Hugh Jackman says he really was done with playing Wolverine after 2017’s Logan, even after numerous requests to return by Ryan Reynolds. But the actor revealed that there was one reason why he chose to return for Deadpool 3.
“I wasn’t tortured by it. When people would ask me [to reprise the role] - including Ryan, every five seconds - I was like: I’m done,” Jackman says in an interview with The Guardian. But while Jackman wasn’t soul-searching after hanging up his claws when asked to return for Deadpool 3, Jackman simply said he, “just wanted to do it and I felt it in my gut.”
Furthermore, he revealed, “I get to punch the sh*t out of Ryan Reynolds every day.”
Deadpool 3 will be the first Deadpool film made under the MCU banner but will retain the R-rating. In fact, a Deadpool-Wolverine team-up was one of the first pitches Reynolds had when meeting Marvel’s Kevin Feige following the Fox acquisition.
“The subject was coming up in the meeting about if we could find a way to do a Deadpool-Wolverine pairing. It wasn’t possible then,” but is happening now.
Reynolds and Jackman are adamant that this movie will not mess with the Logan timeline, and that the character is still dead by the time Logan takes place in the far future. However, Jackman did confirm a major fan theory on how the movie still happens.
“It’s all because of this device they have in the Marvel world of moving around timelines,” Jackman says. “Now we can go back because, you know, it’s science. So I don’t have to screw with the Logan timeline, which was important to me.”
Jackman was giving interviews for his upcoming drama, The Son. When asked to look back on his X-Men days, Jackman was asked if the allegations against director Bryan Singer has affected the legacy of those films. “You know, that’s a really, really complicated question,” Jackman says. “There’s a lot of things at stake there. X-Men was the turning point, I believe, in terms of comic-book movies and I think there’s a lot to be proud of. And there’s certainly questions to be asked and I think should be asked. But I guess I don’t know how to elegantly answer that.”
Deadpool 3 is set to be released on November 8, 2024.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.