Earlier this month, we finally got a first official look at Deadpool 3 and to say it broke the internet would be no exaggeration. After more than two decades of waiting, Hugh Jackman has finally donned Wolverine's classic yellow costume for this team-up with Ryan Reynolds Merc with the Mouth!
In terms of official details, we know very little about the Marvel Studios threequel; however, all signs point to it being an adventure that takes Wade Wilson and Logan on a trip through the Multiverse.
As with any highly anticipated comic book movie, a tonne of rumours have been doing the rounds about the R-Rated movie in recent months. Now, we've rounded up some of the biggest, sifting through the BS to hopefully provide you with a much better idea about what to expect next summer.
You can take a look through our Deadpool 3 breakdown by clicking on the "Next" button below.
8. The X-Men Don Their Classic Comic Book Costumes
At this point, it's been established that we should look forward to a number of original X-Men cast members returning alongside Hugh Jackman. That's hardly a shock given Kevin Feige's history with them, and James Marsden, Famke Janssen, and Halle Berry are all expected to appear.
We won't be getting any of the actors from the rebooted timeline which kicked off in 2011's X-Men: First Class (despite them appearing briefly in Deadpool 2) and Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen are both said to be reprising their respective roles as Professor X and Magneto.
Most exciting, however, is the fact all these characters are rumoured to be decked out in comic-accurate costumes inspired by X-Men: The Animated Series!
7. Return To Earth-838
While we'll spend some time in the X-Men Universe, it sounds like Deadpool's run-in with the Time Variance Authority (we'll get to that) will see him and Wolverine tasked with sorting out a huge mess on Earth-838.
There are conflicting reports about this, but it appears the Scarlet Witch (a mutant) has completely lost her mind after being possessed by Earth-616's Wanda Maximoff. In the wake of Professor X and the Illuminati's deaths, Magneto is said to have used his daughter's reality-altering powers to make mutants the dominant species, a la House of M.
We're not sure what exactly Deadpool and Wolverine are supposed to do about it, but this sounds like a dream "What If...?" story...even if would make more sense for the X-Men Universe and Earth-838 to be one and the same. Perhaps they are?
6. Cable Won't Be Back But His Time-Travel Device Will Be
If you're wondering what it is that puts Deadpool on the TVA's radar, it is indeed what he got up to with Cable's time-travel device in the sequel's closing moments. Based on set photos, both Wade and Wolverine are pruned and sent to The Void, so it's possible they end up on Earth-838 by mistake while trying to get home.
Either way, Josh Brolin's Cable isn't going to be part of this threequel (Zazie Beetz also won't be reprising her role as Domino for reasons which aren't currently clear).
As for Nathan Summers, we've heard that he's sent back to his own timeline in exchange for not being pruned and, more importantly, giving up his time-travel device. Despite Bolin's disappointing Deadpool 3 absence, a number of scoopers seem convinced he'll be part of the MCU down the line.
5. Channing Tatum Is Back As Gambit
Deadpool 3 is seemingly lining up a number of big cameo appearances for a movie that may well serve as a final farewell to Fox's X-Men Universe.
Among them is said to be Channing Tatum as Gambit. The actor was supposed to play the Cajun superhero way back in 2016, but after multiple directors and seemingly endless creative differences, the project failed to get off the ground before the Disney/Fox merger put an end to the project once and for all.
Tatum getting another chance in this threequel would be an absolute blast, and we're sure he'd shine bouncing off Reynolds and Jackman given his comedic chops. It's always fun to think about what might have been but this movie can actually make one of those big missed opportunity castings a reality.
4. Multiple Deadpool Variants
Any movie set in the Multiverse has to throw Variants into the mix and, as you might expect, all signs point to a lot of Deadpools showing up over the course of this madcap team-up.
Dogpool is thought to be a lock, while one supposed leak suggested we'll even see actor Ryan Reynolds don a Wrexham Football Club t-shirt to play himself when the Merc with the Mouth enlists an entire army of 'Pools in an attempt to stop Magneto. We'd take that with a pinch of salt for now, but boy, it sure would be fun.
Here's a small bonus scoop for you, though: we've heard that there's a push for Taylor Swift to play Lady Deadpool. It's unclear right now whether it will pan out but she's friends with Reynolds and Blake Lively and the idea had been to film it before she embarks on the international Eras Tour. We'll see.
3. Here Comes Daredevil
In an undeniably surprising move, The Hollywood Reporter essentially spoiled one of Deadpool 3's biggest cameos by revealing Jennifer Garner will reprise her role as Elektra in the upcoming threequel.
If we had to hazard a guess, they were fed the news because the actress was going to be spotted on set and Marvel Studios wanted to get ahead of the paparazzi. Either way, both before and after that report, reliable sources have claimed Ben Affleck has shot a cameo role in the movie as Daredevil.
It's a character we never expected the Justice League star to return to, so Reynolds must have promised him something really fun in order to don that suit again. We wouldn't go in anticipating anything too major, but we'd put money on a Batman joke...
2. Jean Grey Vs. Scarlet Witch
There continue to be conflicting reports about whether Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch will actually physically appear in Deadpool 3. It would be odd for Earth-838's Wanda to have rewritten reality and then disappeared, but a plot point like that may be revisited somewhere down the line.
According to plot leakers and scoopers alike, however, we may well end up seeing the Scarlet Witch battle Jean Grey in what has the potential to be a standout sequence in the movie.
In some respects, this feels like an odd place to continue Wanda's story, but if she is essentially the MacGuffin at the heart of what's going on, then it might be Marvel Studios' chance to show what Jean can really do. It would make up for Fox's two botched attempts at the "Dark Phoenix Saga," anyway.
1. Stranded In The MCU
In some respects, we're still surprised Marvel Studios hasn't just brought Wade Wilson into the MCU and completely moved on from Fox's movies. Throwing him into a shared world without mutants might be easier said than done, though, and the Multiverse has certainly made things easier.
Now, Feige can revisit the franchise where he started his career and give Jackman the chance to go out on an even bigger high than what we saw in Logan. We expect this to be our final visit to the "Fox-verse," regardless, but what does that mean for Deadpool's big screen future?
Again, we're not guaranteeing anything, but the prevailing belief does seem to be that Deadpool 3 ends with Wade, Wolverine, and possibly even more Fox characters stranded in the MCU. It's likely temporary before Secret Wars reboots everything but also a potentially game-changing move...