A week ago, we were still living in a world where Hugh Jackman was never going to play Wolverine. After all, the character was given an emotional farewell in Logan, and the actor who made his Hollywood debut as the popular Marvel Comics character in 2000 had repeatedly said he wouldn’t revisit the role. Well, clearly he changed his mind, as it’s been announced that Jackman will reprise Wolverine in Deadpool 3. We’re a long way off from the big return, but someone has put together a clip imagining what it could look like.
If you follow news about superhero movies closely, then there’s a good chance you’re familiar with BossLogic, who has created a lot of custom and officially-commissioned artwork over the years, the latter of which includes Black Adam concept art that earned Dwayne Johnson’s seal of approval. Fresh off delivering some violent Deadpool 3 fan art, BossLogic put together this amusing take on how Wolverine’s return could go down.
Remember, Logan ended with Wolverine succumbing to the mortal wounds inflicted upon him by his feral clone X-24. So if Deadpool 3 were to take place after Logan, then it would be indeed necessary for Deadpool to dig Wolverine out of his grave. However, rather than the latter immediately unsheathing his claws, the Merc with the Mouth would need to inject Wolverine something that reactivates his healing factor, which was failing during the events of the 2017 movie.
This is a fun scenario to envision, but it doesn’t sound like it’s really in the cards. A day after the big Deadpool 3 news was announced, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman appeared in a video together to clear up any questions concerning how Wolverine’s return fit within the canon of X-Men movies. Hilariously, most of what they said was covered up by Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” but prior to that, Reynolds did say that Deadpool 3 is “not touching” Wolverine’s death because it's a “totally separate thing.” So unless the threequel’s story ends up being radically overhauled, we can reasonably assume this upcoming Marvel movie won’t be set after Logan.
That then begs the question of if the Wolverine we see in Deadpool 3 is the “main” one from a point in time prior to Logan, or a doppelgänger/variant from another universe/timeline. It’ll likely be a while until that question is answered, but at least Hugh Jackman is enthusiastic about playing Wolverine one more time… and by that, I mean he said, “Yeah, sure” to the offer. Logan director James Mangold also said that regardless of how Wolverine is brought back, he can’t wait to see the “madness” that Jackman and Reynolds “cook up.”
While specific Deadpool 3 plot details are being kept under wraps, like its two predecessors, it will be an R-rated affair. Free Guy and The Adam Project’s Shawn Levy is sitting in the threequel’s director’s chair, and Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick returned to write the script, with Bob’s Burgers duo Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin having penned a previous draft. Despite being a Marvel Studios production, it’s unclear if Deadpool 3 will be directly set in the MCU or officially serve as the final entry of the Fox-verse.
Deadpool 3 hits theaters on September 6, 2024. If you’re interested in watching the first two Deadpool movies and/or Logan, break out your Disney+ subscription.
