Deadpool 3 :Deadpool & Wolverine: An Upcoming American Superhero Film Details
“Deadpool & Wolverine is a movie that’s coming out sometime in the future, maybe. It’s about these characters called Deadpool and Wolverine, who are from Marvel Comics. This film is being made by some companies like Marvel Studios, Maximum Effort, and 21 Laps Entertainment. They’re all working together to bring this film to life! Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures will also be involved in getting it to us when it’s ready. It’s like magic happening right in front of our eyes, you know?!
Exciting Details
* The movie is supposed to be the 34th film in something called the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). That’s a lot of movies!
* It’s a follow-up to two other films called Deadpool (2016) and Deadpool 2 (2018).
* This film has some important people behind the scenes. It’s directed by this guy named Shawn Levy, who also wrote the screenplay with a team of people including Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Zeb Wells.
* In the movie, something called the Time Variance Authority (TVA) comes and messes up Deadpool’s life, making him go on a mission with Wolverine. Sounds like trouble!
Behind the Scenes of Deadpool 3
* They started working on a third Deadpool movie a while back, but then they stopped because of some big company changes. But don’t worry, a new movie is now in the works with Ryan Reynolds still involved.
* The film is trying to keep the same rating as the other Deadpool movies, so it might not be for kids. Some new writers joined the team in 2020 to help make it happen.
* Filming began in England and some other places before it got paused because of something called the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Luckily, they were able to finish it later on.
* The movie is set to come out in the US on July 26, 2024. That’s a specific date, so mark your calendars now!
Interesting Characters
* Ryan Reynolds plays Deadpool, who is a funny guy with special powers but also a lot of scars. He’s going to be a samurai version too, apparently.
* Hugh Jackman takes on the role of Wolverine, who has claws and can heal really fast. He’s going to be annoying Deadpool in the movie.
* Emma Corrin plays Cassandra Nova, who has powers like reading minds and moving things with her mind.
* Morena Baccarin is back as Vanessa, Deadpool’s love interest. She’s going to have a different kind of relationship with him this time around.
* And there are more cool characters like Blind Al, Dopinder, Paradox, and a bunch of others to make the movie exciting!
This film sounds like it’s going to be action-packed and full of surprises. Get ready for Deadpool & Wolverine hitting theaters in 2024!”
Development
Josh Brolin revealed in June 2019 that he had discussed his future as Cable with Marvel Studios several times after starring as that character in Deadpool 2. Brolin also portrayed Thanos in the MCU. In October, Zazie Beetz said she would be surprised if she did not reprise her Deadpool 2 role of Domino in a future film. That month, Reese and Wernick said they and Reynolds were taking a “much-needed rest from Deadpool” while they waited to hear from Marvel Studios about the future of the franchise. They confirmed that another Deadpool film would be made, that it would be R-rated like the previous films, and that it would integrate the character with the MCU. Wernick stated that there was never a set pitch for a third Deadpool film between their exhaustion following the completion of Deadpool 2 and the announcement of Fox’s acquisition by Disney, with Reese adding that they now had to “land on the right idea and once we do, I think we’ll be off to the races”. The writers felt there would be more characters available in the MCU to act as foils for Deadpool compared to their restricted options among the characters that Fox had control over for the previous films.
At that time, Reynolds revealed that he was meeting with Marvel Studios. In December, Reynolds confirmed that he and “the whole team” were actively developing a Deadpool film at Marvel Studios. During his meetings with the studio, Reynolds urged Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to include Wolverine in the film but was told that this would not be possible.
Throughout October 2020, Reynolds and Marvel Studios met with potential writers for the next Deadpool film. Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin were hired to write the screenplay the next month. Reynolds and Marvel Studios felt the writers’ pitch was in line with their intentions for the film, which would remain R-rated. Reynolds and Marvel Studios were open to Leitch returning for the film, but he was not expected to due to other commitments throughout 2021 and was not involved in hiring the writers. Leitch later confirmed that he had met with Marvel for the film, but both parties understood that scheduling and other commitments would prevent him from returning. In January 2021, Feige reaffirmed that the film would have an R rating and would be set in the MCU. Reynolds was supervising the scripting process at that time, and Feige said filming would not begin until after 2021 due to Reynolds’s busy schedule. He said Deadpool was a very different type of character to have in the MCU. That July, Reynolds and Taika Waititi promoted their film Free Guy (2021) by appearing as Deadpool and Waititi’s MCU character Korg, respectively, in a commercial for that film titled Deadpool and Korg React. Deadpool breaks the fourth wall and discusses joining the MCU with Korg in the commercial. The next month, Reynolds said he expected filming to begin in 2022, which Feige soon confirmed. Feige added that Marvel Studios had a release timeframe in mind for the film. In November, Beetz and Rob Delaney expressed interest in returning as their Deadpool 2 characters Domino and Peter, but Beetz ultimately did not return for the third film. Also in November, Reynolds said they were “plugging away” at the film.
Shawn Levy was revealed to be directing the film in March 2022, having previously directed Reynolds in Free Guy and The Adam Project (2022). Levy said filming would not begin until after 2022 due to his busy schedule through the remainder of the year. At the same time, Reynolds confirmed that his production company Maximum Effort would co-produce the film, and Reese and Wernick were hired to rewrite the screenplay. The pair said in June that they were excited to use elements of the MCU as a backdrop for the film, and said Disney and Marvel were supportive of the jokes about the MCU they were writing for Deadpool given the success of the previous films. They would not confirm whether they were starting from scratch on the script or just reworking the previous draft by the Molyneux sisters and said answering this question could divulge plot details. Also in June, Raymond Chan was revealed to be the production designer after previously working on the Disney+ MCU television series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021). Feige said in July that the film would be elevated from the first two in a similar way to other third installments of MCU film series, such as Captain America: Civil War (2016), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), and Avengers: Infinity War (2018). He added that it was fun to be working with Reynolds.
Pre-production
After being content with his decision to retire as Wolverine for several years, Jackman had a change of heart in mid-August 2022 and decided that a team-up movie with Reynolds “could be so much fun; I’ll probably have more enjoyment on that movie than anything I’ve ever done”. He contacted Reynolds about joining the picture at the same time that Reynolds was preparing to have a meeting with Feige. Reynolds had continued to entertain the idea himself over the years. He declared in September that Jackman would return as Wolverine for Deadpool 3, which was set for release on September 6, 2024. Reynolds and Jackman soon clarified that the movie would not interfere with the events of Logan (2017), in which Wolverine dies, and would take place before that movie. This was important to Jackman, who stated the character’s return would utilize a narrative device from Marvel Studios that allowed characters to move around timelines. He reached out to Logan director James Mangold to inform him of the movie’s story and said Mangold was both enthusiastic about the idea and relieved that Logan would not be interfered with.
Pre-production work had started by October 2022, when filming was expected to start in January 2023 in Vancouver, before the movie’s release date was pushed back to November 8, 2024. Jackman suggested that the film may not be titled Deadpool 3; Reynolds soon referred to it as “The Deadpool/Wolverine movie”, and Jackman later referred to it as Wolverine and Deadpool. Reynolds said in November that filming would begin just before mid-2023, and Levy confirmed in December that filming was set to begin in May 2023. He said developing the movie was one of the most fun creative experiences of his career, citing the movie’s self-awareness, violence, and foul language. Levy said he did not want to alter the franchise’s DNA from the prior films and called the movie “raw, audacious, [and] very much R-rated”, comparing it to Midnight Run (1988), 48 Hrs., and Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987). By February 2023, Patrick Stewart, who portrayed Charles Xavier in the X-Men film series and reprised the role in the MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), had been approached to potentially make an appearance in the movie. Later that month, Emma Corrin joined the cast in a lead villain role. Marvel had been considering Corrin for the role since late 2022 but had to work through scheduling issues with their other commitments before they signed on. Corrin was cast after Levy saw their performance in a stage production of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. Corrin was excited to play a villain in the movie as they had not played many villainous roles before. Levy was revealed to be producing the movie alongside Feige and Reynolds, through his production company 21 Laps Entertainment, and filming was set to take place in London. X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner was also a producer for the movie, while Simon Kinberg served as an executive producer after producing the previous Deadpool films and some of the X-Men films. Kinberg said the movie’s creative team cared deeply about Logan, Deadpool, and Wolverine and said the movie had been authored by Levy, Reynolds, and Feige.
Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool (left) and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine (right) in the film. Reynolds’s costume is based on the character’s 1990s comic book look, and Jackman’s is based on Astonishing X-Men; this is his first film wearing a comic book-accurate Wolverine costume. In March 2023, Jeff Sneider of Above the Line reported that the Time Variance Authority (TVA), Mobius M. Mobius (portrayed by Owen Wilson), and Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong) from the MCU television series Loki (2021–2023) would be featured in the movie. Later that month, Matthew Macfadyen joined the cast in an undisclosed role, which was described as a “third wheel” to Deadpool and Wolverine. Karan Soni and Leslie Uggams were set to reprise their roles as Dopinder and Blind Al from the previous Deadpool films. Zeb Wells was co-writing the script by then, after previously working on the MCU miniseries She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022) and Marvel Zombies (2024) as well as the film The Marvels (2023). In early April, Morena Baccarin said she was in negotiations to reprise her Deadpool role as Vanessa, and she was confirmed to be cast later that month along with Stefan Kapičić returning to provide the voice of Colossus. The following month, Delaney was confirmed to be reprising his role as Peter from Deadpool 2 when Reynolds and Levy were said to have writing credits on the movie. Later in May, Brianna Hildebrand and Shioli Kutsuna were revealed to be reprising their respective roles as Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Yukio.
Graham Churchyard and Mayes C. Rubeo served as costume designers. Jackman wears a yellow and blue costume similar to Wolverine’s costumes from X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997) and the comic books, specifically Astonishing X-Men volume 3 (2004–2013) drawn by John Cassaday; it also features elements of the character’s 1970s design by John Romita Sr. and Dave Cockrum and the 1990s design by Jim Lee. Jackman did not wear a comics-accurate costume in the X-Men film series, although it was referenced in X-Men (2000) and a deleted scene from The Wolverine (2013). Levy felt this could be the last chance for Jackman to wear such a costume, and they went through several iterations and fittings to ensure the suit was comic book-accurate. An early reveal of the costume was met with positive reactions. Some commentators believed it indicated that Jackman was portraying a different iteration of the character from the X-Men films, such as a live-action adaptation of the animated series or comics versions. Reynolds also has an updated costume from the previous Deadpool films, featuring a brighter shade of red and larger black circles on his mask. This is reminiscent of the character’s comic book design from the 1990s. Levy was pleased with the “overwhelmingly positive” response to the suit designs, which were revealed due to production occurring on location.
Filming of Deadpool & Wolverine
Principal photography began on May 22, 2023, in London, and at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England, under the working title Tidal Wave. George Richmond served as the cinematographer, after previously working with Levy and Reynolds on Free Guy. Reynolds had lobbied Marvel Studios to film in Vancouver, where he is from and the previous Deadpool films were made but conceded that “they have their [established] infrastructure, and you just have to sort of fall in line”. However, a United States Copyright Office filing for the movie indicated that some filming did occur in Vancouver. Filming was not expected to be impacted by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike that began in early May outside of Reynolds being unable to contribute to the script during filming, as he had done during the previous films. Marvel Studios was reportedly planning to shoot what they could during principal photography and make any necessary writing adjustments during the film’s already scheduled
reshoots. Levy worked with Marvel Studios and the creative team behind the Netflix series Stranger Things (on which Levy is an executive producer) to allow him to direct at least one episode of that series’ final season, since the planned schedules for the two projects were initially expected to overlap.
In June, the film’s release date was moved forward to May 3, 2024. Filming for a car crash scene took place on location in London in early July 2023. Shortly after, Jennifer Garner was revealed to be appearing in the film as Elektra, after previously portraying a version of that character in the Fox-produced film Daredevil (2003) and its spin-off Elektra (2005). Garner denied her involvement. Filming with Reynolds and Jackman also took place in Norfolk, and at Bovingdon Film Studios, with the production team preferring to shoot on location rather than on soundstages, where possible, to have the film feel grounded and real. One of these locations included a giant 20th Century Fox logo set piece. Production was suspended on July 14 because of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. 35 days of filming, which was halfway through production, were completed prior to the shutdown, with an additional 35 days left of principal photography. Filming was set to resume following the conclusion of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Levy and Reynolds were able to edit what had already been shot and begin work on the visual effects, though they had not prioritized filming major visual effects sequences before the strike. Prior to the strike, Baccarin had completed filming all of her scenes. Levy shot a sequence that he likened to the lightsaber duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi (1983), inspiring the film’s stunt team to look to that scene’s blocking, tempo, and framing for their scene. Levy said some of the casting rumors surrounding the film were true but others were not, such as Taylor Swift making a cameo appearance as Dazzler. Soni said there were several cameo appearances that were intended to be a surprise for the audience, and added that the film was “taking full advantage of the MCU” and would feature jokes about Feige. Disney paid to keep the film’s sets intact during the strike.
The movie, along with others that were mid-way through production at the start of the strikes, was said to be a top priority for the studios to resume production upon the conclusion of the SAG-AFTRA strike. In October 2023, Levy questioned if the movie would be able to retain its May 2024 release date given the SAG-AFTRA strike was still ongoing at that time, shortly before it was reported that the movie was likely to be delayed to a date later in 2024 even if filming was able to resume by the start of that year. Levy said the movie was still untitled, and they were discussing options for a title, noting that he had at times referred to it as Deadpool Versus Wolverine, Deadpool and Wolverine, and Deadpool 3 with Wolverine. After the conclusion of the SAG-AFTRA strike on November 9, filming was expected to resume in London within the following two weeks before Thanksgiving. Reynolds announced that the character Dogpool would appear in the film, played by dog actor Peggy, and the movie’s release date was pushed back to July 26, 2024. Filming resumed by November 23.
In early December, set photos revealed Sabretooth and Toad would appear in the film, resembling their X-Men appearances. Reynolds addressed the leaks, urging websites to stop sharing unfinished images to preserve the film’s magic. At the end of December, Bona Film Group invested in the Deadpool franchise. In early January 2024, Variety reported the film would feature characters from past Fox-produced Marvel films, similar to Spider-Man: No Way Home. Set photos later showed Reynolds in a “samurai-based” Deadpool variant. Filming concluded on January 24.
Post-production
The film’s official title was announced as Deadpool & Wolverine in February 2024 when a teaser trailer was released. The trailer revealed that Macfadyen was portraying TVA agent Paradox, Randal Reeder and Lewis Tan were reprising their respective roles as Buck and Shatterstar from the previous Deadpool films, and Aaron Stanford was returning as John Allerdyce / Pyro from the X-Men films. The copyright filing for the movie confirmed that Garner was appearing as Elektra and revealed Corrin’s role to be Cassandra Nova. In March 2024, Vinnie Jones, who portrayed Juggernaut in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), said he was asked to reprise the role for the movie, but a deal could not be agreed upon with Jones saying there was not enough budget to create the Juggernaut suit for him to wear on set. Shane Reid and Dean Zimmerman are editing the movie, while visual effects are provided by Framestore, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Wētā FX, Base FX, and Barnstorm VFX, with Swen Gillberg serving as the visual effects supervisor.
Music
Rob Simonsen was hired to compose the movie’s score, after previously working with Levy on The Adam Project and the fourth season of Stranger Things, by mid-July 2023.
Marketing
A teaser trailer for the movie was released during Super Bowl LVIII in February 2024. Nick Romano from Entertainment Weekly said the trailer confirmed the movie’s R rating and the fact that Deadpool would be “infiltrating” the MCU. Austin Goslin of Polygon also highlighted the use of MCU elements and questioned whether Reynolds was playing the same version of Deadpool as he did in the previous films, due to how happy he is at the start of the trailer. Wired’s Angela Wattercutter noted a sexually explicit pegging joke in the trailer, stating it was the first time the MCU had overtly used such humor before and speculated that the movie could expand upon “queer” themes established in the prior MCU Thor films and Loki series. The inclusion of the comic Secret Wars (2015) #5 in the trailer was the topic of much discussion, given Marvel Studios was planning to release the movie Avengers: Secret Wars (2027) and the comic issue centered on Doctor Doom creating Battleworld. Shortly after the trailer’s premiere, Jackman posted a tongue-in-cheek jab at Reynolds with a modified logo displaying “Wolverine & Asshole”. The trailer had 365 million global views in its first 24 hours, surpassing the record of Spider-Man: No Way Home (355.5 million views) to become the most viewed trailer in that time period. The reported views included the 123 million Super Bowl viewers who saw a 30-second version of the trailer.
Release
Deadpool & Wolverine is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom on July 25, 2024, and in the United States on July 26, in IMAX, RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, Cinemark XD, and other premium formats. It was previously scheduled for September 6 of that year, November 8, and then May 3. It will be part of Phase Five of the MCU.