Deadpool and Wolverine – book your tickets now

Unsheath those weapons and arm those innuendos because Deadpool is back on the big screen this year – and he's not alone. Ryan Reynolds' signature character, big of mouth and of heart, is joined by Hugh Jackman's thought-to-be-deceased Wolverine, which promises the must-see comic book event of the year.

The film is Deadpool & Wolverine and you can now book your Cineworld tickets. Scroll to the end of this post to do so, but not before we bring you up to speed on the film's story, Marvel Cinematic Universe placement and release date.

What is the story of Deadpool & Wolverine?

Wade Wilson/Deadpool is enjoying the quiet life with girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) when the Time Variance Authority (TVA) comes knocking at his door.

Deadpool is then set on a collision course with Logan/Wolverine, which promises to change anything and everything he knows.

Is Deadpool & Wolverine the first Deadpool movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Yes, Deadpool & Wolverine is the first Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie to showcase Deadpool. It is the latest instalment in Marvel Phase Five, coming in the wake of The Marvels, and ahead of Captain America: The New World, which is due for release on February 14th, 2025.

The first two Deadpool movies, released in 2016 and 2018, were standalone 20th Century Fox properties. Following Disney's acquisition of Fox in 2017, the various Fox-owned Marvel characters have started to fall under the umbrella of the Disney-distributed MCU franchise.

Kevin Feige has assured fans that Deadpool won't lose any of his edge. However, he tells Empire that bringing Deadpool into the MCU wasn't an easy sell.

“The truth is, I wasn’t even sure how to incorporate Deadpool yet,” Feige recalls. “I was very much thinking about how to bring mutants and the X-Men into [the MCU], and I thought it needed to be more than just playing the hits. But the truth is, Ryan is an idea machine. So he may have pitched that to me, but he also pitched 25 other thoughts and ideas.”

Reynolds elaborates: "I went back to the drawing board, and I wrote up about 18 different treatments. Some of them almost like a Sundance film, a budget of under $10 million, sort of using the IP in a way that they previously hadn’t used, and I pitched bigger movies, and I pitched things in-between.”

You'll notice Feige's reference to X-Men in that quote. Before Disney acquired Fox, the X-Men movies were also standalone Fox properties. Now, the X-Men are poised to be drafted into the MCU, starting with Wolverine's appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine.

Where does Deadpool & Wolverine sit within the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Given the presence of the TVA, one imagines that the film runs parallel with the events of Loki. The hit Disney+ show introduced the implacable organisation responsible for scheduling and controlling the entire MCU pop culture timeline. In Deadpool & Wolverine, the TVA is represented by a character played by Succession's Matthew McFadyen.

Of course, this doesn't explain where Deadpool & Wolverine sits in relation to other MCU films. Nor do we know at this stage how the time-warping events of this film may well influence the MCU blockbusters that have already been released.

Which version of Wolverine appears in Deadpool & Wolverine?

At the time of writing, it's unclear. Hugh Jackman's Logan was demonstrably killed during the melancholic climax of Logan (2017), which stood alone as a brutal and gritty non-MCU coda to the classic character. Or so we thought at the time.

Going by the trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine, this iteration of Logan appears to be haunted by the deaths of his fellow X-Men, and there's a suggestion that he's responsible. Intriguingly, there's a crossover with the events of the 2017 Logan film in which it's established that most other X-Men have died and that comic books distort the reality of what actually happened.

Logan sports his classic yellow costume in Deadpool & Wolverine, which indicates a retro vibe from a previous era. This outfit was worn in the X-Men animated series, recently revived to acclaimed effect, and in the original comics.

Wolverine donned this suit in his very first appearance in 1974's Incredible Hulk #180, which saw him battle Bruce Banner's Hulk and a Wendigo in the Canadian wilderness. However, Jackman never wore it in the Fox-centric X-Men films, instead showcasing a sleek black leather design along with his fellow castmates.