There was a lot of excitement when it was announced that Hugh Jackman would be reprising the role of Wolverine for a team-up with the Merc With a Mouth (Ryan Reynolds) in Marvel Studios' Deadpool movie, but not everyone was fully on board.
For many fans, James Mangold's Logan was the perfect send-off for Jackman's take on the iconic mutant, and there was a perception that bringing the character back would only cheapen his emotional farewell.
As it turns out, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige felt the same way!
“I said, ‘Let me give you a piece of advice, Hugh. Don’t come back’,” Feige recalls to Empire. “‘You had the greatest ending in history with Logan. That’s not something we should undo.’”
Feige came around to the idea when it was explained that Jackman would be playing a different Variant of Wolverine for this movie, which was confirmed in the recent trailer.
As for Jackman, the opportunity to work with Reynolds and finally don the classic costume was too tempting to pass up.
“We almost did it in The Wolverine,” Jackman says of his comic-accurate outfit. “But from the moment I put it on here, I was like, ‘How did we never do this?’ It looked so right, it felt so right. I was like, ‘That’s him.’ There are different sides of Wolverine we haven’t seen before in the movies. It was exciting for me.”
“It’s great for Deadpool to have someone who will punch him in the face,” he adds.
Check out a new image of Wolvie about to go berserker at the link below.
In addition to Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in the title roles, Deadpool and Wolverine will see Morena Baccarin (Vanessa), Leslie Uggams (Blind Al), Rob Delaney (Peter), Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead) And Shioli Kutsuna (Yukio) return as their respective characters, and they'll be joined by franchise newcomers Emma Corrin (The Crown) and Matthew Macfadyen (Succession), who will play a TV agent and Charles Xavier's evil counterpart, Cassandra Nova.
A recent synopsis for the movie reads: "After facing some professional setbacks while going through a midlife crisis, Wade Wilson decides to officially retire Deadpool and becomes a used car salesman. But when his friends, family, and the whole world are at stake, Deadpool decides to bring his katanas out of retirement. He recruits an unwilling and wary Wolverine to not only fight for their survival, but ultimately, their legacy."
Shawn Levy directs Deadpool and Wolverine from a script by Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Zeb Wells.
The movie is set to open in U.S. & Canadian theaters on July 26, and will be available in IMAX, RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, Cinemark XD and premium screens everywhere.