Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld is still "holding out" hope former X-Men star Hugh Jackman, who retired the Wolverine role after 17 years in swansong Logan, will unsheathe his adamantium claws one last time opposite Ryan Reynolds' fully-formed Deadpool. Jackman's Wolverine clashed with Reynolds' Merc Without a Mouth in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, where Reynolds first played Wade Wilson, depicted as a mutant mercenary turned into a mute, mutant-killing Weapon XI in a significant departure from Liefeld's wise-cracking comic book creation. Reynolds would later debut as a more accurate version of the character, complete with costume and personality, in the Tim Miller-directed solo feature Deadpool.
"I don't like to speculate on things that can't possibly be, but I'm stubborn enough to believe that as the years go by, as we get more distance, that maybe in ten years, that we'll see [them together]," Liefeld told ComicBook.com during our #QuarantineWatchParty of Deadpool. "Even though I have been told, by Hugh and by Ryan, that he's moving on, to my face, minds change. Time passes, things change."
"I am still holding out on the fact that there is still that opportunity, that they will share the screen at some point now that Ryan has found the Deadpool we all intended him to be," Liefeld added.
Reynolds, who will next reprise his role in Deadpool 3 under Marvel Studios, previously admitted convincing Jackman to return as Wolverine would be a "near-impossible feat."
"But there's no human being I love more than Hugh Jackman in that universe, and equally so as a friend. He's just the best," Reynolds told Entertainment Weekly in 2018. "I already miss him as Logan, so I'm one of those guys that whenever I see him, I'm like, 'Come on, man. Just one more. Come on. We'll do it together. It'll be fun. Come on! On three. Here we go, together. One, two, three, together,' and it's always just me saying it."
Jackman, now 51, has repeatedly reaffirmed he's "done" as Wolverine, saying he once would have liked to have teamed with Reynolds' Merc With a Mouth.
"When I saw Deadpool, I was like, wow that's cool. It's just a matter of time," Jackman told MTV News. "It's a bit like you're at the greatest party you've ever been at, you've been dancing for an hour and a half, and then you're just like 'It's time, okay. If I stay any longer, it's gonna get ugly.' It's like, it's time. And on the way home, someone calls you and goes 'They just put Michael Jackson on! You gotta get back here!' And a little part of you goes, 'I like Michael Jackson,' but then you just go, 'I want to go to bed.'"