The merc with a mouth is making his way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he’s bringing Wolverine along for the ride.
The first trailer for Deadpool 3 was released during the first quarter of Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday, February 11. Officially titled Deadpool & Wolverine, the teaser gave fans a first glimpse at what hilarious hijinks Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool will get up to with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine.
The teaser shows a sentimental Wade being arrested by the Time Variance Authority, which was introduced in Loki. He sees clips of the Avengers and realizes what he is seeing.
“Your little cinematic universe is about to change forever,” he says. “I am the messiah. I am Marvel Jesus.”
Jackman, 55, is only briefly seen in the last second of the trailer as he extends his adamantium claws.
Reynolds confirmed in September 2022 that Jackman would reprise his role as Wolverine for Deadpool’s third installment. The duo previously starred together in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, one of the nine X-Men films Jackman has appeared in since 2000’s X-Men.
“Hey, Hugh. You want to play Wolverine one more time?” Reynolds asked Jackman in an announcement video, to which Jackman nonchalantly responded, “Yeah, sure, Ryan.”
In a follow-up video that same month, the duo offered some explanation as to how Jackman’s X-Men character will return for the film, as Wolverine died at the end of 2017’s Logan. “Logan takes place in 2029. Totally separate thing,” Reynolds explained. “Logan died in Logan. Not touching that. What actually happens in our film is …” he continued before being cut off by the Wham! song “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.”
Deadpool 3 will mark both Deadpool and Wolverine’s first appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a.k.a. the MCU. The rights to Marvel’s catalog of characters were previously divided up amongst several studios, with 21st Century Fox owning the film rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four teams while Disney owned characters such as The Avengers. (Disney and Sony currently share the rights to Spider-Man, allowing the character to appear in solo films and MCU team-up movies)
Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019 allows for characters like the X-Men and the Fantastic Four to be incorporated into the MCU alongside heroes such as The Hulk, Captain Marvel, Thor and more.
The MCU has already teased the existence of the X-Men in several projects, such as implying Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) could be a mutant in the Ms. Marvel season 1 finale. The end of 2023’s The Marvels also saw Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) get transported to Fox’s original X-Men film universe and featured a cameo from Kelsey Grammer as Beast.
John Krasinski’s cameo as Reed Richards in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness marked the MCU’s first mention of the Fantastic Four. The superhero is set to get their own film, directed by Matt Shakman, in 2025.
