Hugh Jackman Reacts to Those Wolverine References in the Deadpool Movies

The long-running Ryan Reynolds-Hugh Jackman “feud” is finally over. For the first time since the 2009 Fox movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the real-life BFFs reprise their title roles to team up in Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine (in theaters Friday). After years of persuading — or is that pestering? — Jackman came out of superhero retirement, reversing his decision to hang up the claws in 2017’s Logan. While Jackman’s Wolverine swansong capped off his 17-year run in nine Fox-made X-Men movies, it’s just the start of what is (hopefully) the beginning of a beautiful friendship in the MCU.

For co-writer and producer Reynolds, having Deadpool and Wolverine come together is the climax of all those fourth wall-breaking Jackman/Logan/Wolverine references in 2016’s Deadpool and 2018’s Deadpool 2.

“When he said he wasn’t going to play [Wolverine] anymore, I was just like, ‘Oh, f— off,’” Reynolds told BBC Radio 1 in the video below. “Like, ‘Why do that to us?’” 

Reynolds agreed the first two Deadpool movies are “love letters” to Jackman: everything from a People Magazine cover declaring the Australian actor the “Sexiest Man Alive,” to an impaled Logan music box, to Deadpool 2‘s timeline-resetting post-credits scene “fixing” X-Men Origins: Wolverine was part of what Reynolds has called “a long-term hazing campaign.”

Reynolds has campaigned for a Deadpool/Wolverine movie as far back as 2016, when he brought the red-suited, foul-mouthed merc to the screen in the R-rated Deadpool — which happened to come out just as Jackman chose to step away from the X-Men universe.

“The first 40 times I watched Deadpool, I just loved it,” added Jackman. “In honesty, I saw the first Deadpool movie in a screening room which Ryan set up. It was just before it opened, and it was three days after I’d announced that I was not going to do Wolverine again. I remember going, ‘Oh, hang on a sec. I think I screwed up.’ It took us five, six years to get there.” 

“It was the most ‘are you sure?’ note ever written, filmed, produced and locked,” Reynolds quipped.

Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine — which also features returning Deadpoolcast members Morena Baccarin (Vanessa), Leslie Uggams (Blind Al), KaranSoni (Dopinder), Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead), ShioliKutsuna (Yukio), Stefan Kapičić (Colossus), Robe Delaney (Peter), Logan‘sDafne Keen (Laura/X-23), and Matthew Macfadyen (TVA AgentParadox) and Emma Corrin (Cassandra Nova) — is in theaters July 26th.