Deadpool & Wolverine Writers Talk "Awfully Fun" Deadpool Variants
The third Deadpool movie "explores some different sides of Deadpool that we haven't seen."
Deadpools assemble! Throughout the Multiverse Saga, Marvel Studios has introduced the concept of sacred timelines, universe-destroying incursions, and variants — alternate versions of characters from parallel realities. That's familiar territory for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has traversed branches of the multiverse in the Disney+ series Loki and What If...? and the films Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
But it's new territory for the formerly Fox-owned Deadpool franchise, which wades into the X-Men universe with never-before-seen variants of Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) and Logan (Hugh Jackman) in Deadpool & Wolverine. Trailers for the R-rated MCU movie have even revealed glimpses of the Deadpool Corps, a team of "alternaverse" Deadpools that includes the pony-tailed Lady Deadpool.
"I like [writing for] Deadpool variants. Obviously, we've seen Lady Deadpool," franchise scribe Rhett Reese, who co-wrote all three Deadpool movies with Paul Wernick, told Marvel Live during Monday's Deadpool & Wolverine world premiere. "I won't say more, except they're awfully fun to explore some different sides of Deadpool that we haven't seen."
Jackman, who came out of superhero retirement for the first time since 2017's Logan to reprise the role he's played for 25 years, will make his tenth appearance as the razor-clawed Wolverine. But the blue and yellow-clad X-Man isn't the same Logan that fans have followed (across various timelines) since 2000's X-Men. Instead, this is a weary Wolverine who "let down his entire world," according to Time Variance Authority Agent Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen).
"We've written Deadpool for 15-plus years. We've never written Wolverine, so that was special to us," Wernick added. "That voice living in our heads for a little bit was awesome."
For the first time since the Fox-made X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Reynolds and Jackman's dysfunctional duo will collide when the TVA sends the retired Wade on a mission to save his own world from impending destruction.
"I think every bit of comedy needs the straight man. You've got the crazy guy, and you've got the straight man," Reese said. "Hugh is the perfect foil for Ryan. He's easily frustrated, he's annoyed, he's in a bad mood, and then he's got this guy yammering [in his ear]."
Marvel Studios' Deadpool & Wolverine — which also features returning Deadpool cast members Morena Baccarin (Vanessa), Leslie Uggams (Blind Al), Karan Soni (Dopinder), Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead), Shioli Kutsuna (Yukio), Stefan Kapičić (Colossus), Robe Delaney (Peter), Logan's Dafne Keen (Laura/X-23), and Succession's Matthew Macfadyen (TVA Agent Paradox) and The Crown's Emma Corrin (Cassandra Nova) — opens only in theaters on Friday.
