Hugh Jackman Mourns Patrick Stewart: 'I Learned So Much From Him'

Patrick Stewart died on Wednesday at age 86, and Hugh Jackman led the tributes within hours. Stewart's death followed what his family described as a brief battle with Alzheimer's and Lewy Body Dementia.

Jackman, who played Wolverine opposite Stewart's Professor Charles Xavier across two decades of "X-Men" films, posted his farewell on Instagram. "We lost one of the greats of stage and screen today," Jackman wrote. "And, in my book, a tremendous friend and man. I learned so much from him. I will miss you, Patrick Stewart, all of my days."

The pairing defined the modern superhero film for a generation of viewers. Their shared credits span five movies:

• 2000's "X-Men"
• 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand"
• 2009's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"
• 2013's "The Wolverine"
• 2017's "Logan"

Stewart also appeared in Marvel's 2022 sequel "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," and he was set to reprise the Xavier role in this December's "Avengers: Doomsday," alongside his good friend Ian McKellen as Magneto. It remains unclear whether Wolverine will appear in that superhero sequel.

What did the role mean to the two actors?

Stewart himself named "Logan" as the high point of the franchise partnership. "Hugh and I were so thrilled when the last thing we did for 'X-Men' was 'Logan,'

he told Variety in 2020. "It was the best 'X-Men' experience we both had, because we were the same characters but their world had been blown apart."

That 2017 film closed a seventeen-year screen relationship between the two actors. It also gave both men a final, stripped-down version of characters they had played since the start of the millennium.

Who else paid tribute?

Jackman was one of many bold-face names who honored Stewart after the news broke. The actor's 60-year career reached far beyond superhero cinema, most notably as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on "Star Trek."

Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, described the actor as "brilliant, charming, warm, generous, with a quiet strength and gravitas."

William Shatner, his fellow USS Enterprise captain on "Star Trek," praised the actor who "brought intelligence, grace, and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did."

The tributes span two franchises and three generations of audiences. They also frame the question the industry now faces: what does December's "Avengers: Doomsday" become without one of its announced stars, and how Marvel chooses to mark his absence will be watched closely when the film arrives.