Ever since Ryan Reynolds made the huge announcement that Hugh Jackman would be returning as Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine, the film has been on everyone's mind. The internet exploded after their announcement. Reynolds’ TikTok video was being shared all over the place, and major news outlets were publishing articles like crazy. Fans had a lot of questions, the biggest being, didn’t Wolverine die in Logan? But Reynolds and Jackman answered that in a follow-up video the next day. Following the highly anticipated Super Bowl commercial, the hype for Shawn Levy’s first Deadpool movie in the MCU is at an all-time high.

Deadpool & Wolverine currently is set for release on July 26, 2024. After numerous release date changes due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, the film is finally set to release and is the only MCU movie of 2024, putting a large amount of expectations on it. Still, Deadpool & Wolverine is certainly one of the most anticipated MCU films in Marvel's upcoming slate. Even when there is a discussion about superhero fatigue, Deadpool & Wolverine has generated a great deal of excitement, and here is why fans are excited.

Update February 17, 2024: If you're curious about why there's so much hype for Deadpool & Wolverine, you'll be happy to know that this article has been updated with additional information.

Introducing X-Men to the MCU

X-Men Days of Future Past
20th Century Fox

Once Reynolds got on TikTok with his Deadpool announcement, fans of the franchise scrambled quickly to figure out how Wolverine would be worked into the movie. The biggest question seemed to ask how Wolverine would come back. Well, the answer is that he hasn’t died yet! In Reynolds’ second TikTok, which had Hugh Jackman sitting next to him on the couch, the two stars explained that Logan takes place in 2029. With the MCU only having gone so far as 2025, it’s not an issue to have Wolverine be factually alive. Even though the X-Men timeline became notoriously complicated after Days of Future Past, for Deadpool, things worked well enough.

Getting Hugh Jackman to play Wolverine in Deadpool is quite a big deal. Jackman had said that he wanted his performance in Logan to be the last one he did for the character. So, getting him back for an MCU introduction of the X-Men must have been no small feat. However, it does also mean that we will probably expect to see him die again, be changed by the multiverse, or be turned into a younger version of himself by Kang. Any number of things could happen, but something to remember is that Hugh Jackman won’t be playing the part forever. And getting a new Wolverine using some wibbly wobbly timey wimey methods might be part of the MCU’s plan to bring in a larger team of X-Men.

Related: MCU: Characters We Can't Wait to See Interact with Deadpool

So far, we’ve only seen alternate-universe versions of Professor X, Beast, and a variant of Maria Rambeau in Carol Danver's Binary persona from the comics. Both Ms. Marvel and Namor are confirmed mutants, but they are not part of the X-Men roster. It seems that recently, it’s been Marvel’s plan to introduce the X-Men quite gradually.

Deadpool & Wolverine will be the first MCU film to center on canonically mutant characters and star some of our favorites. It’ll be the X-Men’s big debut in the MCU. How they’ll fit in the narrative is still uncertain. In Deadpool 2, our star complained that Professor X’s mansion was completely devoid of mutants. Now it seems he’ll have nothing to complain about with access to the complete world of the X-Men, with his favorite one standing right beside him.

Return of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine

Deadpool walking alongside Wolverine in Deadpool 3.
Marvel Studios

Hugh Jackman is the definitive Wolverine for an entire generation. When Logan was released, the actor had played him for 17 years, longer than any other actor who had played a superhero. While it was a fitting end to his character, and many would have liked that to be the end, it's hard to argue fans are not excited to see him return once more and finally get to share the screen with a comic-accurate Deadpool and possibly crossover with other MCU heroes. It always did feel like a shame that Hugh Jackman's Wolverine never got to fight the Hulk, but now they can rectify that.

Outside just having the X-Men return, Deadpool and Wolverine have had a long relationship in the comics and a bit of a (one-sided) rivalry. Both superheroes have the greatest healing factors in the Marvel universe, making them virtually invincible. Even when Deadpool was ripped in half in Deadpool 2, he still managed to regrow the lower half of his body. Both characters have fought Hulk in the comics and been significantly damaged in the process, but never killed. And it’s been a longtime debate amongst fans about who would win if Deadpool ever fought Wolverine.

And although we all like to pretend it never happened, the two did fight in Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, where Wolverine was the winner. Whether they’re fighting against each other or fighting a common evil, Deadpool & Wolverine is sure to be a movie to remember. There will also likely be a lot of fun meta-jokes at that movie's expense, particularly since Deadpool 2 ended with Deadpool killing the X-Men Origins: Wolverine version of himself.

The Final Farewell to Fox's Marvel Universe

X-Men
20th Century Fox/Marvel Entertainment/The Donner Company/Bad Hat Harry Production

After the news was broken by The Hollywood Reporter, Ryan Reynold's production company confirmed the news that Jennifer Garner will be reprising her role as Elektra in Deadpool & Wolverine. It was a huge shock to fans that she'd be returning as the character for the first time since the critically panned film in 2005, but even more surprising that it was confirmed (before the Tweet was quickly deleted). On the surface, that seems like a strange inclusion, considering that Elektra and Deadpool are barely connected, but her appearance in the film indicates the direction it's taking.

A lot of rumors have pointed toward Deadpool & Wolverine acting as a sendoff to Fox's Marvel universe before the MCU introduces its own versions of those iconic characters. Jennifer Garner's return all but confirms these rumors and plans for Deadpool & Wolverine to act as Spider-Man: No Way Home for the Fox universe. This gives Marvel the opportunity to bring back iconic or underused characters from Fox's past and allow them one last appearance where they can play comic-accurate versions of the character.

Director Shawn Levy has gone on the record teasing this, saying that "there’s a lot of history there, and there’s a lot of Marvel history at Fox. And certainly, that’s a part of our storytelling." It's an exciting idea that Deadpool & Wolverine is taking on and something fans are losing their minds over. Seeing these versions of Fox characters one last time is something fans never expected and could lead to magic on the big screen if handled right. The film's first trailer teased this happening in a big way too, as Aaron Stanford briefly appeared in it, reprising his role as Pyro from X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand. It all but confirms these old actors are returning in a big way, and will get the proper sendoff they deserved.

From Halle Berry sporting Storm's iconic white hair again to Ben Affleck spotted on set teasing his return as Daredevil, there's an endless world of possibilities that could come out of this.

A Journey Through the Multiverse

Wade Wilson being shown around the TVA in Deadpool and Wolverine
Marvel Studios

What seems to be gaining the most interest from fans, though, is Deadpool & Wolverine being centered around the multiverse. Ever since Kevin Feige announced "The Multiverse Saga", fans have been clamoring to explore alternate universes. They were given a taste of that in projects like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Loki, but it looks like Deadpool & Wolverine is going to deliver on the promise of more multiverse stories.

While Marvel hasn't confirmed anything official about the film's plot, the rumor mill keeps turning with an abundance of plot details out there. A vast majority of them could be fake, but they all point towards the film taking place throughout the multiverse. The freshly released trailer gives more questions than answers as it teases Deadpool's grand role in the multiverse. It seems like his time-traveling shenanigans at the end of Deadpool 2 have finally caught up with him, and the Time Variance Authority from Loki has to step in and stop him from causing any more damage to the timeline.

Related: The Deadpool & Wolverine Trailer Just Confirmed Loki as the Most Important MCU Show

The trailer seems to hint that the TVA has hired Wade Wilson for some multiversal missions. The trailer confirms what leaked set photos have of a wasteland that seems to have the 20th Century Fox logo, suggesting that the Marvel Fox films have suffered an incursion or were pruned from the sacred timeline at some point. The trailers have confirmed Aaron Stanford will return as Pyro and with the inclusion of Jennifer Garner as Elektra and shots of Wade Wilson in woods that look very similar to those seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron, there is a chance Deadpool will be hoping around many Marvel movies from the past and getting into a lot of trouble.

This also sets Deadpool & Wolverine to be an important film in the Multiverse Saga. The events of the film might set the stage for the upcoming Avengers movies, and put Wade Wilson as an unlikely character to be front and center for the franchise.

X-Men Mania In 2024

The X-Men come together in X-Men '97.
Disney+

Just days after the trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine was released, another major X-Men project was teased. Marvel dropped the trailer for X-Men '97 on February 15, 2024, confirming the series will premiere on Disney+ on March 20, 2024, with a total of ten episodes. The series captured a certain level of fan nostalgia as it featured the rocking guitar theme song, the original cast of characters, and many elements fans loved from the original series while also setting up some new possibilities.

With the trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine and X-Men '97 arriving, it feels like a throwback to the days when the X-Men were Marvel's biggest team property before The Avengers. There once was a time when X-Men was Marvel's most popular comic, and all sales were compared to that book. While the release of both projects missed the 60th anniversary of the X-Men's comic book publication, 2024 does mark the 50th anniversary of the creation of Wolverine, who will be a big part of both Marvel X-Men projects this year.

Notably, the release of Deadpool & Wolverine and X-Men '97 might hint at a larger connection between both projects. X-Men '97 will conclude its ten-episode season before the release of Deadpool & Wolverine. With Deadpool & Wolverine set to feature a wide multiverse, there is a chance that the animated versions of the characters might show up in live-action within the MCU. Both the Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the Beast in The Marvels look like variants of their animated series counterparts, so it is possible that X-Men '97 might be more than just a fun revival but an important part of Marvel's larger multiverse plans that will pay off in Deadpool & Wolverine.

MCU's Focus on Quality over Quantity

Deadpool 3-1
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

2023 was not a kind year for Marvel Studios, to say the least. With three films and three shows released, the critical and commercial success was all over the place. Kicking off the year was Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, which should've been a massive hit as they were introducing the Multiverse Saga's villain Kang the Conqueror, but was a huge disappointment for the studio. That was followed up by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which was thankfully an all-time high for the MCU, but unfortunately, the success wouldn't last for long. Secret Invasion was up next, and represented an all-time low as the finale had the worst Rotten Tomatoes score in the entire MCU. Season two of Loki would soon after release to very high praise, with many considering it the best season of TV they've done yet. Yet another wall was hit as The Marvels was released at the tail-end of a writer's strike and became the MCU's first true box-office bomb. The year ended with season two of What If...?, which was well-received but didn't do much to change the perception of the universe. Something needed to change.

The last few months have shown that Marvel is doing what they can to get things back on track. A big part of that new mindset was reducing the output of projects that they were releasing. This came with the delay of all their projects as they got pushed back to allow more time to work on them. All their shows were being restructured, with new showrunners added to steer the ship and allow a more singular vision to drive these projects. These are obviously things that should've been in place since the beginning but got lost along the way as they tried to expand the universe a little too fast. Making as many projects as possible and meeting deadlines were no longer the mission statement as the studio had been spread too thin. While it was likely the MCU was never looking to sacrifice quality for the sake of quantity, they did seem to stretch themselves thin and were having trouble keeping everything in order.

With Deadpool & Wolverine set to be the only MCU film releasing this year for the first time since 2012, there's a lot of anticipation building for it. It's a single big project that fans can all get excited for, as it's going to be treated as an event. Marvel doesn't have to focus on several films releasing within months of each other anymore and can put more attention into making sure that this film is a hit. After the rollercoaster of a year they had last year, Deadpool & Wolverine is the first big test to see if the studio's changes are going to actually work. They need another smash hit at the box office, and this movie is their ticket to success.

Check out the trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine below!