Warning! Spoilers ahead for Deadpool & Wolverine.

Summary

• Deadpool & Wolverine offers exciting surprises for Marvel fans, including cameos such as Dafne Keen's X-23, Chris Evans' Johnny Storm, and Wesley Snipes' Blade.
• Deadpool & Wolverine features twists such as Deadpool's attempt to the Avengers and multiple brutal deaths from cameo characters.
• Agent Paradox's plan to fast-track the destruction of Earth-10005 leads Deadpool and Wolverine's first adventure together, saving Deadpool's universe and defeating Cassandra Nova.

In true Deadpool & Wolverine's star-studded cast had been confirmed before the movie's July 2024 release.

Similar to massive crossover events such as Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, a large portion of the excitement behind Deadpool & Wolverine lies in its spoilers. Returning characters like Aaron Stanford's Pyro, Tyler Mane's Sabretooth, and Dafne Keen's X-23 were revealed gradually to heighten expectations. However, these reveals barely scratched the surface of all that Deadpool & Wolverine had to offer. From completely unexpected cameos to multiverse-defining changes and potential Deadpool & Wolverine sequel teases, Shawn Levy's Deadpool & Wolverine is filled to the brim with fan-pleasing surprises.

20 Deadpool Tries To The Avengers And Happy Hogan Rejects Him

Deadpool Technically Had A Chance To The Avengers Before Meeting Wolverine

The only time Deadpool & Wolverine visits the MCU's Earth-616 is at the beginning, when Deadpool uses Cable's time travel machine to enter the MCU's main timeline and apply for a role in the Avengers. Happy Hogan interviews Wade, but ultimately rejects him because Wade wants to become an Avenger to feel better about himself instead of helping others. Although Deadpool insults Happy due to his nerves, Happy motivates Deadpool to keep going and says that the Avengers will keep an eye on him. Iron Man's second arc reactor and Captain America shield prototype can be spotted in Happy's office.

This scene takes place in 2018, before the events of Avengers: Infinity War, meaning that Deadpool's MCU debut technically happened while Tony Stark was still alive and Captain America was still active.

19 Deadpool & Wolverine Introduces The Concept Of A Multiversal Anchor Being

Every Universe Has A Central Character Whose Death Signals Annihilation

When TVA agent Paradox brings Deadpool to the TVA headquarters, he explains to Wade that his universe, Earth-10005, is destined to die due to Wolverine's death in Logan. Acording to Paradox, Hugh Jackman's original Wolverine is Earth-10005's "anchor" — an individual who's so essential to their respective timeline that their death kicks off an inevitable apocalypse, which can take up to two thousand years. Taking this into , characters like Earth-616's Iron Man and Tom Hardy's Venom are candidates for their respective universes' anchor individuals.

Paradox also tells Deadpool that while his adventures with Cable's time-travel device were amusing, they weren't too dangerous for the Sacred Timeline.

18 Marvel Confirms That Fox’s X-Men Franchise Is A Single Universe

Fox’s X-Men Timelines Are Suggested To Be A Single Continuity

For years, Fox's self-contradicting X-Men timeline led fans to theorize that the X-Men movie franchise was actually a collection of different timelines, with Logan taking place in its own separate universe. However, Deadpool & Wolverine acknowledges the events of Logan and the first two Deadpool movies as part of the wider X-Men continuity. Although various inconsistencies warrant the existence of branching and parallel timelines, Deadpool & Wolverine makes it clear that Hugh Jackman's previous Wolverine performances make up the "anchor" Logan variant, and that Deadpool exists in that main X-Men universe as well — regardless if that retroactively creates plot holes in previous X-Men movies.

The first two Deadpool movies take place in an ambiguous setting. They're set in the present day, but the young X-Men cast makes a cameo, Yukio is different from her The Wolverine variant, and Colossus is different from his original X-Men trilogy variant.

17 Paradox Wants To Fast-Track The Destruction Of Dying Timelines

TVA Agent Paradox Created The Time Ripper To Supposedly Improve Loki’s Sacred Timeline

Agent Paradox shows his true colors when he reveals to Deadpool that he wants to speed up Earth-10005's destruction in order to rise through the TVA's ranks instead of watching Deadpool's universe wither away and die for millennia. To achieve this, Paradox created a "Time Ripper", which accelerated the process and doomed every single inhabitant of the original X-Men universe without their knowledge. When activated, the Time Ripper's effects on Earth-10005 look quite a lot like Loki season 2's spaghettification — the very fabric of reality ripping itself apart as it gets erased out of existence.

Paradox plans and executes his plan secretly, as he's disappointed that the TVA's new istration has abandoned brutal yet effective practices like timeline pruning.

16 Henry Cavill Appears As A Multiverse Variant Of Wolverine

Hugh Jackman Is No Longer The Only Actor To Play Wolverine In Live-Action

When Deadpool tries to find a Wolverine variant who can replace the anchor Logan, he comes across several Wolverine variants who aren't suitable for the job. Deadpool meets a Wolverine under his tuxedo-wearing Patch identity, a Wolverine who's in the middle of fighting the Hulk while wearing a tan-and-brown costume, a short Wolverine, a Wolverine who's crucified in a field of skulls (reminiscent of Logan's torture in X-Men #251), and an especially violent Wolverine who's wearing his comic-book Apocalypse suit. Most notably, Deadpool meets "Callverine" — a rugged Wolverine variant played by Henry Cavill, who punches Deadpool in the face.

Deadpool throws a jab at DC when he realizes one Wolverine is played by Henry Cavill, offering him a better role at Marvel. Deadpool also mocks The Rock's "hierarchy of power" promotion for Black Adam and describes Wolverine's masked look as a Batman who can actually move his neck.

15 Hugh Jackman Is Made Shorter With CGI To Match Wolverine's Comic-Accurate Height

Marvel Finally Acknowledges How Tall Hugh Jackman Is Compared To The Comics' Wolverine

One of the Wolverine variants Deadpool meets in his quest is a Logan who looks almost exactly like the anchor Wolverine, with the caveat that he's just as short as the comic book character. In the source material, Wolverine is supposed to be around 5'3" (1.60m), almost one full foot shorter than Hugh Jackman, who's 6'2" (1.88 m). Deadpool & Wolverine's short Wolverine variant might be even shorter than 5'3", which makes for a jarring picture due to Hugh Jackman's body proportions.

Apart from the actor's then-narrow filmography, Hugh Jackman's height was subject of doubt and criticism back when he was cast as Wolverine for 2000's X-Men.

14 Chris Evans Returns To The MCU As The Human Torch (& Gets Killed)

Chris Evans’ Human Torch Is Deadpool & Wolverine’s Unexpected Comedy Relief Character

Another exciting cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine comes courtesy of Chris Evans, who makes an epic entrance defending Deadpool and Wolverine from Cassandra Nova's henchmen. When Deadpool gets ready to witness Evans' character say "Avengers assemble!", he realizes that Evans isn't playing Captain America; rather, Chris Evans reprises his Johnny Storm a.k.a. Human Torch role from Tim Story's Fantastic Four movies. Unfortunately, Pyro effortlessly puts out Johnny Storm's fire powers, and Cassandra Nova rips Johnny's skin and flesh off after Deadpool reveals that Johnny insulted her.

Deadpool & Wolverine marks Chris Evans' first MCU appearance after Steve Rogers' retirement in Avengers: Endgame, opening the door for future MCU roles in the form of other Captain America or Human Torch variants.

13 Jennifer Garner’s Elektra Returns In Deadpool & Wolverine

Elektra Is A Deadlier Assassin Under Cassandra Nova’s Reign

Deadpool and Wolverine meet the few surviving of the resistance in the Void, starting with Elektra. Twenty-one years after her Marvel debut in Daredevil and twenty years after her own spinoff movie in Elektra, Jennifer Garner returns as the assassin Elektra Natchios in Deadpool & Wolverine. This time, Elektra wears a dark suit and sports strands of gray hair, and she's visibly much deadlier than ever before. According to her and her allies, a Daredevil variant who worked alongside them perished some time before Deadpool & Wolverine's arrival.

Ben Affleck's Daredevil witnessed Elektra's death at the hands of Bullseye in Daredevil (2003).

12 Wesley Snipes Returns As Blade Despite Previous Friction With Ryan Reynolds

Wesley Snipes’ Blade Makes His On-Screen Debut In The MCU Before Mahershala Ali’s

The most surprising actor return in Deadpool & Wolverine might be Wesley Snipes', who reprises his Blade role twenty-six years after his Marvel debut. In 2004, Blade Trinity's production became infamous for its behind-the-scenes drama, which led to a feud between Wesley Snipes and Ryan Reynolds, the latter of whom was playing Hannibal King. Add to that the fact that Wesley Snipes retired from acting, making his Deadpool & Wolverine role all the more surprising. Snipes' Blade sports white strands of hair and at one point repeats his iconic line, "some motherf*ers are always trying to ice-skate uphill".

Wesley Snipes' Blade brags that, unlike the Punisher, there will always be one Blade. Deadpool, knowing about Mahershala Ali's Blade movie, sneers at the camera.

11 Channing Tatum’s Gambit Finally Gets To Play Gambit In Deadpool & Wolverine

Channing Tatum Fulfills His Dream To Play A Comic-Accurate Gambit In The MCU

Another member of the Void's resistance is Remy LeBeau a.k.a. Gambit, played by Channing Tatum. For years, Channing Tatum wanted to play Gambit on the big-screen, reaching the point that a full Gambit solo movie was set to be produced by Fox with Tatum in the lead role. However, the plans ultimately didn't pan out. In Deadpool & Wolverine, Channing Tatum's Gambit insists that his potential is still undiscovered, and his unintelligible French accent is a running gag among the Void's survivors. Tatum's Gambit is remarkably powerful and faithful to the source material.

Fox's Gambit movie was cancelled by Disney in May 2019 after more than five years in development hell.