Hit me, Wolvie, one more time: Hugh Jackman's last stand as Marvel's Wolverine

Seventeen years ago, movie fans had never heard of Hugh Jackman. Today (March 3), they will bid farewell to the world-famous character he's played in nine films.

There were rumors that Russell Crowe or an up-and-coming actor named Dougray Scott (who quickly came and went) would play the role that eventually went to Jackman, a veteran of Australian stage and television. As Logan, the self-healing mutant hero of Marvel's "X-Men" comics and Bryan Singer's 2000 film adaptation who also goes by the name Wolverine, Jackman attained a perfect combination of strength, sarcasm and warmth with a character who could have easily been a broad caricature. He was an instant movie star.

Jackman's final go-round as Wolverine, simply titled "Logan," hits theaters this weekend atop a giant wave of critical buzz. In between, he's established himself as one of Hollywood's do-anything wonders. He can sing, as we heard in 2012's "Les Miserables" and as host of the 2009 Academy Awards. He can go quiet and intimate, as in 2006's "The Fountain," or big and broad, as in 2001's "Kate & Leopold." He can even become a monster, as we saw in "Prisoners," the brutal 2013 kidnapping tale from "Arrival" director Denis Villeneuve.

The common element to all of these performances is Jackman's emotional availability; He has an open quality that draws us into each character he plays, no matter how silly or strange. Whether he's a magician with a dark secret ("The Prestige") or a dude who plays life-size Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots for a living ("Real Steel"), we like him, root for him, and feel close to him.

At age 48, Hugh Jackman has an interesting, varied and accomplished movie career, and only one Academy Award nomination ("Les Miserables") to show for it. That might change a year from now, after his star turn as P.T. Barnum in "The Greatest Showman" lands in theaters on Christmas Day. Until then, I'll enjoy watching him and his Adamantium claws slice up the Marvel world one more time.

Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor. You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.