The following is going to get into mild spoilers for this summer’s Deadpool and Wolverine, so stop reading now if you want to remain unaware.
Marvel Studios is putting the bulk of its eggs into one basket this year, opening only one movie in the R-rated comedy Deadpool and Wolverine. It’s part of the studio’s effort to focus more on quality over quantity. But it’s also going to allow the main character of Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) to explore the Multiverse, something that is still integral to the MCU as a whole in this fifth and sixth phase of movies. As we saw in the trailer for Deadpool and Wolverine, Wade Wilson is going to get kidnapped by the Time Variance Authority (of TVA), agents that took center stage in both seasons of Loki. But a popular Deadpool rumor suggesting WHY the TVA wants Wade was shot down in the footage that we saw at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
Marvel Studios President showed off 9 minutes of Deadpool and Wolverine footage at CinemaCon. Our description of it can be found here. And in the footage it is made very clear that the TVA is not abducting Wade because of the events that took place at the end of Deadpool 2. Several fans speculated that Deadpool using Cable’s time-travel device in order to save Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) might have put him on the radar of the TVA… which monitors deviations off the Sacred Timeline. You would assume that Deadpool preventing the creation of Green Lantern, and the abomination that is X-Men: Origins - Wolverine would create serious ripples:
However, as part of the footage, Deadpool specifically asks TVA agent Paradox (Matthew Macfayden) if he has been abducted because he messed with Cable’s technology, and Paradox tells the Merc With a Mouth that the TVA is aware of that tomfoolery, but that is not why they want him.
So, why DO they want him? The footage that we saw stopped short of clarifying the reasons why the TVA is coming after Wade Wilson. All that was made clear is that he is being given the chance to join the only universe that matters. They are referring to the Sacred Timeline, but really, it’s a substitute to the MCU, because Deadpool excuses himself, walks over to the camera, and looks directly into it before saying, “Suck it Fox! I’m going to Disneyland!”
There has to be more going on, though. Moving Deadpool to the MCU seems like the opening act of Shawn Levy’s Deadpool and Wolverine. We don’t yet know how Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine will be involved (though there have been plenty of rumors). And the same goes for the mysterious Cassandra Nova, played by Emma Corrin. However, the TVA not being interested in Deadpool and Cable’s actions lines up with Levy’s recent comments saying that Deadpool and Wolverine is NOT a direct sequel to Deadpool 2. As he explained to ScreenRant:
I just felt privileged every day because you're talking about two massive movie stars in their most iconic roles. It also gave me an opportunity. It's the third Deadpool movie, but it's not Deadpool 3. It's a different thing that's very much Deadpool and Wolverine. And it's not trying to copycat anything from the first two movies. They were awesome, but this is a two-hander character adventure.
We don’t have much longer to wait to find out the answers to all of our questions. Deadpool and Wolverine will be in theaters beginning on July 26, 2024.
