“Deadpool & Wolverine” is the only Marvel Cinematic Universe movie hitting theaters in 2024, but its first trailer has given fans every reason to believe that it will be a big enough movie event to scratch everyone’s superhero itch.
The film sees Ryan Reynolds returning as his famously foul-mouthed superhero, who teams up with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in a new adventure set within the MCU multiverse. The film is the first Marvel movie since Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox to fully introduce the characters from the Fox’s X-Men franchise to Disney’s ongoing superhero universe. But director Shawn Levy has made it clear that the film will still honor the legacy of the Fox movies that many fans adore.
“Deadpool and Wolverine are iconic Marvel characters; more specifically, iconic Marvel-of-the-Fox-era characters,” Levy said in September 2023. “We’re not going to pretend: ‘Oh, we snap our fingers, and suddenly that Fox legacy doesn’t exist, and it shaped a lot of what we now know as the MCU.’ Fox also shaped Ryan’s career, Hugh’s career and my career. So there’s a lot of history there, and there’s a lot of Marvel history at Fox. And certainly that’s a part of our storytelling.”
Jackman’s return to his iconic X-Men character was news to many fans, as he offered a definitive conclusion to the Wolverine story with James Mangold’s 2017 film “Logan.” But the Australian actor recently explained that he agreed to don the claws again because the MCU’s multiverse device allowed him to tell new Wolverine stories without having to undo the existing ones.
“It’s all because of this device they have in the Marvel world of moving around timelines,” Jackman said in 2022. “Now we can go back because, you know, it’s science. So, I don’t have to screw with the ‘Logan’ timeline, which was important to me. And I think probably to the fans too.”
“Deadpool & Wolverine” is directed by Shawn Levy, who also co-wrote the film with Wendy Molyneux and Lizzy Molyneux-Logelin. In addition to Reynolds and Jackman, the film stars Morena Baccarin, Jennifer Garner, Matthew Macfadyen, Emma Corrin, and Patrick Stewart.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” opens in theaters on Friday, July 26. Watch the teaser below.
