Deadpool 3 Writers Weigh in on Wolverine MCU Casting

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a lot of exciting things waiting in the wings for fans – in addition to all the cosmic, multiverse, madness that’s already unfolding in Phase 4. One of the most highly-anticipated films on the way is Deadpool 3, which will see Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool officially arrive in the MCU. Deadpool 3 writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have been teasing some of the story ideas they have for Deadpool’s official MCU debut; in a recent interview, the pair addressed the recent rumors that Wolverine could be showing up in Deadpool 3. 

Marvel fans are perpetually jumping the gun over Wolverine coming to the MCU, so it’s no surprise that a simple social media picture of Hugh Jackman looking at his phone exploded into wild speculation that Jackman was making a return as Wolverine role for Deadpool 3. 

So are the actual writers of Deadpool 3 considering any Wolverine appearances in the film? Better question: could they even say anything if they were? 

 “I don’t know. Look, we don’t have any inside information on that. Even if we did, we couldn’t share it but we don’t,” Rhett Reese told Post-Credit Podcast. Fans have been hoping that real-life buddies Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds will finally get to share the screen as the Marvel characters; it’s a longshot, but not impossible. 

Even if Hugh Jackman did make a cameo, Marvel Studios still needs a full-time new actor to play MCU Wolverine. Reese offered a few suggestions: 

“Suggestions… It’s gotta be someone shorter this time… So maybe a Zack Galifianakis or Patton Oswalt, someone like that… I would honestly go more… an undiscovered person, because Hugh Jackman was reasonably undiscovered the first time and I think there was initial bucking [of], ‘Oh, he’s too tall,’ or, ‘He doesn’t look right,’ or, ‘What is this Australian thing?’ I think that if they’re playing their cards right, they probably should make it someone we’ve never seen.”

The question of who will play the MCU Wolverine looms almost as large as the question of how Marvel Studios will integrate the X-Men franchise as a whole into the MCU. Strange as the case may be (no pun), Deadpool looks like he could be one of the biggest ambassadors for the franchise reboot. The X-Men franchise was, of course, separate from the MCU until the Disney-Fox merger was completed in March 2019; the fact that the MCU has such a deep canon without mutants or the X-Men has been no small issue to tackle. 

The current Marvel Phase 4 arc plays with ideas of alternate universes (and different Marvel franchises), and the Fox X-Men Universe may soon be referenced before some big event reboots the entire MCU Multiverse into a new playground where Wolverine and the X-Men are part of the renewed status quo from the start. 

Who do you want to see play Wolverine? Should he show up in Deadpool 3?