OPINION: Daken In Drew Goddard’s ‘X-Force’ Could Be A Good Wolverine/X-23 Alternative

Sep 25, 2017

It was recently announced that Drew Goddard would be writing and directing the X-Force movie for Fox with Cable taking the lead on the mutant Black Ops team that will include Deadpool and possibly Domino. Other members are sort of up-in-the-air at the moment but fans are desperately curious if Fox will attempt to include a Wolverine recast.

Well, our own personal opinion on the recasting is that the studio can wait and they have a couple of other options when it comes to Wolverine alternatives for X-Force.

First, Dafne Keen‘s X-23 already exists and attempting to include her via Cable’s time-traveling technology could be an easy way to add Laura without hiring a new actress. Logan director James Mangold and Fox are open to giving X-23 her own solo film and adding Laura to the X-Force lineup could give Keen another shot to shine in the role.

However, this could delay her solo film and we want to see at least one of the X-23 films with her in the Hit-Girl age range before Keen becomes a young adult.

A second option might be slightly less confusing concerning timelines and might give us a reason for the suit and cowl to finally make its way on screen, that would be Daken. He has appeared in more recent X-Force comics.

Akihiro aka Dark Wolverine is the half-Asian son of Logan. He’s a darker character and has a striking look in and out of his various costumes, rocking a large mohawk and tattoos, which would fit well within the Deadpool universe.

In 1946 as Wolverine is living in Jasmine Falls, Japan with his pregnant wife Itsu, Romulus sends the Winter Soldier to kill Itsu. After Itsu’s death, a mysterious man cuts baby Daken from his mother’s womb leaving her body lying on the floor. Daken survives this incident due to his mutant healing factor.

One actor that comes to mind is Canadian action star Keanu Reeves, who has worked with Deadpool 2 director David Leitch for years and recently on the John Wick films. Reeves has Chinese and Native Hawaiian ancestry making him slightly more believable as Daken (more than someone like Tom Hardy), who is the son of Logan and Itsu. I think some might be confused with his age but we know Wolverine has been kicking around for a long time and Daken was born in the 1940s.

I mention Reeves first as an option because he was originally in the mix to play Wolverine in the original X-Men and his resurgence as an action star. In 2014, while speaking to THR, Reeves admitted he wanted the Wolverine role but lost it to Jackman.

“I always wanted to play Wolverine,” Reeves said. “But I didn’t get that. And they have a great Wolverine now.”

https://youtu.be/4puUo4OYViE

Daken could also be a way for Fox to reboot Wolverine without recasting Hugh Jackman just yet. I’m also totally open to an Asian actor taking the role too, Reeves just clicked for me.

We don’t have a release date for X-Force but dropping sometime in 2019 is very likely.

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