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‘Deadpool 3’: Hugh Jackman to Reprise Role as Wolverine

by · September 27, 2022

Deadpool 3

This is not a drill in the Danger Room! Hugh Jackman is set to un-retire as Wolverine to make an appearance in Deadpool 3.

 

Today, Ryan Reynolds revealed that he finally convinced Wolverine to appear in Deadpool 3, which has been given a release date of September 6, 2024. Reynolds announced the news via his Twitter page, confirming that the character’s return will involve the Marvel Cinematic Universe after all previous appearances have been tied to Fox’s discontinued live-action film series that ran from 2000 to 2020.

 

Says Reynolds:

 

“Hey everyone, we’re extremely sad to have missed D23, but we’ve been working very hard on the next ‘Deadpool’ film for a good long while now. I’ve had to really search my soul on this one. His first appearance in the MCU obviously needs to feel special. We need to stay true to the character, find new depth, motivation, meaning every Deadpool needs to stand out and stand apart. It’s been an incredible challenge that has forced me to reach down deep inside… But we did have one idea. Hey, Hugh, you want to play Wolverine one more time?”

 

To which Jackman replied in the background:

 

“Yeah, sure, Ryan.”

 

Check out the video below:

 

 

Hugh Jackman’s run as Wolverine, from 2000’s X-Men to 2017’s Logan, marked the longest time that a superhero actor consistently played a character in the same continuity without a break, with the character appearing across 9 films (X-Men, X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Logan — technically appearing in ten films if you count archival footage from Origins reused in a mid-credits gag for Deadpool 2). Originally, Jackman claimed that he wanted to play Wolverine as long as humanly possible, but instead opted to retire from the role on a high note with James Mangold’s critically acclaimed R-rated neo-western. Now, he’s reversed course to play Wolverine at least one more time. (That being said, it seems likely that Marvel Studios will likely cast their own iteration of Wolverine at some point, and that this version, appearing alongside Deadpool, will appear from the Fox X-Men universe.)

 

Deadpool 3 Wolverine

 

The movie has been in development at Marvel Studios for a while now, with Shawn Levy confirmed earlier this year to be directing, after working with Reynolds on both Disney’s Free Guy and Netflix’s The Adam Project. The director said the following about Jackman’s involvement:

 

“I want to take a minute to thank Stranger Things for training me to keep my big mouth shut. This news has been burning a hole in my lips for weeks now.”

 

The date announcement is also very exciting, and probably means that (despite what Reynolds says in the video) the movie will begin filming over the next few months. Up until now, it remained as an untitled Marvel Studios project, which was originally going to come out in February 2024, which tells us that the team is deep into pre-production.

 

As Reynolds says in the video, the character of Deadpool will be part of the MCU going forward, but it is unknown if the entire movie will take place there, or not. We know that the Fox X-Men universe was separate from Earth-616, but was the same as Deadpool’s. Jackman appearing in the movie hints that the story will kick off in Fox’s universe and that we could see, these many years later, his Wolverine travel to the MCU. Before the Fox’s acquisition by Disney, the then-in-development Deadpool 3 was going to be a road trip movie featuring both Deadpool and Wolverine told Rashomon-style, with both characters telling completely different versions of the same story. It seems that this same pitch may be used as the basis for what they might do here.

 

UPDATE: Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman have shared a second video on socials, discussing (but not really) how Logan will be introduced into the MCU. Also included: huge thanks to Kevin Feige plus a picture of the duo together with Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy at the very end.

 

 

Stay tuned as more news on Deadpool 3 will come out over the next few months. The next Marvel Studios movie to go into production is supposed to be Blade, which might be facing a big delay after losing its director.

 

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