Deadpool & Wolverine will do what we all thought was impossible when it brings together its title characters for a movie fans have spent decades waiting to see become a reality.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine offered a disappointing glimpse at what it would look like for Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman to trade barbs as Wade Wilson and Logan. However, it's down to Marvel Studios to deliver what promises to be the MCU's biggest - and perhaps best - team-up to date.
Complicating matters is 2017's Logan. In that movie, Jackman bid what appeared to be a permanent farewell to the clawed mutant when the X-Man's healing factor gave up on him and his clone, X-24, delivered a beating he couldn't come back from.
We're expecting this Wolverine to be a Variant from elsewhere in the Multiverse, something Reynolds and director Shawn Levy alluded to during a recent Vanity Fair interview.
"Initially, we had a very loose idea of how we would bring Wolverine back in ways that don’t necessarily interact or interfere with Logan and that legacy," Reynolds explained. "I know Kevin, like Shawn and I and Hugh, were all very concerned about that."
"We really needed to protect that and still allow us to tell the most full-throated Wolverine story we could ever imagine, which for us was just a huge nerve-wracking privilege."
Levy adds, "The legacy of Logan as a movie and a character means a lot to Hugh, of course, but to Ryan and Kevin and me as well. Is there an awareness of that legacy within the movie as well? The answer is yes. And that’s another way to protect it."
Freed from having to tie into Logan, Deadpool & Wolverine can do something different with its title character. However, that's not going to include him breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience, Merc with the Mouth-style.
While we didn't necessarily expect Wolverine to do that, a video playing in theaters with the duo telling the audience to silence their cell phone has led to speculation it might be the case.
Here's how Hugh Jackman, Reynolds, and Levy explained it:
Levy: So many actors come into a Deadpool movie and they’re like, 'Great, I get to talk to the camera and break the fourth wall.' We’re like, 'No, no, no. There actually is a system here.' And that keeps Deadpool’s tone unique to him.
Reynolds: There are rules. Very specific rules. You would diminish stakes in the film if everyone—or even anyone else—was also aware of the fourth wall or any kind of meta aspect. Deadpool is the only character who has that ability to do that. If everyone did that, then you would no longer invest in that character as much. You really want to believe that the villain is a villain. You really want to believe that your costar’s character is true as well. Deadpool can undermine that—and does undermine that—because you don’t want the audience to take him as seriously.
Jackman: I made the same mistake—day one. I made the suggestion and it was like, 'Yeah…' [Winces.]
Reynolds: I always feel like an absolute dick when I’m trying to explain: I need people as invested as humanly possible in every other character while knowing that only Deadpool is the unreliable narrator.
Jackman: Ryan beautifully describes Deadpool’s brain as a half-baked omelet. And so, whatever he’s doing—talking to a camera, to Wolverine—it’s just another layer of annoying crap that I’ve got to put up with. Who knows what the hell he is doing? But it’s just another excuse to punch him in the face.
Deadpool & Wolverine arrives in theaters on July 26.