Hugh Jackman and Wolverine are about as closely tied as its possible to be for an actor and an individual role, so much so that it's genuinely difficult to imagine anyone else doing it at this point (unless they take it in a totally different direction).
Fortunately, it seems like that may not be a future that we have to confront for a while yet, if recent rumours are to be believed.
As first reported by ComicBookMovie.com, Marvel is planning to keep the actor around for more projects beyond Secret Wars, meaning that he will also likely appear in the role for the preceding Doomsday and maybe even Ryan Reynolds' untitled X-project.
That news is pretty perfectly timed bearing in mind comments from Professor X actor James McAvoy, who appeared at New York Comic Con on Monday 13 October to share his thoughts on the actor's longevity in the role.
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McAvoy said: "When A.I. has taken over and playing all the roles, and there are no actors anymore, he will still be playing Wolverine. Even A.I. will be like, ‘Nah, he got it! Nah!’"
It's well worth bearing in mind that there have been several points in time, since the actor first took up the role in X-Men, where it seemed like he might have put down the Adamantium claws for the final time.
Most notably after his appearance in arguably the greatest superhero film of all time, Logan, where the character took center stage in a brutal tale aimed at a much older audience than the traditional Marvel fare.
Where this latest news leaves the character is a pretty curious question, with the obvious choice being that he joins the new X-Men roster in a senior role full-time. With the disappointing return on several releases for the comic and movie giant in recent years and months, they might just see recasting Wolverine as a risk they simply don't need to take.
It's also true that the man making all the decisions is more than positive about keeping Jackman on for the time being, recently making the claim that the actor would be "doing it till he's 90, man!"
Though there has been no official confirmation that he will appear in the next two Avengers films, coincidentally along with Ryan Reynolds, but social media chatter has been abound for some time and small tidbits of news like this will only fan those flames further.