Movie Trivia

This and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) are the first movies being produced by Hugh Jackman and John Palermo's new production company, Seed Productions.

Zack Snyder and Bryan Singer turned down the chance to direct the film. Snyder was too busy developing Watchmen (2009), while Singer was too busy with other projects. Snyder also was interested in making the film R-rated, while Hugh Jackman and Lauren Shuler Donner wanted to settle on a PG-13 rating.

Brett Ratner, Len Wiseman, and Zack Snyder all expressed interest in directing the film before Gavin Hood was signed.

Wolverine was created by writer Len Wein and artist Johnny Romita.

This will be the first time the popular mutant, Gambit will appear in any of the X-Men movies. He was rumored to be X2 (2003) and originally slated to make an appearance in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) but was cut from the story.

The characters depicted in this movie are the result of 3 generations of X-Men creators --Wolverine and Sabretooth were created by Len Wein & John Romita Sr. and Chris Clarement & John Byrne respectively back in the '70's; Deadpool is a product of Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld's work on the title during the '90's, and; John Wraith was created by Larry Hama in the '90's, and the Weapon X program was first introduced into X-men by Barry Windsor-Smith in his classic story "Weapon X", originally published in Marvel Comics Presents #72-84 from 1991

Ryan Reynolds had been attached to play Wade Wilson/Deadpool in a Deadpool solo movie spearheaded by David S. Goyer some time after Blade: Trinity (2004). Reynolds has been quoted numerous times expressing his interest in the character and to one day play him.

Liev Schreiber got involved when Hugh Jackman, his good friend, asked him to be a part of the movie. Liev was originally intended to play Stryker, but he was more interested in Sabertooth/Victor Creed.

David North/Agent Zero also went by the name Maverick.

Gambit was set to appear in X2 in a non-speaking cameo as one of the mutants Professor X hurts with Cerebro.

Ryan Reynolds (as Deadpool) and Wesley Snipes (in the Blade movies) are the only two actors with roles in Marvel Comics film adaptations to have not gone through an audition prior to signing.

Sabretooth and Wolverine's first appearances were both in non X-Men books. Sabretooth's was in Iron Fist #14, Wolverine's was in The Incredible Hulk #181.

Both the Comic Con and Official Trailers feature scores from films that were released in 2007. The Comic Con Trailer features "Come and Get Them!" from Tyler Bates' 300 (2006) score, and The Official Trailer features "Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor)" from John Murphy's score to Danny Boyle's Sunshine (2007).

Originally, Liev Schreiber was given a muscle suit to wear for his role as Victor Creed, in an effort to make his physique look comparable to Hugh Jackman's 220 lb. figure. The suit, similar to that worn by Vinnie Jones in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), made Schreiber feel "humiliated." Schreiber then requested he be given a chance to gain real muscle by putting work in the gym and changing his diet. He trained for three months while on the set of Defiance (2008) in Lithuania, and eventually trained with Jackman on the set of this film in Australia. Jackman also got Schreiber to alter his diet further by adding a great deal of protein, which Schreiber called "the genocide of chickens." In the end Schreiber gained 35 lbs. and had to buy several new suits due to his back gaining several inches in width. "I can't fit into my favorite suit now! But I felt like I owed it to the genre to be big."

With this film, Hugh Jackman emerges as the first actor to be credited as playing a comic book hero in four consecutive films since Christopher Reeve as Superman. (Patrick Stewart also appears in this film and the 3 previous X-Men films, though his appearance is uncredited, with CGI used to make him appear younger, as was used in X3.)

Dominic Monaghan was originally slated to play a character named Beak, a character unassociated with Weapon X. But over the course of production the character has become Bolt, whose mentor was David North.

Early rumors said Danny Huston was up for a character named Mr. Sinister.

Cameo: [Daniel Negreanu] The only other poker player shown at the table other than Gambit and Wolverine when they first meet, is Daniel Negreanu, a popular real life Canadian professional poker player. He has won four World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour titles.

A bootleg copy of the film, missing many of the SFX and a finalized score, but nevertheless a complete cinematic unit, was leaked online a month before the movie's official theatrical release. Despite frantic efforts of Fox to squelch the leaked version, reportedly thousands of downloads occurred.

FoxNews.com columnist Roger Friedman was fired from his job as a result of downloading and reviewing the leaked, but incomplete copy of the movie.

As in the last X-Men feature film, there has been talk about a scene after the credits.

Gambit's real last name, LeBeau, translated from French to English means "the handsome", a clever reference to the character's well known good looks and charm.

In the film, William Stryker says to Wade Wilson: "Wilson, if it weren't for that mouth you'd be the perfect soldier." This is a reference to Wilson's alter ego, Deadpool, as his nickname in the comics is "The merc with the mouth."

In the comics, the character of David North/Agent Zero is German (his birth name being Christoph Nord). Actor Daniel Henney, who plays Zero in Wolverine, is of Korean descent.

In the week prior to the film's release, Marvel Comics published the Wolverine: Weapon X Files one-shot comic book featuring profiles of many of the characters in the film - including Wolverine, Sabretooth, Deadpool, Agent Zero, John Wraith, Silver Fox, Gambit, Blob, and Stryker - despite some of the characters not being involved with Weapon X in the comics and some characters (like Stryker) being vastly different in the film than their comic book predecessors.

In the rear window of the old couple's truck is a sticker reading "Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost" quoting Aragon's verse from "The Lord of the Rings".

David Ayer wrote an early version of the film's screenplay.

There are two extra scenes in the credits: one about 30 seconds into the credits, while the other is after the credits have finished.

Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart are the only two cast members to appear in all four X-Men films. Scott Summers/Cyclops appears in all four as well but portrayed by two different actors.

The brown-and-yellow motorcycle jacket worn by Wolverine throughout the movie is a clear homage to the brown-and-yellow costume worn by Wolverine in the Marvel comics.

In one scene you can see an old black Mercedes-Benz driving around, the same car that Charles and Eric drove at the beginning of X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).

This is the second film where Hugh Jackman plays a title character who is an unusually long-lived warrior with no memory of his past. The first was Van Helsing (2004).

The Marvel character Emma Frost makes a brief appearance towards the end of the movie. Kayla's sister is named Emma and has the ability to change her skin to diamond. Emma Frost has telepathic powers including reading minds and controlling other's thoughts. The ability to transform into a diamond like state is a secondary mutation, unrelated to her telepathy. She is unable to use her telepathy in the diamond form.

Victor Creed is never referred to as "Sabretooth" throughout the entire film.

The drug Kayla was injected with to fake her death was hydrochlorothiazide, which in reality is a mild diuretic used to treat high blood pressure. It usually causes a higher urine output, not near death states.

The old couple that helps Logan are Heather Hudson and James Hudson, AKA Guardian and Vindicator. They were members/leaders of Alpha Flight, another Canadian government Mutant program. The Weapon X program is under the command of the fictional "Department K", while Alpha Flight is supervised by "Department H".

SPOILER: Patrick Stewart plays Xavier in an uncredited role at the end of the film. The scene is shot on the grounds of Hatley Castle, Victoria, BC the original location of the Mutant school in X2 (2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).

SPOILER: The scene after the credits shows Wolverine drinking in a bar, possibly in Japan, trying to remember what happened to him. This scene is likely set not too long before X-Men (2000).

SPOILER: Ryan Reynolds was doubled by Scott Adkins for the final fight scenes.

SPOILER: There are two different ending scenes that can be viewed after the credits end. In one, Wolverine is in a bar drinking to remember his past. In the other, a character people thought was dead shows that they are not. Which you will see is random depending on your theater.