Deadpool 3 shocked the world this week when Ryan Reynolds posted a video across all of his social media platforms to announce Hugh Jackman would be joining him in the upcoming Marvel film. Jackman, for the first time since Logan, will be reprising his role as Wolverine after years of swearing up and down that he is done with the mutant gig. While Reynolds and Jackman promise this new story will not impact the widely beloved Logan movie or its story, there are plenty of other questions about the film and more excitement. To celebrate the news of Jackman’s return and Deadpool 3 getting a release date of September 6, 2024, Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld connected with ComicBook.com’s Phase Zero podcast for an exclusive interview.
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As the story goes, Liefeld made quite a push to encourage Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige to bring Hugh Jackman back into the Marvel world as Wolverine. Having shared an e-mail he sent to Marvel boss Feige, Liefeld is proudly touting his role in influencing Jackman’s return. “I’m so happy that I have that email because I followed it up saying, ‘I’m going to put this in writing,’” Liefeld said. “And I said, ‘Look, what everybody wants is Hugh, Wolverine, Ryan, Deadpool. That’s it.’ It’s in the email. I have to own it. I said, ‘This could be as big as Endgame.’ Okay. I just went there because why not? Why not just go big, right? It’s like this is the inevitable.”
For years, it seemed Jackman was truly finished with the role of Wolverine. Having debuted in 2000’s X-Men, the actor played the part across several X-Men ensemble films and a trio of standalone Wolverine movies. ‘I remember in 2020, I got a text from Ryan saying, ‘Rob, Hugh is absolutely hanging up the claws. He has said all he’s going to say, and he’s moving on,’” Liefeld said. Like many of the fans, Liefeld still had hope Jackman would come back for a Deadpool story. “I’m like, ‘No way. He’s too young. Everybody comes back. Everybody comes back.’” With Avengers: Secret Wars on the way, it’s possible Jackman’s return to a Marvel role, a return which follows similar moves by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield for Spider-Man: No Way Home, it is possibly the next of many rather than the last.
The full interview with Liefeld can be found on the Phase Zero YouTube channel or any major podcast platform. Links to the Phase Zero bonus episode are right here:
Below, you will find six of the biggest and most marvelous takeaways from the extended conversation! Read on for the updates.
DEADPOOL WILL NOT KILL THE MARVEL UNIVERSE
With the multiverse being the theme of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s overarching stories right now, some fans have begun speculating that Deadpool 3 might be where Wade Wilson kills the Fox universe where the X-Men stories were being told prior to Disney acquiring the Fox studio. Liefeld is casting some firm doubt on such a possibility.
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s happening,” Liefeld said. “I will strongly disagree with you that that’s happening. But please dream on.” While Liefeld will, as stated in one of the points below, hint that other characters from the Fox movies could be involved, he is simply focused on the excitement of Jackman and Reynolds playing their Marvel roles together. “I swear to you, enough is never enough,” Liefeld said. “It can’t just be Wolverine and Deadpool having fun. We’ve got to just be thankful!”
THE CABLE GUY, TOO?
Cable made his debut in Deadpool 2, played by Thanos actor Josh Brolin. Brolin and Liefeld appear to be quite close if their occasional social media interactions are any indication but Liefeld is not quite ready to speak to Cable’s status for Deadpool 3 just yet. Still, he does seem to have a similar expectation for Cable and Zazie Beetz’s Domino as he did for Jackman’s Wolverine, though the current duo is enough to have the comic creative satisfied.
“Josh and Zazie. Look, have you thought about the fact that this is a Fox movie produced by Marvel? I mean, these are both guys who made their bones with the audience over at 20th Century Fox,” Liefeld pointed out. “Okay? I mean, this has some serious 20th Century Fox DNA in it. Okay? So, it’s just interesting that is the entry point. But I know everybody wants to jam. [Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman] together are enough for three hours.”
PHASE FOUR IS LIKE COMICS IN THE 70’s
With Marvel Studios blasting new heroes into the fold left and right throughout Phase 4, Liefeld is likening the current slate of projects to the Bronze Age of comics publishing. “Werewolf by Night, Moon Knight, Shang-Chi, Iron Fist, Black Widow, they are a product of the swingin’ seventies, the Bronze Age. Carol Danvers, she appeared in like 1969, 1970,” Liefeld said. “I mean, it was such a rich time. Marvel was experimenting and launching, launching, launching. And Little Rob Liefeld was like, ‘I will buy Master of Kung Fu. I will buy Iron Fist.’ I bought every Marvel title. Anything with Marvel, I bought. I was buying Werewolf by Night. I couldn’t believe how great Moon Night was. I bought Marvel Spotlight with Moon Knight. And right now, it’s like my childhood, my childhood, my age group, we are watching, have watched the Eternals. Whether you liked it or not, it’s from that age.”
All of that in mind, Liefeld seems to see a grand plan from Marvel Studios which can be compared to the era of comics where new characters who remain popular today were bursting into the scene. “Here’s the deal. Marvel was experimenting in the ’70s, trying to expand their readership, expand their audience,” Liefeld said. “And so I think Phase 4 deserves a ton of acclaim for taking big swings. They have taken big, enormous swings.”
Despite those swing, many audiences know what they like and want more of that. Liefeld seems to hear those fans quite well. “Occasionally, like Spider-Man: No Way Home, you just want the chocolate and the peanut butter. You don’t want to taste some refined menu,” Liefeld said. “You just want to go back to the two great tastes that tastes great together. And that is Ryan Reynold and Hugh Jackman. We’re getting it. We’re getting it. And this will enable Marvel to continue to experiment.”
BIGGEST MOVIE OF 2024
2024 has plenty of massive movies on its schedule as every studio competes to have the biggest blockbusters, especially in the super hero lane. Avatar 3 is expected to arrive that year, Fantastic Four is coming, the sequel to the billion dollar-grossing Joker will arrive… Yet, Liefeld is confident that Jackman and Reynolds together is enough to get Deadpool 3 to the very top of 2024’s charts at the box office.
‘I’ll take that bet. It will be [the biggest movie of 2024]. It will be,” Liefeld proclaimed. “I had my phone blew up yesterday. ‘Biggest movie of all. Biggest, biggest, biggest.’ It’s going to challenge… Buddy, buddy, the opening weekend alone may blow every people. Okay. I’m going to settle down and just tell you. These are two beautiful men. I don’t care if they’re in their forties and fifties. Women love these two guys. Women alone. We, the men could stay home that weekend, and it’s still going to make a giant record. Then you bring Deadpool and Wolverine fans, the intended audience. I mean, there is no wife, girlfriend, fiancé, date that isn’t going to this movie to see these two enormous superstars. Okay. This movie is going to break– And look, Ryan produced Deadpool number one. People forgot that. Ryan produced Deadpool number two. And this is the thing that you have to understand, Ryan Reynolds was a very successful… Obviously, had made serious bones as an actor prior to Deadpool. Since Deadpool, dude’s a billionaire. Okay?”
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME (AND EACH OTHER)
With Reynolds having found so much success in and out of Hollywood, Liefeld believes the money won’t be the motivator for the actor to continue playing the mercenary. “How do you motivate a billionaire? He better have something he wants to do and have fun doing it, right?” Liefeld said. “If you follow his career, and I’m not speaking for him, I’m speaking as a Ryan fanatic. Guy buys a gin company. Sells it for 400 million, guys. He has a Mint Mobile. Do you have a phone company? I don’t. He does. Also owns a sports club in England, I mean, overseas.”
The big selling point for Reynolds, according to the Deadpool creator, is the experience. “He doesn’t need to ever make another movie again,” Liefeld said. “We need to understand, he does not need to do anything ever again. He can just be Ryan Reynolds. Hugh Jackman, also ridiculously successful. You don’t think that guy… That guy does not need to make another piece of cinema. They are uniting because they want to do it. They’re going to have fun. They’re bringing their buddy Shawn Levy who’s… Real Steel, has already made a movie with Hugh, obviously. What has he made? 20 movies with Ryan. Maybe it’s only two, but it feels like 23.”
“It had to be fun for them, and it had to be something that they want,” Liefeld declared. “I think, honestly, if you ask me, I think Ryan and Hugh just want to give the fans an amazing experience. And that was the only reason Hugh came back. I think because he is like, ‘You know what? Am I really going to turn down working with my buddy Ryan again?”
SECRET WARS, SECRET PLANS?
Deadpool 3 arrives just more than one year prior to Avengers: Secret Wars. Though very little is known about Marvel’s big Phase 6 culmination title, the comics and events of titles like Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home have lead fans to believe this could be the movie where all of their favorite Marvel actors and characters from the MCU and other franchises come together for one film. This means Jackman, Maguire, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Halle Berry, Ben Affleck, Nicolas Cage, Scarlett Johansson, Famke Janssen, and more are all eligible for an appearance as versions of their characters who were thought to be complete left behind. Might Deadpool 3 just be Jackman’s step closer to playing Wolverine in Secret Wars?
“I live in Southern California. I’ve lived here my whole life. Almost everyone in my life is in the entertainment business. So, I hear and see and look at a lot of stuff,” Liefeld said. “Do I believe that there is an Avengers agenda behind every move, and that everyone who comes through the door, everyone who comes through the door to talk to Feige gets a form that says, ‘Would you be interested in pursuing this further down the road with a future Avengers movie?’ And there’s a ‘Yes,’ ‘No,’ ‘TBD.’ Okay. Do I believe that is submitted to them? Yes, yes, they are at least requested.”
Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: No Way Home seem to be when Liefeld really started believing. “The minute portals started opening and people were dropping out from other times just like in comics, it’s game on,” Liefeld said. “It’s game on. It’s not game over. It’s game on.”
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Image Credit: Marvel Studios, Marvel Comics
