Hugh Jackman is the only live-action Wolverine & many fans only see him that way. That’s how he adapted Wolverine’s most brutal fight in another film.

Hugh Jackman is the only actor who has ever portrayed Wolverine in live-action, meaning – to many fans – he’s always ‘Wolverine’, no matter what other character he’s portraying at the time. Interestingly enough, sometimes the storyline of any given film Jackson stars in agrees with that fan-sentiment, whether it means to or not, as one scene in Van Helsing seemed to have accidentally adapted Wolverine’s most brutal fight.

Hugh Jackman played Gabriel Van Helsing in the 2004 film Van Helsing. In it, Van Helsing – a prominent monster hunter working for the Vatican – is tasked with hunting down and killing Count Dracula. During his mission, Van Helsing has to fight low-level vampires, werewolves, and even Frankenstein’s Monster, and he didn’t make it out of these experiences unscathed. Van Helsing was infected by a werewolf, cursed to become one himself under the light of the next full moon. Lucky for him, however, this ended up working to his advantage.

As it turned out, Dracula could only be killed by a werewolf, which meant Van Helsing finally had a way to complete his otherwise impossible mission. During the film’s final battle, a werewolf-Van Helsing, and the demon-like bat form of Dracula, fight to the death, with Van Helsing pulling the victory after ripping open Dracula’s throat. It was a truly brutal and bloody scene, to be sure, though one that should have seemed familiar to Marvel Comics fans, especially considering Hugh Jackman’s involvement.

Wolverine Killed Dracula The Exact Same Way Hugh Jackman’s Van Helsing Did

In What If? Vol. 2 #24 “What If Wolverine Was Lord Of The Vampires?” by Roy Thomas, R.J.M. Lofficier, and Tom Morgan, Dracula manages to infect Wolverine and a few other X-Men with the vampiric germ, though his victory is incredibly short-lived. Wolverine immediately challenges Dracula for the title of Lord of the Vampires, and the two engage in brutal combat.

Dracula transforms into a giant, demon-like bat, while Wolverine takes the form of a wolf. In the end, Wolverine was able to beat Dracula by ripping open his throat. At that point, Wolverine was mid-transformation between the form of a wolf and a man, a lycan-esque vision of horror standing over Dracula as the elder vampire bled to death at Wolverine’s feet.

Wolverine/Van Helsing Comparison Only Works Because Of Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman is the one and only live-action Wolverine, and he’s about to prove as much yet again in the upcoming film Deadpool 3. This is a rarity within comic book films these days, especially since the introduction of the multiverse, where a number of versions of the same character can exist all at once in separate universes. Therefore, it seems safe to say that Hugh Jackman has a level of possession over the character, which can sometimes seep through into other characters the actor portrays in entirely different franchises, whether deliberately or accidental. And that is exactly what happened in this case.

There are many iterations of Dracula, and just as many iterations of him getting killed, meaning Van Helsing’s victory over the Vampire Lord would normally fall into obscurity along with the countless others, including Wolverine’s. However, because Hugh Jackman – the one and only live-action Wolverine – played Van Helsing, who killed Dracula the exact same way Marvel Comics’ Wolverine killed him in this What If? issue, there is a significant reason to note how cool these two Dracula-kills truly are, as it’s an instance where Wolverine’s most brutal fight scene was perfectly adapted to the big screen in an entirely different franchise and completely by accident.