Deadpool & Wolverine | The best enemies finally reunited

Fifteen years after their only on-screen encounter, Deadpool and Wolverine will finally reunite on July 26 in the film that bears their names. Billions of dollars, parallel universes, and friendship made this long-awaited reunion possible. Explanations, with the contribution of director Shawn Levy.

“We are three friends who made a film with the theme of friendship,” summarizes Montrealer Shawn Levy in French, in a virtual interview.

Before we approach Deadpool & Wolverinelet’s go back in time. Created in 1974, Wolverine joined the X-Men about ten years after their appearance in Marvel comics. Allegories of oppressed communities, these mutants with various powers gradually won over the public with their social and political dimension.

Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, was born in 1991. It was more the irreverent side of the verbose antihero that won over readers.

In 1993, 20th Century Fox acquired the rights to the X-Men for animated and live-action works for only $2.6 million, despite their huge popularity. Encouraged by the success of the Saturday morning animated series, Fox released the first film in 2000. The cumulative gross of this and the 12 other feature films that followed is $6 billion.

Deadpool and Wolverine have largely contributed to this success. The latter, played nine times by Hugh Jackman, was at the heart of the first three X-Men and was given his own trilogy. The Australian actor was to retract his claws for good after Logan (2017).

Although X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) gave birth to the friendship between Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds, the version of Deadpool that the latter plays in Gavin Hood’s feature film – where he notably has his mouth sewn shut – is far from that of the two films in which he stars. Released in 2016 and 2018, they are the most lucrative of the X-Men franchise with worldwide receipts of more than 782 million each.

In 2019, a deal was struck for The Walt Disney Company to acquire Fox for $71.3 billion. Disney, owners of Marvel Studios, brought back characters associated with the X-Men and Fantastic Four for possible integration into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Universes collide

Fittingly, Charles Xavier, aka Professor X, leader of the X-Men, was the first of his group to appear in a Marvel Studios production. In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Patrick Stewart reprised his role for a scene on Earth-838, a parallel universe to Earth-616, the one where the almost all of the MCU’s works. The interactions between parallel universes form a kind of backstory for the films and series in Phases 4, 5, and 6 of Marvel’s ever-expanding puzzle.

Deadpool & Wolverine (D & W) arrives in the middle of the fifth phase and follows The Marvelswhose post-credits scene takes place in another universe parallel to Earth-616 where we find the D^r Hank McCoy, aka Beast, founding member of the X-Men, played by Kelsey Grammer.

We saw him alongside Wolverine on Earth-10 005 – the universe of Fox’s X-Men –, but the one that Hugh Jackman plays in D & W comes from elsewhere. In addition to finally donning the emblematic yellow and blue costume of the comicsthis different version of the character would have failed to protect his world.

For his part, Wade Wilson has given up his career as a mercenary to sell used cars. One day, the Time Variation Authority (TVA), an organization that ensures the harmony of timelines, knocks on his door to offer him the opportunity to accomplish something greater. Faced with the colossal task, he sets out to find the mythical Wolverine so that he can lend him a hand. However, the latter does not let himself be recruited easily.

They will find themselves in the Void, a huge dump where what the TVA considers to be temporal irregularities are purged. The trailers for D & W revealed the presence of various mutants seen in previous X-Men films – such as Pyro and Sabretooth – as well as a huge 20th Century Fox logo. Deadpool, who regularly breaks the fourth wall, often references the comic book world in which he operates.

It is there that they will meet Cassandra Nova, played by Emma Corin (The Crown). “She is Charles Xavier’s sister, but unlike him, she is full of rage and wants to punish the world. She is an unpredictable villain. She has charisma and a lot of patience,” Shawn Levy tells us.

Hollywood Wedding

In a magazine article PeopleRyan Reynolds compares his friendship with Hugh Jackman to a marriage. “Since I met him [il y a 17 ans, à Sydney]I support him in everything he does, I want him to live the fullest life possible,” the Canadian actor confided. The Australian returned the favor by specifying that he could tell his friend anything, complimenting his great listening skills.

For years, the two have maintained a fake public rivalry through jokes on social media and barbs sent during interviews. Ryan Reynolds took advantage of this without subtlety to harass his old pal about a return as Wolverine, which allowed fans to maintain the hope that they would finally put on their tight suits together.

As he told several media outlets, on August 14, 2022, inspired by the tranquility of the beach, Hugh Jackman called his friend without warning to tell him that he was ready to bring out his claws.

Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy were already working on the next Deadpool adventure when Hugh Jackman expressed interest in joining them. “It was wonderful, because in an instant, our movie had a reason to exist. It wasn’t just the third Dead Poolit was now the first Deadpool and Wolverine. Two iconic characters together for the first time. It was an opportunity to do something unique,” ​​says Shawn Levy, who has directed the two actors separately in the past.

Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters on July 26.