Summary

Director Shawn Levy says “everything changed radically” when Hugh Jackman called Ryan Reynolds about the possibility of teaming up for
Deadpool 3.

As it turns out,
Deadpool & Wolverine
is the result of Jackman reaching out rather than Levy and Reynolds “pestering or pitching” the Logan actor to reprise his
X-Men
role.
The characters and variants in the movie were determined by the storyline, like Pyro, and the many undisclosed surprise appearances which will finally be revealed in July.

Turns out it was Hugh Jackman who made the all-important phone call that changed everything and marked his returning as “the X-Man” this summer. Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy sheds light on the idea that he and Ryan Reynolds were “pestering” Jackman to suit up again as Logan/Wolverine in the Merc with a Mouth’s first big-screen adventure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The revelation may come as a surprise to the fans, but it was the former X-Men star who first reached out about the friends working together again. Levy said in a brand-new interview with Entertainment Weekly:

“Everything changed radically on the day that Hugh called Ryan.
We had been workshopping a lot of ideas about possible stories for a third Deadpool movie.
Those were story ideas that were more sequelly to the first two Deadpools,
but none of them imagined such a seismic shift.
I can safely say that the story completely changed and, in fact, came to us very, very quickly starting that day.”

Deadpool & Wolverine Release Date July 26, 2024 Studio Marvel Studios, 20th Century Studios, 21 Laps Entertainment Tagline Everyone deserves a happy ending. Franchise Marvel

Levy said in the same sit-down:

“Everyone assumed that Hugh’s return was the result of me or Ryan pestering
or pitching him relentlessly. But even more miraculously,
this was the result of a Hugh Jackman epiphany
. He wanted to do this team-up of Logan and Deadpool, and so it really was
a sky-opening gift from the heavens type of phone call
that changed everything.”

Deadpool & Wolverine Is ‘Two-Hander, Oil-and-Water Story’

“The most Deadpool movie in the history of Deadpool” is headed to theaters this July, and it’s the only big-screen MCU adventure scheduled for 2024. And from the very beginning, director Shawn Levy has referred to Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s team-up as a buddy film in the same vein as classic movies like Midnight Run and 48 Hours. Levy expanded on that idea while speaking with EW:

“As a two-hander, oil-and-water story,
this movie draws inspiration from the great films in that genre. That means everything from
Midnight Run
and
48 Hours
to
Rain Man
and
Planes, Trains and Automobiles,
these quests that pair a duo of mismatched characters.
The joy we get as an audience watching that relationship evolve.”

Related Here’s One Variant of Wolverine You Won’t See in the Upcoming Deadpool Movie With Deadpool & Wolverine set to release soon, audiences wonder which variants will debut. Here’s one version of Wolverine that probably won’t.

While Eric Bana’s Hulk won’t show up in Deadpool & Wolverine, there will be plenty of MCU multiverse surprises making appearances in this summer’s sequel where beloved characters and/or their variants are concerned. One such character, who has already been revealed, is Pyro (Aaron Stanford) from X2 (2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). Levy continued:

“I’ll say we didn’t start off with a wish list.
From the day we started devising this Deadpool and Wolverine story,
we let the story dictate the characters,
not the other way around.
Aaron and his return as Pyro was an outgrowth of that,
and that applies to pretty much
all the characters you’ll see in the movie.”

Levy also said:

This is still Wade [Reynolds] dealing with certain issues, but it’s very much two characters, two heroes, and two haunted men hoisted together in a shared journey.

Deadpool & Wolverine
opens in theaters on July 26.