How Deadpool & Wolverine Sets Up the MCU’s X-Men Reboot

How does Deadpool & Wolverine set up the X-Men’s reboot in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? That’s the question people have been asking since before Deadpool 3 was released – and admittedly it’s a question some fans may still be asking after seeing the film. 

How Deadpool & Wolverine Sets Up An MCU X-Men Reboot

The core storyline for Deadpool & Wolverine sees Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) trying to save his Fox X-Men Universe timeline (Earth-10005) from erasure by a rogue TVA agent named Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen). It’s revealed that Earth-10005 is unraveling due to Wolverine’s death at the end of Logan, as Wolverine (and subsequently Hugh Jackman) is an “anchor being” whose presence keeps his timeline alive and stabilized. Deadpool hatches his own scheme to recruit an emotionally broken Logan variant from a timeline where he failed to be a hero and have him serve as Earth-10005’s new anchor. Deadpool and Wolverine ultimately defeat their enemies and the variant Logan indeed helps anchor Earth-10005, preventing its annihilation. 

Deadpool & Wolverine functions as both an important piece of MCU Multiverse Saga lore, and a meta-commentary on the Fox X-Men Universe’s place in it. The main takeaway is that we now have precedence lore explaining how elements of different realities crossing over can be beneficial – not to mention “high purpose” for the process of cherry-picking characters who jump into the MCU from other franchises (like Daredevil, Kingpin, Punisher, Deadpool, Wolverine, etc.). 

The ending of Deadpool & Wolverine arguably teases that Wade and Logan will be “team captains” for Earth-10005 if and when that reality has to battle the MCU (Earth-616) in Avengers: Secret Wars. Once that event film is finished, however, the “anchor being” concept feels like it could be used to justify any actors/characters from the Fox era that Marvel Studios wants to keep for the MCU era. Based on the business Deadpool & Wolverine is already doing at the box office, it’s not hard to predict that Reynolds’ Deadpool could be a lynchpin carryover. Deadpool & Wolverine’s opening establishes Wade’s deep-seated desire to go to Earth-616, while the ending instills him with the hometown pride to help find and establish mutants in the MCU.

Other than carrying over characters, there is (frustratingly?) little roadmap for how the X-Men will come together in the MCU. Fans speculated that Deadpool & Wolverine could end with the reboot well underway – but that’s not the case, as for now, the Fox X-Men Universe is alive and well. 

Deadpool & Wolverine is now in theaters. The X-Men MCU Reboot is in development.