Daniel Radcliffe Addresses Rumors He Got Buff to Replace Hugh Jackman as Wolverine

Daniel Radcliffe said that he is not trying out for the role over X-Men's Wolverine in a new interview where he addressed many of the unique rumors about himself. The former Harry Potter star took part in Vanity Fair's lie detector test series, answering questions while hooked up to a polygraph. He said that his recent fitness craze wasn't secret preparation to play a super hero, saying: "I'm just obsessive."

Fans online have dream-casted Radcliffe as Wolverine in X-Men for years, and his recent transformation into a muscular physique got many of them speculating that it was finally going to happen. However, when asked about the glow-up, Radcliffe said that he it's not true and that he didn't start the rumor himself. Laughing, he said: "Yes. I got buff because I am obsessive, and I want to... You've seen my parents, they're like insane fitness people. So that's just been passed on. But no. No Wolverine. Flattered, but no."

Radcliffe has always been in good shape, but fans took notice of his changed physique earlier this year when he stripped down to his underwear in Miracle Workers Season 4. These days, grueling fitness regimens are standard for super hero movies – Chris Pratt infamously shaped up from a sitcom scamp to a leading man for Guardians of the Galaxy, and last year Will Poulter was brutally honest about the expectations during his press tour for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

For now, it looks like Radcliffe wouldn't even have the opportunity to take the role of Wolverine if he wanted to. The part has been played by Hugh Jackman for nearly two and a half decades, and in 2017 he claimed he was retiring. However, Jackman changed his mind and decided to reprise the role for Deadpool 3, which is slated to premiere in May of 2024. With the MCU and X-Men continuities merging, there's no sign that Jackman intends to retire again.

Still, if die-hard fans were excited that Radcliffe knows about their dream-casting role for him, they will be even more excited by the revelation that he has read their Harry Potter fan-fiction. In the same interview, Radcliffe was asked if he's ever Googled himself, and he revealed that he has. He said: "There's a lot of shipping of Harry and Draco [Malfoy] as characters together. So I've read some of that." Undoubtedly, many fans are looking at their "Drarry" fanfics this week and wondering if Radcliffe has read them himself.