The One Rule Every Marvel & Star Wars Movie Or TV Show Must Follow

You know what's cool? Lightsabers. Men in iron suits. Far-off galaxies and emotions displayed as self-sentient beings. You know what's not cool, though? Smoking. That's the rule that all Disney properties — Marvel and Star Wars included — stand by and if you've not noticed, have done for almost the past decade. The no-no was put in place by Disney CEO Bob Iger in 2015 (via The Independent) during the company's annual shareholder meeting, in an effort to provide an even more family-friendly reputation than the company already had.

It was revealed that prior to the regulation being put in place, 43% of films in the Marvel franchise alone had characters firing up to smoke. "We are extending our policy to prohibit smoking in movies across the board: Marvel, Lucas, Pixar and Disney films," Iger announced during the meeting. However, in the event that the company was focusing on a character from history, facts were facts and Iger acknowledged that exceptions would have to be made. "For instance, if we were doing a movie on Abraham Lincoln, he was a smoker, and we would consider that acceptable," he explained. "But in terms of any new characters that are created for any of those films, under any of those labels, we will absolutely prohibit smoking in any of those films." 

What's particularly interesting about this rule, however, is how it could affect Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, who, prior to his introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was a well-known smoker for years.

To think of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine in his regular day-to-day attire is to see him in a flannel shirt while knocking back a shot at a worn-down bar. The last detail to add to that is seeing the Canadian chomping on a cigar in between swigs. It's an activity that only the big-screen version has partaken in after Marvel refused to let Wolverine and any other character do it again following a ruling made by then editor-in-chief, Joe Quesada. Now, though, with the long-standing rule in place at the House of Mouse, where does that leave Logan, who, following a recent interview with the man behind the heavy facial hair, might be reappearing in the MCU further down the line?

When asked by Variety if this really was the last time we'd see Logan in "Deadpool & Wolverine," Jackman responded with, "Clearly, this is our first major interview of this press tour. I'm not sure how to answer," taking the approach to neither confirm nor deny the rumors about his involvement in Marvel's "Secret Wars." If that's the case, what should happen when he finds himself crossing paths with the Earth's Mightiest family-friendly heroes? Might there be a conscious effort to get Wolverine stubbing out smoking, or could the activity be intermittent depending on what kind of superhero outing he's involved in? For now, we'll have to wait and see if Logan goes for a healthier option as his time in the MCU potentially continues.