The X-Men are finally joining the MCU. When Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019, Disney—which owns the Marvel Cinematic Universe—also got the rights to the X-Men characters. X-Men is a Marvel comic, but the heroes from the comics have been divided up amongst the movie studios. (For instance, Spider-Man is still a Sony property, even though the character is also allowed to be used in the MCU thanks to an agreement.) Multi-billion dollar business deals aside, the point is, that characters from X-Men can now join their Marvel superhero brethren on the big screen, and the first film up is Deadpool & Wolverine, which hits theaters July 26.
Ryan Reynolds returns at Wade Wilson/Deadpool while Hugh Jackman will again play James Howlett/Logan/Wolverine. The film takes place six years after Deadpool 2 and sees Deadpool being summoned back into action by the Time Variance Authority (TVA) to undertake a mission to save his universe. He’s joined by frenemy Wolverine, and they will have to fight on the same side despite their constant bickering.
Shawn Levy, the director of Deadpool & Wolverine has said that viewers don’t need prior knowledge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to watch the movie. “I very much made this film with certainly a healthy respect and gratitude towards the rabid fan base that has peak fluency in the mythology and lore of these characters and this world,” Levy told the Associated Press. “But I didn’t want to presume that. This movie is built for entertainment, with no obligation to come prepared with prior research.”
That said, if you are a fan of superhero movies and want to familiarize or re-familiarize yourself with the characters and the tricky situations they’ve found themselves in before, then there are several movies you should check out before heading to the multiplex for Deadpool & Wolverine. Below, you’ll find a rundown of all the films that feature Jackman’s Wolverine and Reynolds’ Deadpool, as well as information on one particularly relevant TV series. Warning: Spoilers ahead.
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Jackman first played Wolverine in 2000’s X-Men. The movie introduces viewers to various mutants—humans with a variety of superpowers—and was focused on a rivalry between the X-Men, led by Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), and the Brotherhood of Mutants, led by Magneto (Ian McKellen).
In X2, the Brotherhood of Mutants and the X-Men team up to avoid being killed off by the villain William Stryker (Brian Cox), who wants all mutants exterminated from the Earth. As with the first film, it features an ensemble cast, including Halle Berry as Storm, James Marsden as Cyclops, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, and Anna Paquin as Rogue.
X-Men: The Last Stand sees the superheroes introduced to a “cure” for mutants that would strip them of their special abilities. While this appeals to some mutants, it becomes clear that the cure can also be used against the ones who do want to keep their powers by those who want to bring them down. This film also tells the story of how Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) unintentionally becomes Phoenix, an evil, uber-powerful version of herself that turns against her allies.
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As you can tell from the title, X-Men Origins: Wolverine tells the origin story of the superhero and is a prequel to the X-Men movies that came before. It begins with a young James Howlett’s (Troye Sivan) life in Canada in the mid-1800s. He and his half-brother, Victor Creed/Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber), who is also a mutant, fight in wars together over multiple decades, James takes on the name Logan, and they are eventually sought out by Stryker (Danny Huston). Stryker wants to perform experiments on them, and while Logan resists, he does end up battling none other than Wade Wilson/Deadpool, who is played by Reynolds, making it his first time taking on the role.
Here’s where things get a little confusing as to how these movies all fit together. X-Men: First Class is both a reboot and a prequel to everything that came before. It shows the early lives of Magneto (played here by Michael Fassbender) and Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and reveals how they created their mutant groups. The other superheroes are played by different actors in this 1960s-set film, and new characters from the comics are brought in. For instance, Jennifer Lawrence takes on the role of Mystique, January Jones plays Emma Frost, and Nicholas Hoult plays Beast.
The Wolverine is the second Wolverine-focused movie after X-Men Origins: Wolverine and takes place after the events in X-Men: The Last Stand. This one sees Wolverine coming to terms with being forced to kill Jean Grey after she became Phoenix. It takes place in Japan, where Wolverine was summoned by Ichirō (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), a soldier whose life he saved during World War II. But, it turns out to be a plot for Wolverine’s healing abilities to be taken away and harnessed for Ichirō’s own use.
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The X-Men from the original few movies and the prequel X-Men: First Class come together in Days of Future Past, which hinges on time travel. In order to save mutants in the future (which was 2023 in this movie), Wolverine travels back to 1973 and interacts with the younger versions of the superheroes. This effectively made First Class more of a prequel than a full reboot of the franchise.
The first Deadpool movie came along in 2016, seven years after Reynolds first played the character. This film shows Deadpool’s origin story—he gained his mutant powers when also being promised that his cancer would be cured—which is different than the one shown in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The movie also differs from the others in the X-Men franchise given its R rating and its adult subject matter and jokes.
X-Men: Apocalypse is set in 1983, so it’s a sequel to First Class and Days of Future Past and the third prequel movie. This time around, the heroes battle En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), a mutant from ancient Egypt, who is reawakened in the modern world and must be taken down before he attempts to destroy society. (After this film comes another movie in the prequel series, 2019’s Dark Phoenix, which features neither Wolverine nor Deadpool.)
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Wolverine is over 200 years old, but in Logan we actually see him aging due to the decline of his healing abilities. This movie is set in 2029, when Logan is taking care of a nearly 100-year-old Xavier (Stewart) and agrees to transport a young girl, Laura (Dafne Keen), with mutant abilities to a sanctuary. He finds out that Laura has been created using his own DNA, so they have similar abilities.
Also worth noting: Logan dies in this film, and Jackman intended to no longer play the character. Clearly, he changed his mind. “I just wanted to do it and I felt it in my gut,” the actor told The Guardian of returning to Wolverine once again. “I get to punch the [expletive] out of Ryan Reynolds every day.”
In a promotional video for the new movie featuring both actors, Reynolds says, “Logan takes place in 2029. Totally separate thing. Logan died in Logan. Not touching that.” This could mean that the Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine is one from a different universe or that the movie takes place earlier in the timeline.
Warning: Explicit language in video above.
No Good Deed is a short film that was released alongside Logan, playing prior to the movie in theaters. It’s a three-and-a-half-minute comedy about Deadpool attempting to help an old man who is being mugged but not getting to him in time because he has trouble getting into his superhero uniform.
Warning: Explicit language in video above.
The Deadpool sequel was released in 2018 and features Deadpool forming the group X-Force and battling Cable (Josh Brolin), a time traveling mutant who visits Deadpool’s time to kill a young mutant, Russell Collins/Firefist (Julian Dennison), who will kill Cable’s family in the future.
Deadpool and Korg React is another short film—this one teasing Deadpool joining the MCU. It stars Deadpool and Korg (Taika Waititi), who was introduced in Thor: Ragnarok. Together, they watch the trailer for Reynolds’ unrelated movie Free Guy and talking about the idea of Deadpool crossing over into the other Marvel canon.
The plot of Deadpool & Wolverine includes the Time Variance Authority, an organization that is tasked with maintaining the multiverse by keeping timelines in order and eliminating dangerous ones.. With the multiverse now a major part of the MCU, viewers have learned how various versions of the same characters can exist in different universes. The TVA is a central part of the TV series Loki. In Avengers: Endgame, when the heroes go back in time to collect the Infinity Stones before Thanos can obtain them, Loki—the villain of the first Avengers—escapes at that point in the story, unlike how the actual 2012 movie goes. As a “variant” of himself, he is found by the TVA and then tasked by the agency to help them catch other Loki variants that are causing chaos in multiple timelines. There are two seasons of the show on Disney+.