We’ve been waiting patiently for official word on Deadpool 3 for years now, wondering just what Ryan Reynolds’ first foray into the MCU would look like. We knew Shawn Levy was directing, but that’s it. Despite fans (and Reynolds himself) saying how badly he wanted Hugh Jackman to return to the role of Wolverine for the movie, Jackman kept insisting he was retired from the role. After Logan, he’d decided to hang up the claws. Well, turns out retirement lasts, oh, about five years. Because in a hilarious tweet, Reynolds revealed that Hugh Jackman is indeed returning as Wolverine for Deadpool 3, much to the delight of Marvel nerds everywhere.

But we think this grand return is an indication that Jackman won’t just be appearing in Deadpool 3 as Logan. We have a feeling this signals his appearance in Avengers: Secret Wars as well. And probably along with him, the rest of the original X-Men.

Deadpool 3 to Feature Zombie Wolverine? Probably Not

Wolverine in his dying moments from Logan.
Twentieth Century Studios

Marvel Studios is leaning hard into the Multiverse right now. Therefore, we don’t think that Jackman’s arrival means they are going to undo Wolverine’s death in Logan. As it stands, that movie felt disconnected and in its own universe, even from the original X-Men films. After all, the events of Logan don’t really line up with the restored future we saw at the end of Days of Future Past.

So with the Multiverse in play now, we think that Logan can remain its own thing. Whatever version of Wolverine we see in Deadpool 3 won’t be the same one who died in the 2017 film. They won’t dig him up and “bring him back to life,” so to speak. We think the integrity of James Mangold’s film is safe. A tweet from Mangold himself seems to imply that to him, his Logan is dead as a doornail.

A Deadpool and Wolverine Road Trip?!

Twentieth Century Films

In the past, Ryan Reynolds has said that his original plans for Deadpool 3 involved a “Rashomon style road trip with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine.” We feel that is probably still the case, only with a Multiversal bent this time. John Krasinski’s “maybe joking/maybe not” tweet that followed the Deadpool 3 announcement seems to indicate it might be more than Wade and Logan on this trip. But we honestly believe that if Hugh Jackman is coming back, he’ll stick around for one more outing afterward. And bring his fellow X-Men with him.

Deadpool 3 Will Lead to an X-Men Reunion

Twentieth Century Studios

Problematic director aside, the original X-Men films matter. Their success paved the way for Spider-Man and eventually, the entire MCU. And Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige himself has a bit of a sentimental soft spot for the first X-Men movies. They were his first on-screen credits in a Marvel film after all. They started him on the path that led him to become head of Marvel Studios.

So before the inevitable reboot of Marvel’s mutants (which may or may not be able to happen till after 2025 for contractual reasons, according to rumor), he might want to pay homage to the ones who started it all. And Secret Wars will come out in 2025, the 25th anniversary of the original X-Men film. Marketing loves a good anniversary tie-in. We doubt Disney could resist this one.

Deadpool 3: Prelude to Avengers: Secret Wars?

Marvel Studios

If the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars follows the comics in even the smallest way, it will see the introduction of Battleworld. In the comics, that was a patchwork planet made out of the remains of several realities. But each of those realities became slightly different (or sometimes very different) when merging into Battleworld. So one of those realities could be a version of the Fox X-Men universe. It doesn’t even have to follow the continuity (such as it is) of the Fox X-Men films, because they have recreated it as something new.

20th Century Studios

Given all that, we could still get the original actors back in their roles. Meaning we could get a proper send-off for not only Hugh Jackman, but also Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, James Marsden, Famke Janssen, and Patrick Stewart. He recently returned to play Professor X in Multiverse of Madness, and has already said he’d be up to return. We think he knows something he’s not sharing with the rest of the class (of Xavier’s School).

Could We See Costumed X-Men at Long Last?

Disney

Kevin Feige was one of the few true Marvel Comics fans on the set of X-Men, according to Hugh Jackman. In fact, Jackman has said in interviews that Feige snuck him Wolverine comics to his trailer, on the sly, as comic books were forbidden on set. And he also fixed Logan’s hair to be more comics-accurate. Now that he’s in charge of the whole enchilada, he probably can’t resist finally putting Jackman in a comics-accurate costume. And for that matter, the rest of the original X-Men as well. Imagine if we see the 2000s cast, flying into action as the X-Men: The Animated Series theme plays? We’re losing our minds over it already.

Now, maybe Jackman’s return to play Wolverine really is “one last time.” But given his comments in the past about how fun it would be to be part of the MCU someday, we have a feeling that Deadpool 3 is almost certainly not the end quite yet. And the X-Men might stand next to the Avengers and the FF before it’s all said and done.