After one final Wolverine film set to come out in 2017, Hugh Jackman will be retiring his claws for good… and his timing really couldn’t be any worse. In the comics, Wolverine has an absolutely fantastic, brutal, and hilarious relationship with Deadpool (the characters both possessing healing abilities and violent tendencies), and Jackman’s retirement of the character suggests that we will never see him interact with Ryan Reynolds’ redeemed live-action version of the Merc With The Mouth (allow the ability to fully put X-Men Origins: Wolverine behind us). Some are ready to give up the hope of seeing Wolverine in Deadpool 2 or beyond, but the good news is that writer/producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick aren’t quite ready to close that door just yet.
It was at the very end of an interview with the filmmakers earlier this week that I asked the duo for their thoughts on the end of the fact that the "Hugh Jackman as Wolverine" era was ending just as Deadpool was getting popular on the big screen. Together, they certainly expressed disappointment about the timing, but they also weren’t entirely ready to throw out the idea of Wolverine and the real Deadpool coming face to face. Or as Paul Wernick put it:
What I would say is we've broken all the rules, so there are no rules that we're unafraid to break, and so, you never know.
At the same time, of course, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick also entirely support Hugh Jackman’s decision to leave the part as Wolverine – noting that 17 years is a long time to play a single role, and that if the time has come, then the time has come. Said Reese,
"We would love to be able to have Wolverine go head to head with Deadpool, but we also have to keep in mind that there is this larger X-strategy in place and then there's also, I think, probably a little fatigue on Hugh’s part. He’s done so many versions of Wolverine and he’s doing one more, and I just have to believe at some point he wants to hang up the claws and I just think we have to respect that. It’s the bottom line, It’s unfortunate that the timing worked out to be the way it is, but at the same time, you can never begrudge an actor or anyone in any profession, the decision to be like alright, it’s time to hand it off to someone else.
Of course, it’s worth noting that Reese shortly thereafter let the Deadpool part of his brain eke out a bit, saying,
We might be showing up at Hugh’s ranch in Australia with a rag with chloroform on it. You just never know.
Hell, maybe the opening scene of Deadpool could be just that - with Wade Wilson kidnapping Hugh Jackman and locking him in a closet with a store-bought Wolverine get-up. Just an idea.
Do you think we could see Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Deadpool on the big screen together at some point, or do you think that the dream is dead? Hit the comments below with your thoughts!
