People will seemingly never stop being surprised that Daniel Radcliffe is super shredded these days. And sure, it makes sense: in many fans’ eyes, he’s still the plucky boy wizard from the Harry Potter movies. But he hasn’t been that person for a very long time now. And who needs magic, when you’re jacked as hell?
After spending his formative years anchoring one of the biggest movie series of all time, Radcliffe has distanced himself from franchise fare: his post-Potter career largely consists of smaller, offbeat projects and supporting roles. His most recent film was Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, a parody of musician biopics in which he played a fictionalized—and yoked—version of the comedy singer.
Radcliffe has just shown off his lean, ripped physique once more in the Season 4 finale of Miracle Workers, the TBS comedy anthology series where he has been doing some quietly, consistently great work since 2019. Each season follows its own self-contained story, and in the case of Season 4’s End Times, it’s a hyper-violent adventure of the post-apocalyptic variety, as evidenced by Radcliffe’s Sid, who in “The End” goes full berserker mode, ripping off his own clothes and tearing his enemies limb from limb. Literally. He even beats one opponent with his own arms. It’s grossly impressive stuff.
But all viewers could focus on was Radcliffe’s taut torso and strong-looking quads.
And of course, because this is the internet, it wasn’t long before Radcliffe’s visceral performance—again, literally, he is doing a lot of eviscerating—began to be interpreted as a sign that he is getting ready to play Wolverine in the MCU’s highly-anticipated version of the X-Men.
Every time these rumors recirculate, Radcliffe rebuts them, calling it “incredibly flattering” but confirming that he has never been in talks with Marvel Studios to play the famous clawed mutant.
“I think it’s because Wolverine in the comics is fairly short,” he told Jimmy Fallon in 2022. “I think it’s people going, ‘Who’s a short actor? Him! He could maybe play him!'”
Philip Ellis is News Editor at Men’s Health, covering fitness, pop culture, sex and relationships, and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV, and he is the author of Love & Other Scams.
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