Deadpool 3 Easter Egg Could Be the Key to Preserving Logan’s Powerful Legacy

The first Deadpool & Wolverine trailer is full of noteworthy moments. From Wade Wilson's (Ryan Reynolds) canon-altering run-in with the Time Variance Authority (TVA) to the blink-and-you'll-miss-it return of Pyro (Aaron Stanford), the teaser trailer is practically brimming with details that are meant to further promote Deadpool & Wolverine's position as a can't-miss addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Based on the responses that the trailer has received, it seems safe to say that it's done just that, too.

There's even one brief moment in the trailer involving Hugh Jackman's Logan, who is largely absent from the teaser itself, that may answer one of the biggest questions that fans have had about the forthcoming film ever since Wolverine's involvement in it was first announced. That question is: How will Deadpool & Wolverine bring Jackman's fan-favorite X-Men hero back without invalidating the events of 2017's Logan, which famously ends with its titular hero's demise?

Introducing Patch

At one point in the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer, Reynolds' suited-up Wade Wilson is shown walking through a swanky gambling den. A quick cut reveals that he's walking toward Jackman's Wolverine, who is sitting in an adjoining room with his back to Wade whilst wearing a white suit jacket. Wolverine's appearance in this scene is a clear reference to Patch, one of the character's most beloved alter egos.

As comic book readers will know, Patch is the moniker that Wolverine adopts in the comics when he relocates to the island city of Madripoor and becomes the co-owner of a drinking establishment known as the Princess Bar. While masquerading as Patch, Wolverine typically wears an eyepatch and walks around wearing a James Bond-esque white tuxedo not at all unlike the one that Jackman's Logan wears in the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer.

Both Madripoor and the Princess Bar appear in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but fans have still never seen a live-action version of Wolverine actually adopt his Patch alias. The Deadpool & Wolverine teaser suggests that may be about to change, though. That alone is an exciting prospect, but it may also confirm that the version of Jackman's Wolverine featured in the forthcoming Deadpool film won't be the one that viewers came to know in the years leading up to Logan.

Notably, none of the previous X-Men and Wolverine movies that he's appeared in even hint that Jackman's hero ever donned his Patch alter ego prior to his demise in Logan. The apparent inclusion of Patch in Deadpool & Wolverine, therefore, raises the possibility that the movie will introduce a new variant of Jackman's Logan. That wouldn't be particularly surprising, either, as the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer confirms that the film will integrate Marvel's ever-expanding multiverse into its story.

Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, and Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy have all repeatedly insisted that Deadpool & Wolverine will not retroactively undo the events of Logan. To date, they haven't specified how the film will avoid doing that, but maybe its first trailer has already subtly told us? What if the long-awaited Deadpool 2 sequel is simply going to introduce a variant of Jackman's Wolverine who, among other things, actually wears a comics-accurate yellow and blue costume and does masquerade as Patch from time to time?

We won't know whether that's the case until Deadpool & Wolverine is released this summer, but it certainly seems like a legitimate possibility right now.

Deadpool & Wolverine is set to hit theaters on July 26.