Ryan Reynolds has confirmed that Hugh Jackman will be returning as Wolverine in Deadpool 3. In a video announcing the surprise bit of casting, the actors also revealed the film’s release date: September 6th, 2024.
Deadpool 3 will mark the Merc with a Mouth’s long awaited entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a bridging of franchises that has been in the works ever since Disney reclaimed the rights to the X-Men in the 20th Century Fox merger. Fans have also anticipated the MCU arrival of the larger roster of mutants, something that has already slowly begun thanks to the rug-pulling appearance of Evan Peters in WandaVision and Patrick Stewart getting back in Professor Xavier’s wheelchair for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. (As well as the controversial reveal at the end of Ms. Marvel Season 1.)
Still, after the epic swan song that was 2017’s Logan, few would have imagined Jackman would pop the claws back in (er, out) to once again play Wolverine. That is until last summer, when Jackman posted an Instagram Story of himself with MCU mastermind Kevin Feige right after posting “fan art” of Wolverine’s claws. The actor denied it meant anything, but as we’ve learned today, it was likely all part of Marvel’s masterful promotional machine.
Jackman’s Wolverine coming back for Deadpool 3 is also something of a full-circle story for Reynolds’ relationship with the character. His first appearance as Wade Wilson/Deadpool was in 2009’s poorly received X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a film that completely botched the fan-favorite anti-hero. After that, the Wolverine solo films grew increasingly successful, while Reynolds fought through a bunch of Hollywood red tape to get Deadpool made. Though Deadpool continued to make fourth-wall-breaking references to his time alongside Logan, the two never again shared the screen.
It looks like Marvel will finally change that as it brings together two of the most popular mutants around for Deadpool 3. While Bob’s Burgers writers Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin were brought on to draft a script back in 2020, Deadpool and Deadpool 2 scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have since been brought back onboard as screenwriters. Shawn Levy, who has worked with Reynolds on recent films Free Guy and The Adam Project, is set to direct.
And don’t worry: Marvel has promised to keep with the franchise’s R-rated history.
Watch the announcement video — which also teases a cool new Deadpool 3 logo –below.
Hard keeping my mouth sewn shut about this one. ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/OdV7JmAkEu
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) September 27, 2022