By the time Deadpool 3 releases, it will have been six years since Ryan Reynolds’ last outing as Wade Wilson aka the Merc with a Mouth. But during that period, the franchise moved from Fox to Disney, and thusly, finally into the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper. This means we can finally see the quippy, R-rated antihero interacting with the A-list Marvel characters he deserves (not tossed off C-listers who were only available because of studio rights. With that, it was already set to be a big event, but now that filming is officially underway, we’ve already gotten a lot of hints that Deadpool 3 will be a more ambitious entry in the Multiverse Saga of the MCU than it might have initially seemed..
Here’s everything we know about the upcoming third Deadpool film.
Fans have been going crazy over a new photo from set that shows Jackman, alongside Reynolds, in a yellow costume, harkening back to Wolverine’s classic comics look that’s never been seen on the big screen until now.
Despite Deadpool constantly referencing Wolverine throughout the first two films, Deadpool 3 will mark the first time the two meet on the big screen. (The oft denounced, neutered version of Deadpool in the universally maligned Wolverine: Origins doesn’t count.) Reynolds announced Jackman’s return via in September of 2022, followed up by a video attempting to answer how Wolverine would be back after he died at the end of Logan—but his explanation is conveniently drowned out by a Wham! track.
Reynolds said that the version of Wolverine pitched to Jackman was “enough of a divergence from the character that he knows and the character that he’s left behind, that it gives him something completely new to play and something that he’s really excited to do.”
A few of Deadpool’s supporting cast will return, including his one true love Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), Blind Al (Leslie Uggams), Dopinder (Karan Soni), Colossus (Stefan Kapicic), Peter (Rob Delaney), Yukio (Shioli Kutsuna), and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand).
Free Guy and The Adam Project director Shawn Levy will helm the film, while Deadpool story stewards Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick worked on a script originally drafted by Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin of Bob’s Burgers fame. However, given the fact Deadpool 3 is currently filming during the Writers Guild strike, Reynolds isn’t allowed to improv on set and must stick to the script as it’s currently written, with Deadpool creator and producer Rob Liefeld implying ADR sessions for ad-libs may come in handy after the completion of principal photography.
The major new cast members for the film feature The Crown’s Emma Corrin and Succession’s Matthew MacFadyen. Both roles are unknown at this time, but the original reporting about Corrin stated they would play the villain role.
Zazie Beetz and Josh Brolin are unconfirmed to return, but there’s always a chance they’ll turn up in a cameo capacity.
There’s some speculation that Owen Wilson and Tara Strong will play a role as their respective Loki characters—Mobius and Ms. Minutes—from the Time Variance Authority, indicating Deadpool 3 will, like a lot of other stories at the box office nowadays, be a multiverse adventure. That theory gained a little bit more traction when it was announced that Jennifer Garner is set to reprise her role as Elektra (seen in the Ben Affleck Daredevil film and her own self-titled spinoff).
One comic book story that Reynolds and crew might be drawing from is the “Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe” series. Written by Cullen Bunn with art by Dalibor Talajic, the title is exactly how things play out: Deadpool breaks bad and destroys the entire Marvel Universe in a murderous fashion. Considering Deadpool absconded with Cable’s time-travel tech at the end of the sequel, it’s pretty easy to see how he’d run afoul of the TVA.
Perhaps, as punishment for screwing with the timelines, Wade is sent back into time to clean up the messiness created by Fox’s universe of characters, where the storylines were way less organized than the MCU. So, basically Deadpool Kills the Fox Universe? If that sounds far fetched, consider the set photos showing a massive 20th Century Fox logo buried in the dirt a la Planet of the Apes. With the MCU set on finally presenting a new version of the Fantastic 4 and the X-Men, it seems like Deadpool 3 will be their opportunity to poke fun at past iterations and ignite the biggest run of cameos we’ve ever seen in a Marvel film yet. It’s safe to assume cameos from characters in both attempts at a Fantastic Four franchise and all of the X-Men films are on the table and fair game for a bloody rampage before finding a new home amongst the MCU. Deadpool 3 doesn’t release until May 24, 2024 but considering the teases we already have, there will surely be more to come in the immediate future.