Fans of the X-Men side of the Marvel comics universe lost their collective shit when Deadpool’s star Ryan Reynolds said that a Wolverine and Deadpool crossover film would “light the screen on fire.” Reynolds cited the power of his “internet friends,” saying they could help convince Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman to make a crossover happen. But now it seems like the power of said “internet friends” has gone too far — the rumor mill churned out some speculation that Deadpool might make a cameo in Logan, Jackman’s final go as the character. That rumor turned out to be false — and it’s a good thing it wasn’t real, according to Reynolds himself.
The Wrap reported that a super-secret source said that David Leitch, director of John Wick and the Deadpool sequel, shot a scene for Logan with Deadpool in it. But thankfully, Reynolds himself took to Twitter in order to clear up the confusion:
This confirms that Logan is going to be, well, its own thing. Just because two characters are the most raw and violent in their corner of their comics universe doesn’t mean they need to scratch the obsessive crossover itch. But beyond that, the tones of each movie would simply not match up. Sure, Reynolds and Jackman have an IRL bromance, and Deadpool was sure to cajole Jackman’s Wolverine in-film, but we’d be worried if it were actually happening.
Deadpool’s success likely came from the way it defied expectations and gave people an entirely new type of superhero at a time of peak saturation. There was a lot of fourth wall breaking, comedy galore, masturbation jokes, and even a bit of pegging. None of these things will happen in Logan, a film where loads of people will die — maybe even ones we’ve cherished for almost two decades onscreen — and a certain clawed child might just behead people.
Logan is slated to be a very specific kind of dour tale, featuring an aging, Ronin-esque warrior in a world more apocalyptic than that of X-Men: Apocalypse. Johnny Cash’s mournful voice has a prominent place in the trailers for a reason. Almost all of the mutants are dead. Logan is several hundred years old, and he’s tired of all this shit. He’s prompted into one final battle before fading away into memory.
Wouldn’t it just ruin the entire thing if Deadpool flipped onto the scene to shoot a bad guy in the head before teasing Logan for how GD old he looks?
It’s a goodbye, not just for Logan, but for Jackman’s tenure as perhaps the most indisputably laudable castings in all of these superhero films. Let Logan — and Jackman — do it in peace.
Logan will share that hard R rating with Deadpool when it is released on March 3, 2017 — but the characters will not be sharing any screentime, at least anytime soon.
