Bryan Singer didn’t want comics on the “X-Men” set

Looking back at the original X-Men film now, it seems pretty dated. And the thing is almost 25 years old now, so that’s not entirely surprising. Back then, it looked cutting edge and almost daring in its willingness to bring a Marvel comic to the screen. Compared to modern superhero films of today, however, it is noticeably lacking in color and comic-accurate costumes and details. The X-Men don’t wear anything resembling their comic uniforms; instead, they are clad in matching black leather, a look they maintained in the next two sequels.

This makes sense when you read stories like the one Hugh Jackman recently told in The New York Times. He is promoting his return as X-Men hero Wolverine in Deadpool and WolverineJackman talked about the first time he met Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, whose first job in Hollywood was working as a producer on this original X-Men Movie.

As Jackman tells it, Feige was a “really nice guy” who took him out to dinner and drove him to the airport after his screen test, although the whole thing was basically just a formality at the time because director Bryan Singer had already chosen his Wolverine: Dougray Scott. There was no way Jackman was going to get the role.

But then Scott had to drop out of the film because the production Mission: Impossible II took a long time and Jackman became his last-minute replacement. At that point, Jackman said, he and Feige were “big connected,” in part because Feige brought him Wolverine comics to read – which was actually a big no-go X-Men Singer didn’t want anyone to read Marvel comics.

READ MORE: What one man learned from reading every Marvel comic ever

“(Feige) secretly slipped me some comic books because the director (Bryan Singer) didn’t want them on set,” Jackman recalled.

Why should the director of a major comic book film not Did Jackman want his actors to read comics to get into their roles? “I think he was worried about people reading the comics and that they might think they were two-dimensional,” he speculated.

In the same interview, Jackmans Deadpool and Wolverine Co-star Ryan Reynolds called this decision “strange.”

So if you ever wondered why it took 25 years for Hugh Jackman to wear a yellow and blue Wolverine costume, this is why! Deadpool and Wolverine Cinema premiere on July 26th.