“‘This is a one in a billion chance.'”

Deadpool and Wolverine is poised to be one of the biggest movies of 2024, but it was almost completely shelved.

Director Shawn Levy, along with stars Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds, opened up about the process of introducing Deadpool into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) during an interview with Vanity Fair. The Deadpool actor himself says he felt a desire to star as the Merc with a Mouth in a standalone film at least one more time for a while. However, he feels making Deadpool movies requires a lot of sacrifice, saying, “There’s a reason that it’s been six years since the last one.”

“In a normal movie, you work your ass off. But on a movie like this, you forsake a lot of things that you maybe took for granted: sleep, seeing your family, the myth of the present father,” Reynolds said. “There’s a lot of sacrifice. I mean, these are all uptown problems. I have a very intense relationship with the character and the world that character inhabits.”

Reynolds adds that, following Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019, he was pitching “a lot” of ideas to Marvel, adding that it was “hard to find my place in the MCU.” Even after Levy enthusiastically joined the team, the biggest roadblock came from trying to find a narrative that made sense for the character.

“We frankly struggled to find a story that felt original and non-derivative of the other two Deadpool movies. It had to be deserving of the first Deadpool entry into the MCU, but also feel grounded because this is an earthbound, gritty, realistic superhero franchise. We had fits and starts. And Ryan and I were right at the edge of saying to Kevin [Feige], ‘You know what? Maybe now is not the right moment because we’re not coming up with a story.’”

Deadpool’s future in the MCU came down to the wire. It was at this moment, however, that Reynolds’ phone rang. In August 2022, a vacationing Jackman was on the line, and he knew what he wanted his next major movie to be: Deadpool and Wolverine.

“I was sitting on a beach, not a care in the world, and for some reason, the thought came into my head: What do you want to do?” Jackman explained. “And the first two things had nothing to do with work—then literally, I thought: Deadpool-Wolverine. I want to do that movie. That’s what I want.”

It’s a story Jackman has told before, but now we know just how important that phone call was to Reynolds, Levy, and Deadpool. Reynolds says a meeting with Feige was coming up, and with Jackman now on board, Deadpool and Wolverine had direction.

This is a one in a billion chance. I really feel like this is what we’ve been looking for

“On the Zoom with Kevin, we just cut right to the fucking chase,” Reynold added. “We said, ‘Look, this call just came in. I feel like we’d be idiots to look this gift horse in the mouth and ignore it. This is a one in a billion chance. I really feel like this is what we’ve been looking for.’”

Though Feige had warned Jackman about returning as Wolverine following the success of 2017’s Logan, Jackman felt a buddy cop flick with Deadpool could tap into the clawed hero’s potential in new ways.

“Everything felt new and fresh to me,” Jackman said. “And I’d be sharing it with Ryan and Shawn, who are two of my best friends. The three of us together are like the Three Amigos. There was not a day where I wasn’t in tears laughing. I felt so rejuvenated playing the part. I mean, I’m 25 years in, man, and it feels better than ever.”

After a long battle to get the ball rolling, Deadpool and Wolverine premieres July 26, 2024. More details about the third Deadpool movie were recently revealed, too, and they promise an MCU entry that takes place six years after Deadpool 2. For more, you can see why Levy thinks his newest movie will be unlike anything else in Marvel’s cinematic universe.