After over a decade of unprecedented success, the state of the MCU has been nowhere near as healthy in the last couple of years – but fans of the franchise have high hopes that the imminent release of Deadpool & Wolverine might finally address that.

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The new film – which has been described by Ryan Reynolds as a "one-in-a-billion chance" – arrives in UK cinemas this week and is chiefly notable for two main things: bringing back Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and welcoming both him and Deadpool into the MCU.

It's also the first film in the MCU's history to have been handed an R-rating, but Marvel boss Kevin Feige has emphasised that the movie is emotional as well as button-pushing.

He told Deadline: "I will say — Hugh and Ryan have talked about this, and I think people can tell from the trailer and from the press tour so far — yes, it’s R-rated, yes there’s some language and blood, but the film is incredibly emotional.

"I keep calling it the most wholesome R-rated film that anybody can ever see. It really is a celebration of friendship and family and of found family.

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"I don’t want to overdo it, but for all the R-rated raunchiness that gets attention, when people see the movie, it’s going to be about how heartfelt it is — in my opinion, much more than the first two Deadpool films."

Meanwhile, the film will also introduce several new characters to the fold including Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova, Matthew Macfadyen as TVA Agent Mr Paradox and even dog actor Peggy as Dogpool.

And there are also expected to be several exciting cameos – with director Shawn Levy recently teasing that despite the glut of rumours, some of them have not yet been guessed by fans online.

So, here's everything you need to know about Deadpool & Wolverine.

Deadpool & Wolverine release date: When will it hit cinemas?

Deadpool & Wolverine will be released on Thurdsay 25th July 2024.

The movie was originally scheduled to be released earlier but was pushed back after it was impacted by the WGA strikes. Before its current release date, it was set to hit cinemas on 6th September.

Earlier this year, Ryan Reynolds confirmed that filming had wrapped on the highly anticipated film.

In true Deadpool form, the leading actor simply shared a photo of his own crotch (in costume, we hasten to add), writing: "The suit hides the blood. Also sweat... But today, with Deadpool wrapping, it's mostly tears.

"A giant and forever thanks to the cast and crew of our film who battled wind, rain, strikes and @RealHughJackman... all under the stalwart leadership of @ShawnLevyDirectt."

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine in his super suit growling
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine. Marvel

Jackman, who's reprising the role of Wolverine for the film, added: "What a ride!!! I’ve loved every minute of making this movie.

"Well not the training and diet but the other 93.2%. To the best cast and crew, thank you! You are all aces. To two of my best mates @VancityReynolds and @ShawnLevyDirect I literally couldn’t have done this without you."

Deadpool & Wolverine cast: Who will return?

The following cast members have been confirmed for Deadpool & Wolverine.

  • Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool/Wade Wilson
  • Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/James 'Logan' Howlett
  • Morena Baccarin as Vanessa
  • Stefan Kapicic as Colossus
  • Leslie Uggams as Blind Al
  • Rob Delaney as Peter
  • Jennifer Garner as Elektra
  • Matthew Macfadyen as Paradox
  • Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova
  • Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead
  • Shioli Kutsuna as Yukio
  • Karan Soni as Dopinder
  • Lewis Tan as Shatterstar
  • Randal Reeder as Buck

Ryan Reynolds has been confirmed to reprise his role as the lead character, Wade Wilson.

Meanwhile, Hugh Jackman was confirmed to be reprising his role as Wolverine/Logan in the film, after his return to the role was teased in the same video in which the release date was first announced.

Reynolds asked Jackman: "Hey Hugh, do you want to play Wolverine one more time?"

Jackman responded: "Yeah, sure, Ryan."

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in Logan wearing a white vest with his claws out
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in Logan. Marvel / Twentieth Century Fox Film

Jackman last portrayed the character in the emotional swan song Logan in 2017, which saw the character bow out in a grim alternate timeline.

In response to the news of Jackman reprising his role as Wolverine after his death, Logan and The Wolverine director James Mangold shared a GIF of a scene in Logan where Wolverine was impaled by his evil clone X-24. The wound contributed to the character's demise at the end of the film.

After comments that perceived this as Mangold reacting negatively to not getting the final word on the character, the director clarified his stance in a further tweet.

Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson in Deadpool and Wolverine with scars on his face, wearing a blue jacket
Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson in Deadpool & Wolverine. Marvel

Mangold wrote: "Oh my gosh! Everybody chill. Just kidding! I’m all good! LOGAN will always be there.

"Multiverse or prequel, time warp or worm hole, canon or non-canon or even without a rationale, I cannot wait to see what maddness [sic] my dear friends @VancityReynolds and @RealHughJackman cook up!"

It's also been confirmed that various members of Deadpool's supporting cast will return alongside him and Wolverine, including Morena Baccarin's love interest Vanessa and Stefan Kapicic's Colossus, with the first trailer giving us a sneak peek.

Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead) and Shioli Kutsuna (Yukio) will be seen back in action, too, while we'll also get to see more from Jennifer Garner's Elektra, Rob Delaney's Peter and Karan Soni's Dopinder.

Lewis Tan's Shatterstar will also be back, despite the character seemingly being killed by a helicopter in Deadpool 2, as well as Randal Reeder's Buck.

Aaron Stanford will also be reprising his role as Pyro from the X-Men films.

Speaking to EW, Levy explained how his team chose the X-Men movie character making the jump to the MCU.

Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool in Deadpool and Wolverine in his red and black suit
Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool in Deadpool & Wolverine. Marvel

"I'll say we didn't start off with a wish list," he said. "From the day we started devising this Deadpool & Wolverine story, we let the story dictate the characters, not the other way around.

"Aaron and his return as Pyro was an outgrowth of that, and that applies to pretty much all the characters you'll see in the movie."

Meanwhile, we also have some new arrivals, including Matthew Macfadyen and Emma Corrin. The first trailer confirmed that Macfadyen will play Paradox, a comic book character coming to the MCU for the very first time.

Macfadyen's incarnation appears to be Deadpool's liaison with the TVA. In the comic books, he's a presiding judge over She-Hulk's trial and a colleague of Mobius's at the TVA.

Meanwhile, Corrin will be playing Cassandra Nova, the twin sister of Charles Xavier, who has telephathic abilities.

Dopinder star Karan Soni recently told Variety that "there are a lot of surprises" in the film, and that "a lot of people travelled" to the London-based set.

One of those who was asked to take part, but unfortunately won't be seen in the film, is Vinnie Jones, who played Juggernaut in X-Men: The Last Stand.

He told Yahoo! Movies: "Funnily enough, I just got asked to do Deadpool - the new one – now, and I spoke to the director and I just said it's such a drama putting that suit on mentally and physically.

"I mean, it had its mental toll as well, because you're in it and you can't do anything all day, you can only drink through a straw.

"So we couldn't strike the deal for Deadpool. But Deadpool's my favourite movie of all f**king time, more or less. I really wanted to do it, but they didn't have the budget to put me in the suit."

Plus, there's been a lot of speculation about cameos in the film. At a recent press conference, Reynolds said the craziest rumour he's heard is that King Charles will be appearing (he didn't entirely rule it out!), while some have speculated that Taylor Swift is set to appear.

Meanwhile Rob Delaney recently teased to RadioTimes.com that there was at least one cameo that had especially excited him when he found out about it.

"There's one – I'm 47, which means I'm elderly, and there's one where I was like, 'What?!'" he explained. "I found out and I drafted a letter to put in a drawer to give to a friend of mine for when I could legally tell him, he's gonna be so excited – another old man friend of mine."

"There's stuff in here for people who haven't even seen movies since the inception of the real MCU. They do stuff – it's so bananas. I don't know how to say that without spoiling it but there's one cameo that made me throw up in a good way."
And Levy has added that there are some cameos that no fans have been able to predict.

"I'm thrilled to say that some of them are not predicted on the internet," he said.

"I think my favourite ones are really ones that are not cameos, they are characters. And they are in these supporting roles that we didn't show you so far [in the section of the film shown at preview events] that somehow the world doesn't know about yet."

Is there a trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine?

Yes! The first trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine was released at the 2024 Super Bowl.

You can check it out below:

In the time since then, there have been several other promotional clips and trailers with Reynolds in particular regularly posting new footage on his social media pages, such as the clip below:

Meanwhile, the film's soundtrack has also been made available – with songs from artists as diverse as Huey Lewis & The News and Avril Lavigne set to be included.

Plus Hugh Jackman's own song The Greatest Show, which he performed with Zac Efron, Zendaya and The Ensemble in hit 2017 musical The Greatest Showman, is also set to make an appearance – so expect things to get meta.

Is Deadpool now in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Deadpool in his red suit with two swords on his back
Deadpool.

Yes, Deadpool has been confirmed to be making his MCU debut in Deadpool & Wolverine.

While Deadpool was first introduced as part of the standalone X-Men movies, recent comments from Marvel boss Kevin Feige suggest he will leap over to the MCU in his third film.

While the other X-Men characters are expected to be completely rebooted following the disastrous performance of Dark Phoenix, Deadpool remains very popular, so recasting the role would be asking for trouble.

Plus, as the character has such a fondness for meta humour, it would be very easy for him to shrug off any continuity errors with an offbeat remark straight down the lens of the camera.

The film will also directly tie into the events of Loki – with the Time Variance Authority (TVA ) set to play a major role in events, which could also help address some of those narrative inconsistencies.

(Fancy an MCU marathon? Find out how to watch the Marvel movies in order.)

What will happen in Deadpool & Wolverine?

Ryan Renyolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool and Zazie Beetz as Domino in Deadpool 2 with Deadpool holding a speaker above his head
Deadpool. 20th Century Fox

The very meta trailer gives us some clues as to what Deadpool & Wolverine will be about. We see Deadpool celebrating a birthday, seemingly having hung up his suit, before he's dragged away from his loved ones by the TVA to meet Macfadyen's Paradox.

Addressing Deadpool's arrival to the MCU, Paradox tells him he has a chance to be a "hero among heroes", before Wade promises to change the MCU forever.

With Deadpool suiting back up, we see him officially back in action – and taking some heat as well.

Luckily, he's not alone. The final shots of the trailer show him flat on his back as a very familiar silhouette – complete with claws – helps him up.

Reynolds previously told Variety that the film will go "in a completely different direction" to previous instalments. Meanwhile, it's also been described as a "fish out of water" tale that will deal heavily with Deadpool's arrival into the MCU.

Clearly, the TVA will play a huge part, so we wouldn't be surprised by some crossover between Deadpool and Loki.

Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson and Leslie Uggams as Blind Al in Deadpool & Wolverine at a party together
Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson and Leslie Uggams as Blind Al in Deadpool & Wolverine. Marvel

In January 2021, Reynolds revealed on Twitter (now X) that the original plot of Deadpool 3 was set to be a road trip shared by Wade Wilson and Hugh Jackman's Logan, made in the style of the 1950 classic film Rashomon, which sees several conflicting accounts of the same incident from the perspective of multiple characters.

Director Shawn Levy has also clarified that the new movie isn't actually Deadpool 3, but rather a two-hander between Deadpool and Wolverine.

"As far as crafting the Deadpool & Wolverine story, I just felt privileged every day because you're talking about two massive movie stars in their most iconic roles. It also gave me an opportunity. It's the third Deadpool movie, but it's not Deadpool 3," Levy told Screen Rant at CinemaCon.

"It's a different thing that's very much Deadpool & Wolverine," he clarified. "And it's not trying to copycat anything from the first two movies. They were awesome, but this is a two-hander character adventure."

Speaking about the dynamic between the two Marvel characters, Levy added: "The guiding thought in crafting the movie was audience joy. That was always the North Star.

"Yeah, it's going to be gnarly. Yeah, it's gonna be funny. That's a given. But we wanted to build a great time at the theatre for audiences, and that's our goal."

However, this wasn't always the case. Levy told Entertainment Weekly that Deadpool & Wolverine "changed radically" once Hugh Jackman came aboard.

"We had been workshopping a lot of ideas about possible stories for a third Deadpool movie," he explained.

"Those were story ideas that were more sequel-ly to the first two Deadpools, but none of them imagined such a seismic shift. I can safely say that the story completely changed and, in fact, came to us very, very quickly starting that day."

Deadpool & Wolverine is set to be released in cinemas on Thursday 25 July.

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