Usually, choosing the most hotly anticipated Marvel release of the year is a close competition, but with only one MCU movie coming out in 2024 there’s a clear winner this time around: it’s Deadpool 3, no question. Sorry, Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter.
Even if it had any actual rivals, Deadpool 3 would still win out thanks to the many mind-blowing reasons fans are excited for the threequel. Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with the Mouth is finally coming to the MCU! And he’s bringing Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine with him! And maybe Taylor Swift too! Well, OK, let’s put a pin in that one for a moment.
Yes, seven years after he apparently sheathed his adamantium claws for the final time in 2017’s Logan, the one and only Wolverine is back, this time in the classic yellow and blue suit to boot. Jackman’s iconic character existing in the wider Marvel universe and wearing his comic book threads is a dream we’ve been waiting a quarter of a century to come true, but there’s still one important question hanging over his return: how is this possible? As it turns out, Jackman may have already told us.
Hugh Jackman has teased how Deadpool 3 will feature a major Loki crossover
To date, very little about Deadpool 3‘s plot is known, but thanks to spoilery set photos we are fully aware that it features cameos from at least a couple of familiar Fox favorites (with plenty more allegedly on their way). From what we can gather, something very strange is going on in the multiverse, which is what brings Wade Wilson and Logan together — and even gets the attention of the Time Variance Authority from Loki. TVA minutemen have been spotted on set, as have vehicles emblazoned with the TVA logo.
This crossover shouldn’t come as a surprise as Jackman has been open all along about how time travel will factor into the storyline. In fact, it’s the whole method by which his Wolverine returns from the dead, following his demise in Logan, without ruining Fox canon.
Way back in December 2022, the Australian acting legend revealed the following to SiriusXM:
“It’s all because of this device they have in the Marvel world of moving around timelines. 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.”
Putting Jackman’s comments together with what we know from set pics and from the lore of Loki, it seems like the Wolverine we encounter in Deadpool 3 will be a variant from another timeline separate from Logan. Perhaps he only exists thanks to Wade Wilson messing with the timeline in Deadpool 2 and the TVA intervenes to stop DP from causing more damage to the multiverse.
Whether this Wolverine variant lives to survive for another MCU appearance — Avengers: Secret Wars, most likely — or if this really is it for Jackman, we don’t know. Although now that even Logan‘s definitive ending can be sidestepped thanks to the “science” of time travel, it’s going to be hard to believe he’ll ever be gone for good.
