When Logan was released in 2017, that appeared to be the end of Hugh Jackman’s time as Wolverine given that, well, the character died! Jackman himself was insistent that he’d never don the adamantium claws again… and then came September 2022, when it was announced that he’d be reprising Wolverine in Deadpool 3. The following February, it was reported that Jackman will play multiple versions of Wolverine, and now there’s a rumor detailing why this will be happening. Assuming this new information is accurate, I’m all for it!
According to scooper Daniel Richtman (via Mutants Updates), Deadpool 3 will see Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson embarking on a journey through the multiverse to find the “perfect Wolverine.” After running into various Logan variants, he ends up realizing that there’s no way that Hugh Jackman’s Logan can be replaced. While it isn’t directly clarified, it seems as though Deadpool has taken on this mission in response to the Wolverine from Logan dying after his fight with the X-24 clone.
The wording of this information also makes it sound like in addition to Hugh Jackman playing different takes on Wolverine in Deadpool 3, we could see other actors appear as variants. There’s precedence for that, of course, as Spider-Man: No Way Home saw Tom Holland’s Peter Parker teaming up with his Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield-played counterparts, and Disney+’s Loki series featured a handful of other actors playing different incarnations of the God of Mischief. The multiverse is infinite, which means that familiar characters aren’t always going to look the same.
This would also explain why Taron Egerton and Daniel Radcliffe have been rumored to appear in Deadpool 3 in recent weeks, with both actors having been popular fan picks over the years to take over the Wolverine role from Jackman. Last year’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness pulled that kind of move by spotlighting John Krasinski as Earth-838’s Mister Fantastic. Still, for now it’s worth taking all this information with a grain of salt. Frankly, the only thing we know for certain about Jackman’s Wolverine in Deadpool 3 is that he’ll don his classic yellow suit from the comics.
The multiverse fun in this upcoming Marvel movie isn’t expected to end with Wolverine. In addition to other classic X-Men movie characters rumored to appear, it was reported that Jennifer Garner will reprise Elektra from 2003’s Daredevil and the anti-heroine’s 2005 spinoff. There have even been rumblings of actors from the Fantastic Four movies returning to their roles, indicating that Deadpool 3’s exploration of the muitlverse will be focused around the 20th Century Fox era Marvel movies. The Deadpool 3 cast also includes familiar faces like Morena Baccarin, Brianna Hildebrand and Leslie Uggams, as well as newcomers like Emma Corrin and Matthew Macfayden.
Deadpool 3 is still slated for a May 3, 2024 release, and we’ll continue passing along updates one what to expect from Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and the rest of the production. Meanwhile, stream the first two Deadpool movies and other entries from the X-Men film series with your Disney+ subscription.
