While their team-up may be around the corner in Deadpool & Wolverine, star Ryan Reynolds thinks that Wade Wilson and Wolverine have always been connected.
Speaking to Total Film in our huge cover feature on the third story in the Deadpool franchise, the Merc with a Mouth star reflects on similarities between two of their major previous on-screen appearances. When Deadpool came out in 2016, the superhero genre was going from blockbuster behemoth to blockbuster behemoth, but Reynolds points out that it offered something quite unique to the slate, just as Hugh Jackman’s Logan did the year after.
"The movies were quite congruent with each other at that point," Reynolds tells us in the new issue, out on June 20. "Deadpool was different, and then right after Logan was potentially the greatest comic-book adaptation ever made."
Reynolds’ high praise for James Mangold’s darker take on the Wolverine character is shared by many, with it being one of the most critically acclaimed superhero movies of all time. However, Jackman admits he had no idea that his time playing the adamantium clawed mutant would be as lengthy as it’s been, especially after some early feedback he received.
His debut in 2000’s X-Men came with markedly lower expectations. "We were on the low-tide version of that genre," Jackman recalls. "It’d gone way up with the Batman movies and fizzled out. But when the X-Men came in, people felt like it represented the source material about giving voice to the marginalized."
Following its release, Jackman’s star was launched into the stratosphere, but according to the actor, "Actually, a couple of people in the industry with their ear to the ground told me, 'Keep auditioning because this thing is dead in the water.'"
Thankfully, they were very wrong, and 24 years later, Jackman is back playing the mutant once again in Deadpool & Wolverine. As for the synopsis for the new movie, Marvel has been playing its cards pretty close to its chest, but from the trailers seen so far, it seems like Deadpool will find himself pulled into the TVA’s orbit for some multiversal shenanigans early doors. From there, he’ll meet with a variant of Wolverine to try and defeat a common enemy. A typical Tuesday then...
Deadpool & Wolverine is released on July 25 in the UK and July 26 in the US. For more on the movie, check out our collection of exclusive pictures from Deadpool 3, what director Shawn Levy thinks about the state of the MCU, and why he wants Deadpool and Spider-Man to team up.
You can read more about it and a whole lot else besides in the new issue of Total Film when it hits shelves and digital newsstands on Thursday, June 20.
Check out the covers below:
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