Deadpool 3 has a lot of bells and whistles, what with its many rumored crossovers and cameos, but let’s be honest: its real USP is the return of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Even more significant than Ryan Reynolds entering the MCU, a new adventure for everyone’s favorite X-Man is what we’re all really waiting for.
So that’s why it’s rather unfortunate for the movie — Marvel’s only one coming in 2024, don’t forget — that its big selling point is being stolen right under its nose thanks to an unsavory development in a whole other medium.
As those eagerly awaiting more Marvel games after Spider-Man 2 are probably aware, Insomniac is busy developing Marvel’s Wolverine, which — well, read the title, work out what it’s about. Given the long time frame game development takes, there was never any competition between these two titles originally, with the Wolverine game surely releasing long after DP3 is out of theaters. Except a hacking scandal has threatened to steal the threequel’s thunder.
Marvel’s Wolverine art and character details could be up for grabs in a $2 million data auction
As originally broken by CyberDaily, Insomniac is facing an alarming breach of security that rivals the time Weapon X Wolverine sliced his way through Alkali Lake in X-Men: Apocalypse. Hacker group Rhysida has allegedly acquired screenshots and character art from the game thanks to a ransomware attack, which spoils various plot details and many of the fan-favorite characters set to be included. A data auction is ready to go, launching with a starting price of 50 bitcoin (aka $2 million). The studio has been given seven days in which to respond.
“We are aware of reports that Insomniac Games has been the victim of a cyber security attack,” Sony said in a statement to IGN. “We are currently investigating this situation. We have no reason to believe that any other SIE or Sony divisions have been impacted.”
Depending on how this situation plays out, all you need to know about Marvel’s Wolverine could leak online much sooner than anticipated. And Ryan Reynolds thought he had problems when set photos started doing the rounds on social media…
Marvel’s Wolverine hack puts Deadpool 3 set photo leaks into perspective
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard the words “Wolverine” and “leak” used together lately, of course, as Deadpool 3 has seen its own secrets shared ahead of time. Thankfully, in this case it’s a lot less sinister. With the movie filming again out on location in the U.K. following the strikes holding it up for months, naturally set photos have emerged online. Photos that, just like the Marvel’s Wolverine hack, reveal certain characters we can expect to see that we shouldn’t know about yet.
Reynolds has taken the leaks in good spirits, politely requesting that fans not sharing them, as well as attempting to obscure the true ones from the fakes in his own unique way — by sharing images of Deadpool and Wolverine hanging out with a Predator and Mickey Mouse. This sort of thing is just par for the course, then, and only really succeeds in raising hype for what we’ve got ahead of us. The Marvel’s Wolverine situation, however, is much more serious and could ruin the hard work of Insomniac’s developers if things go south.
Deadpool 3 comes to theaters on May 3, 2024.
