As of now, the only official details we know about Deadpool 3‘s plotline are that it will finally see Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson share the screen with Wolverine. Hugh Jackman is making his surprise return as Logan in the Merc with the Mouth’s MCU debut, but it’s possible that Jackman’s involvement alone gives away the fact that the threequel will actually serve as an unexpected follow-up to one of Fox’s finest X-Men movies.
One redditor has put forward the compelling theory that Deadpool 3 might just be a surprise sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past. The biggest piece of evidence comes from the fact that Jackman and Reynolds have assured us DP3 won’t contradict Logan. It will take place many years before that Logan‘s events, thereby confirming this one will be set in the present-day. e.g. 2024. That just happens to be one year after the Sentinel-controlled timeline depicted in Days of Future Past.
As the post above makes clear, the theory also hangs on the fact that Marvel’s Kevin Feige is known to have conversed with Fox’s X-Men heads—likely including Days of Future Past screenwriter Simon Kinberg—around the same time Reynolds pitched a Wolvie team-up flick. All in all, the concept of Deadpool 3 calling back to DoFP is not a crazy one.
Having said that, just because the threequel is set concurrently with that film doesn’t necessarily mean they will link up. The X-Men franchise famously operates across multiple conflicting timelines, something Deadpool has frequently spoofed. That said, Marvel has made clear they’re keen to mine the Fox films for nostalgia—Evan Peters, Patrick Stewart, and now Jackman are all part of the MCU—so Days of Future Past may not remain in the past after all.
Deadpool 3 releases in theaters on Nov. 8, 2024.
