How and when the MCU plans to introduce its version of Wolverine is still a mystery, but Deadpool 3 offers the best option to do it in a way that also acknowledges Hugh Jackman. Of the many challenges the MCU will face to incorporate mutants into an already established universe, a rather complex one is how to replace Hugh Jackman in the role of Wolverine, arguably one of the most iconic versions of a superhero to appear on the big screen. While Jackman had a perfect send-off in Logan, the images of the actor and Wolverine are still very much intertwined in the minds of audiences.
While both the Fantastic Four and the X-Men are now at MCU's disposal following the Fox acquisition by Disney, only the former has had a film confirmed in the MCU. That said, the X-Men-adjacent Deadpool will continue his movie franchise now as part of a larger Marvel universe. Free Guy and The Adam Project director Shawn Levy will team up with Ryan Reynolds once again in what will be MCU's first R-Rated film. Details about the story are still unknown, but the self-aware humor and the fourth-wall-breaking already common in Deadpool movies are to be expected.
It is also for that reason that Deadpool 3 is the perfect movie for the MCU to introduce its own version of the character. Not only are Deadpool and Wolverine connected by decades of mutant and X-Men stories in comics, Ryan Reynold's first time playing the character was in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Additionally, Reynolds and Jackman have a long-standing friendship and constant "feud", with the Wolverine actor's face even appearing as a joke during the first Deadpool. All of this added to Deadpool's track record of meta-commentary on the X-Men films timeline makes it that debuting the MCU's Wolverine in Deadpool 3 as a fourth-wall-breaking moment can work. Deadpool could acknowledge and accept the fact that Wolverine is now a completely different actor, which, in a way, could be interpreted as the MCU itself acknowledging such a major recast.
Obviously, that would be a slightly more humorous route to introduce the MCU's Wolverine, but it would help stave off comparisons with Hugh Jackman right away. Despite being a serious, often violent character, Wolverine does have his moments of cheesiness in the comics, especially when interacting with characters like Spider-Man or Deadpool – something Hugh Jackman's version never got to do. A more traditional Wolverine story in the MCU might seem too familiar to Jackman's Wolverine, placing an ever-heavier burden on the new actor's shoulders. A meta-introduction in Deadpool 3, however, would avoid such an issue. Given how both Deadpool 3 and MCU's first X-Men/Wolverine projects will likely not come out before 2024, the timeframes would also work.
There is no easy way for the MCU to replace Hugh Jackman as Wolverine once the character finally shows up, but a more out-of-the-box introduction such as in Deadpool 3 could be the key to making that transition less abrupt. Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool teaming up with Hugh Jackman's Wolverine may be out of the cards, but Deadpool and a new version of Logan could still be a fun duo for the MCU's future. Either way, there is no shortage of possibilities for new combinations now that the X-Men can finally join the MCU.
