Draft:Wolverine in film


 * 1) Spider-Man in film (2007)
 * 2) Fantastic Four in film (2008)
 * 3) Batman in film (2008)
 * 4) Captain America in film (2023)

Nelvana / Orion Pictures
In 1982, Canadian animation studio Nelvana optioned the rights to the X-Men, being interested in expanding to live-action. Nelvana co-founder Michael Hirsh hired longtime X-Men writer Chris Claremont, who wrote two separate outlines—one from June 1982 and the other from 1983—both featuring Wolverine as a lead. Clarement eventually left the project to focus on writing novels and the X-Men comics.

Following Claremont's departure, Marvel writers and chief editors Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas were hired to write a screenplay, by which point Orion Pictures held the rights. In their script, which went through multiple revisions, mutants are absent and Wolverine, again featured as a lead, and gained his adamantium skeleton due to a car accident. Development stalled when Orion Pictures began facing financial troubles.

Carolco Pictures
By 1989, Stan Lee had entered into talks with Carolco Pictures to make a film adaptation of the X-Men, with James Cameron as producer, Kathryn Bigelow as director, and Gary Goldman as writer. Goldman's draft was titled Wolverine and the X-Men (dated June 18th, 1991) and featured Wolverine alongside Professor Xavier recruiting Kitty Pryde. Bob Hoskins was considered to star as Wolverine, but the deal fell apart when Lee piqued Cameron's interest in a Spider-Man film,

20th Century Fox
In December 1992, Marvel discussed selling the property to Columbia Pictures to no avail. Producer Lauren Shuler Donner and 20th Century Fox purchased the film rights for the X-Men in 1994, hiring Andrew Kevin Walker to write the script. Walker's draft involved Professor X recruiting Wolverine into the X-Men, which consisted of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast, and Warren Worthington III. In this version, Wolverine was a "shady" operative working for Canada's Department H, who initially refused to join the X-Men until after a fight with Sabretooth, and had a rivalry with Cyclops.

Laeta Kalogridis was brought on for a subsequent rewrite. Her script, titled Wolverine and the X-Men and dated August 18th, 1995, would have featured Wolverine being recruited by the X-Men shortly after gaining his adamantium skeleton and memory loss. The script was never moved through development for unknown reasons, with Michael Chabon replacing Kalogridis as scriptwriter. Chabon's script, which included the Legacy Virus infecting mutants, would have featured Wolverine being recruited into the team; while immune to the virus, Wolverine would have been a carried and inadvertently infecting his teammates.

By 1996, Bryan Singer had been cast as director for the X-Men film. Ed Solomon was hired to make rewrites, delivering the first draft in September 1996, and a rewrite in December. By 1998, Singer sent the script to Fox, believing it was perfect, but the studio rejected it due to the budget it would have required, necessitating the removal of various characters. Joss Whedon was hired to rewrite the last act, and ended up rewriting the whole script, but Fox rejected it. Finally, David Hayter was hired to make another rewrite, primarily due to his extensive knowledge of the comics. According to Hayter, the film's producers wanted Wolverine to be an American, but he was adamant that being Canadian was an important part of the character's background, and it was retained in the film.

X-Men (2000)
20th Century Fox obtained the X-Men film rights in 1994, with Bryan Singer being hired as director in 1996. From 1995 onwards, a variety of screenwriters were hired, with multiple rewrites taking place; while David Hayter was the last person to be hired to make revisions to the script, he received full writing credit. Singer initially wanted Russell Crowe to portray Wolverine, who declined and instead suggested his friend Hugh Jackman. After Dougray Scott was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with Mission: Impossible 2, Jackman was eventually cast as Wolverine in October 1999. Fox's X-Men, starring Jackman as Wolverine, was released in July 2000.