Wolverine Will Be Bigger, Bulkier, Scarier in Sequel, Hugh Jackman Promises

Hugh Jackman is now preparing to reprise his role in the “X-Men” spinoff, the sequel to 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” this time under the direction of the famed Darren Aronofsky. And preparing involves a 6,000-calorie a day diet and lots of working out.

Speaking with LA Times’ Hero Complex just recently, Jackman dropped a few hints as to what fans should expect from the upcoming film, without giving away any element of the plot.

For starters, they should be on the lookout for a much bigger, bulkier and scarier superhero, the like of which they only glimpsed in the first films with Wolverine.

Of course, Hugh has made no secret of his journey to a fitter, more muscular self, but this is actually the first time he goes into more details as far as Aronofsky’s take on the source material is concerned.

Aronofsky wants to make Wolverine more like the original comic book character, it would seem.

“I don’t know how much I want to give away about it, but Darren said with the last one, ‘Hey you looked great, but you’re so tall that in those long shots you looked kind of like Clint Eastwood, and that’s not Wolverine’,” the actor says in the interview.

Therefore, something needed to be changed – and he was told to start building muscle mass at once.

“He said that Wolverine, in the comics, is powerful, stocky, you know, he’s short and thick. So he said, ‘I want you to go there, get bigger’,” Jackman reveals.

Aronofsky hasn’t yet seen Jackman’s work in this sense so far, the actor adds, but he’s sure to get in touch as soon as the awards season is over – he’s a favorite to win Best Director at this year’s Oscars for “Black Swan.”

In the meanwhile, the Aussie says he’s quite happy with the results he’s been getting so far.

“Yeah, he’s thick and it’s chunky and it’s powerful. I always think of Mike Tyson when he first came on the scene. Sometimes, he was a full foot shorter than his opponents and bent over [with this] massive build. There’s real power,” Jackman says.

“You said bulldog, and that’s it exactly. Exactly. That’s what I’m going for, and if I have a massive heart attack first, well, you tell everyone what I was going for,” the actor jokes.