According to Ryan Reynolds, a Lot of Red Tape Was Involved in Wolverine’s Deadpool 3 Comeback.

By Patrick Fitzgerald Last updated Nov 9, 2022

When Ryan Reynolds revealed that Hugh Jackman would return to play Wolverine in the upcoming “Deadpool 3,” he shocked and delighted Marvel fans. Reynolds teased Jackman repeatedly in the first two “Deadpool” films, and after his outstanding performance in “Logan” in 2017, it was thought that Jackman would no longer be playing Wolverine.
Given that “Logan” ends with Wolverine’s demise, it seemed as though the movie was saying goodbye to the character. Jackman said goodbye to the role in the media as well, telling Variety in 2020, “Before we even started writing it, I already knew it would be my last. I chose to do that.”

Hugh Jackman had initially expressed interest in using his claws once more for “Deadpool 3,” this time as a part of the MCU, according to Ryan Reynolds in a new interview with Collider. The real roadblock, however, turned out to be corporate red tape, according to Ryan Reynolds.

Before Hugh Jackman Could Use His Claws, Marvel Had to Sort Through Their Fox Acquisition

Ryan Reynolds said in an interview with Collider that while recruiting Hugh Jackman to play Wolverine in “Deadpool 3” wasn’t difficult, getting Disney’s approval required a little more legal legwork. Reynolds recalled that it was his responsibility to present the idea to Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige after Jackman expressed interest in taking on the role of Wolverine once more. Reynolds joked: “It’s not as if selling Hugh Jackman to a film like this would be difficult. The answer is an unequivocal, unequivocal yes.”

Reynolds claimed that all the leftover red tape from Fox’s sale to Disney was what really stood in the way. That agreement made it possible for figures like the X-Men to at last make an appearance in the MCU, but reportedly there were still some glitches. “There are many moving parts, and it takes a lot of red tapes to make that happen. And so they did. Being able to work with Hugh is a dream come true for me, so I’m really appreciative that they did it.”

The entertainment industry was rocked by Disney’s 2019 acquisition of Fox, and Reynolds may have unintentionally given away one of the reasons it has taken so long for mutants to appear in the MCU. Due to the size of the acquisition, Disney is still processing the paperwork.

Three years after Fox’s acquisition, Kamala Khan was the first mutant to be mentioned in the “Ms. Marvel” season finale (Iman Vellani). The mutant Namor will appear in the film “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Tenoch Huerta). As an MCU film, “Deadpool 3” will have the strongest connection to Fox’s “X-Men” franchise to date.