Exclusive: Ryan Reynolds Insisting Hugh Jackman Appear In Deadpool 3

Through our sources, we can report that Ryan Reynolds claims Hugh Jackman will be in Deadpool 3.

By Michileen Martin | Updated

ryan reynolds hugh jackman

Are we about to see some hilarious social media posts with two of Hollywood’s biggest stars taking good-nature swipes at each other? With the news we’ve received, it sure seems likely. According our trusted and proven source, Ryan Reynolds is absolutely adamant (or adamantium) that Hugh Jackman appear in the upcoming Deadpool 3.

For years, Ryan Reynolds has been openly desperate to get Hugh Jackman to play Wolverine in a movie with him (again), but so far the Greatest Showman star hasn’t budged. Now that we know Reynolds is demanding Jackman put the claws back on for another go, the only question is what–if anything–will make Jackman sign on. That could be a huge challenge. With Jackman bidding the character farewell with 2017’s Logan, the actor might be concerned about scarring a legacy by reprising the role. Of course, Marvel was able to lure Patrick Stewart back for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, so assuming Kevin Feige is standing behind Reynolds in his insistence, Jackman’s return is far from an impossibility.

If Ryan Reynolds succeeds in luring Hugh Jackman back to the X-world, it will lead to the question of whether or not that means Jackman will officially be Wolverine for the MCU. That seems unlikely, but it will depend on what his potential role in Deadpool 3 would be. Would he play the Logan of the pre-Disney-acquisition Fox films? Or would he play a variant like Old Man Logan or the one-handed Wolverine of Age of Apocalypse? After all, the recent Professor X cameo wasn’t of the character Stewart used to play, but of a variant with a futuristic chair not unlike the one from X-Men: The Animated Series.

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Zazie Beetz, Ryan Reynolds, and Josh Brolin in promo art for Deadpool 2 (2018)

It could prove instructive to remember the fourth-wall-breaking nature of the Deadpool films. Whenever Deadpool 3 hits theaters, Wade Wilson is not only sure to crack wise about Disney’s acquisition of Fox, the end of Fox’s X-Men franchise, the deafening absence of X-Force, and the uncanny resemblance between Cable and Thanos (which he already did a bit in Deadpool 2); but he’ll almost certainly be throwing around jokes about the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s current love affair with the Multiverse. It could be that Deadpool 3 will actually tell the story of how Wade Wilson jumps from Fox’s X-universe to the MCU, which could be precisely why Ryan Reynolds is insisting Hugh Jackman sign on for the film; this could be the Merc with a Mouth’s last chance to lock horn’s with Jackman’s Wolverine.

While Jackman was there the first time Reynolds played Wade Wilson in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the film proved to be one of the most hated superhero movies in the history of cinema, and–except for Deadpool visiting the movie in Deadpool 2‘s mid-credits scenes–Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman have yet to appear together as their respective signature superheroes on the screen. By the time Reynolds redeemed his many previous superhero missteps with 2016’s Deadpool, Jackman was already on his way out of the superhero biz. Here’s hoping Reynolds can lure his buddy back form one last hurrah.