Deadpool 3's release date is in flux, with reliable sources claiming it will no longer meet its planned May 2024 release date due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
If a delay is imminent, then the Marvel Studios threequel will likely shift to next July; however, should the strike continue, the Merc with the Mouth and Wolverine's team-up won't head our way until much later in 2024. Unfortunately, that also means waiting even longer to find out whether those seemingly endless rumours are true!
We've almost been overwhelmed by cameo talk, with everyone from the Scarlet Witch to Toad and multiple Wolverine Variants supposedly part of the movie. Talking to SiriusXM, Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy was asked to chime in on the online scuttlebutt.
"I love the proliferation of casting rumors on the internet, because I never have to say what's real and what's fantasy, so I'm just going to go with the very cliche 'no comment' on all things casting [with] Deadpool 3," he teased. "I will say, we're lucky on this one."
"There's certainly - is this an answer? A lot of the internet rumors are completely false, but some of them aren't..."
For now, we'll have to wait and see which ones prove correct, though the only cameo reported on by the trades is Daredevil star Jennifer Garner's return as Elektra. Aside from that one, they've largely come our way from the expected online "scoopers."
Alongside Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, Deadpool franchise vets Karan Soni (Dopinder), Leslie Uggams (Blind Al), Morena Baccarin (Vanessa), Stefan Kapicic (Colossus), Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead), Shioli Kutsuna (Yukio), and Rob Delaney (Peter) are all set to return in this threequel.
Emma Corrin is expected to play Cassandra Nova, while Matthew Macfadyen will likely take on the role of a TVA agent named Paradox. It's also been confirmed that Jennifer Garner will reprise her role as Elektra, with Liev Schreiber, James Marsden, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and even Taylor Swift expected to appear.
Deadpool 3 is currently set to be released in theaters on May 3, 2024.
Click on the "Next" button below to check out our
roundup of Deadpool 3 rumours from earlier this year!
8. The X-Men Don Their Classic Comic Book Costumes
At this point, it's been established that we should look forward to a number of original X-Men cast members returning alongside Hugh Jackman. That's hardly a shock given Kevin Feige's history with them, and James Marsden, Famke Janssen, and Halle Berry are all expected to appear.
We won't be getting any of the actors from the rebooted timeline which kicked off in 2011's X-Men: First Class (despite them appearing briefly in Deadpool 2) and Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen are both said to be reprising their respective roles as Professor X and Magneto.
Most exciting, however, is the fact all these characters are rumoured to be decked out in comic-accurate costumes inspired by X-Men: The Animated Series!
7. Return To Earth-838
While we'll spend some time in the X-Men Universe, it sounds like Deadpool's run-in with the Time Variance Authority (we'll get to that) will see him and Wolverine tasked with sorting out a huge mess on Earth-838.
There are conflicting reports about this, but it appears the Scarlet Witch (a mutant) has completely lost her mind after being possessed by Earth-616's Wanda Maximoff. In the wake of Professor X and the Illuminati's deaths, Magneto is said to have used his daughter's reality-altering powers to make mutants the dominant species, a la House of M.
We're not sure what exactly Deadpool and Wolverine are supposed to do about it, but this sounds like a dream "What If...?" story...even if would make more sense for the X-Men Universe and Earth-838 to be one and the same. Perhaps they are?
6. Cable Won't Be Back But His Time-Travel Device Will Be
If you're wondering what it is that puts Deadpool on the TVA's radar, it is indeed what he got up to with Cable's time-travel device in the sequel's closing moments. Based on set photos, both Wade and Wolverine are pruned and sent to The Void, so it's possible they end up on Earth-838 by mistake while trying to get home.
Either way, Josh Brolin's Cable isn't going to be part of this threequel (Zazie Beetz also won't be reprising her role as Domino for reasons which aren't currently clear).
As for Nathan Summers, we've heard that he's sent back to his own timeline in exchange for not being pruned and, more importantly, giving up his time-travel device. Despite Bolin's disappointing Deadpool 3 absence, a number of scoopers seem convinced he'll be part of the MCU down the line.
5. Channing Tatum Is Back As Gambit
Deadpool 3 is seemingly lining up a number of big cameo appearances for a movie that may well serve as a final farewell to Fox's X-Men Universe.
Among them is said to be Channing Tatum as Gambit. The actor was supposed to play the Cajun superhero way back in 2016, but after multiple directors and seemingly endless creative differences, the project failed to get off the ground before the Disney/Fox merger put an end to the project once and for all.
Tatum getting another chance in this threequel would be an absolute blast, and we're sure he'd shine bouncing off Reynolds and Jackman given his comedic chops. It's always fun to think about what might have been but this movie can actually make one of those big missed opportunity castings a reality.
4. Multiple Deadpool Variants
Any movie set in the Multiverse has to throw Variants into the mix and, as you might expect, all signs point to a lot of Deadpools showing up over the course of this madcap team-up.
Dogpool is thought to be a lock, while one supposed leak suggested we'll even see actor Ryan Reynolds don a Wrexham Football Club t-shirt to play himself when the Merc with the Mouth enlists an entire army of 'Pools in an attempt to stop Magneto. We'd take that with a pinch of salt for now, but boy, it sure would be fun.
Here's a small bonus scoop for you, though: we've heard that there's a push for Taylor Swift to play Lady Deadpool. It's unclear right now whether it will pan out but she's friends with Reynolds and Blake Lively and the idea had been to film it before she embarks on the international Eras Tour. We'll see.
3. Here Comes Daredevil
In an undeniably surprising move, The Hollywood Reporter essentially spoiled one of Deadpool 3's biggest cameos by revealing Jennifer Garner will reprise her role as Elektra in the upcoming threequel.
If we had to hazard a guess, they were fed the news because the actress was going to be spotted on set and Marvel Studios wanted to get ahead of the paparazzi. Either way, both before and after that report, reliable sources have claimed Ben Affleck has shot a cameo role in the movie as Daredevil.
It's a character we never expected the Justice League star to return to, so Reynolds must have promised him something really fun in order to don that suit again. We wouldn't go in anticipating anything too major, but we'd put money on a Batman joke...
2. Jean Grey Vs. Scarlet Witch
There continue to be conflicting reports about whether Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch will actually physically appear in Deadpool 3. It would be odd for Earth-838's Wanda to have rewritten reality and then disappeared, but a plot point like that may be revisited somewhere down the line.
According to plot leakers and scoopers alike, however, we may well end up seeing the Scarlet Witch battle Jean Grey in what has the potential to be a standout sequence in the movie.
In some respects, this feels like an odd place to continue Wanda's story, but if she is essentially the MacGuffin at the heart of what's going on, then it might be Marvel Studios' chance to show what Jean can really do. It would make up for Fox's two botched attempts at the "Dark Phoenix Saga," anyway.
1. Stranded In The MCU
In some respects, we're still surprised Marvel Studios hasn't just brought Wade Wilson into the MCU and completely moved on from Fox's movies. Throwing him into a shared world without mutants might be easier said than done, though, and the Multiverse has certainly made things easier.
Now, Feige can revisit the franchise where he started his career and give Jackman the chance to go out on an even bigger high than what we saw in Logan. We expect this to be our final visit to the "Fox-verse," regardless, but what does that mean for Deadpool's big screen future?
Again, we're not guaranteeing anything, but the prevailing belief does seem to be that Deadpool 3 ends with Wade, Wolverine, and possibly even more Fox characters stranded in the MCU. It's likely temporary before Secret Wars reboots everything but also a potentially game-changing move...