wolverine spin-offs, Logan saw Mangold pick up the reins after the car crash that was Gavin Hood's X-Men: Origins Wolverine in 2009. While Origins was almost universally panned, it did explore the relationship between #HughJackman's Logan and his half-brother Sabretooth, a.k.a. Victor Creed, played by Liev Schreiber.

Now in a touching tribute, Schreiber has penned a thank you note to Jackman, praising his tenure as Wolverine. As not only one of the most popular characters in the #XMen comic books, Jackman has helped solidify Wolverine's place in an already saturated world of #superhero films.

Brotherly Love

Schreiber is aiming to break through #Wolverine's adamantium ribcage and find his beating heart beneath, and for those who managed to sit through Origins, Jackman and Schreiber played brothers-in-arms Wolverine and Sabretooth, who were both the tools of William Stryker. Although the characters may not be able to bury the hatchet, at least the actors share a bromance.

Schreiber's emotional tweet thanks Jackman for his help on the set. Although Schreiber only appeared in Origins, his ending left it open for a return, while Sabretooth as a character features heavily in the #comicbook universe of X-Men.

Canon says that Creed survived both the Three Mile Island incident from Origins and his next appearance in Bryan Singer's X-Men in 2000, presumably meaning he could possibly still be around in the events of Logan. In fact, Sabretooth was reportedly once even destined to return for Logan; Liev said that he was once asked back to the set, but Mangold revealed that several mutant cameos were cut from the film. We can only assume that Schreiber's Creed was one of those:

"There were times early on in the story where I played with the idea of Hugh coming along, and I don't want to give away anything, but I played with there being an underground railroad where there were a couple of other mutants that he met on the journey. It always seemed to detract from the loneliness of the story though and became a kind of cameo."

It would have been one hell of an Easter Egg, but I am glad that they left it as a final road trip for Wolverine and Patrick Stewart's Professor Xavier.

My Mane Man

Not that there was anything particularly wrong with Schreiber's performance, but the specter of X-Men Origins: Wolverine will always dog the character, while I just found him to be another intense version of Cotton Weary from the Scream films.

Personally, I was always fascinated by Tyler Manes's portrayal of the character in Singer's 2000 film. A largely silent and deadly assassin, Mane's Sabretooth was left as an enigma without wading into plausible backstory and explaining his vengeance against Logan. Singer's decision to blast him off Liberty Island and leave him there was one of the franchise's biggest (of many) mistakes.

The comic book prequel to X2, titled X2: X-Men United: The Movie Prequel: Wolverine, brought back Sabretooth to battle with Logan, but left him presumed dead when the adamantium fails to bond with his body. Whether or not Singer had planned to use Sabertooth further down the line is unknown, but with five X-Men films under his belt, you would've expected him to do it by now.

Certainly, including Sabretooth on Wolverine's lonely adventure in Logan would have been a nice nod to the past, but you have to agree with Mangold's comments that it would detract from the story. Instead of looking to the past, Logan is supposed to be a one man (and one girl) trip that he can never come back from. As for Sabretooth, never say never. Jackman's time as Wolverine may be over, but the character will certainly resurface at some point, and who better to take on new Logan than his ferociously feral friend?