“Deadpool & Wolverine” Director Shawn Levy Teases Raunchy, Riotous Super Team-Up

April 15, 2024

Marvel Studios only has one movie coming out in 2024, but it’s a big one. The MCU will be unleashing its first official Deadpool movie (the franchise used to belong to Fox), Deadpool & Wolverine, which boasts the long-awaited team-up between Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with the Mouth and Hugh Jackman’s beloved, be-clawed mutant. (Yes, Jackman’s Wolverine died in James Mangold’s 2017 banger Logan, but this is the multiverse-happy MCU).

The title Deadpool & Wolverine has a lot of meaning, director Shawn Levy told Screen Rant, as it was a very conscious decision to give Wolverine title billing and not call the film Deadpool 3.

“As far as crafting the Deadpool and Wolverine story, I just felt privileged every day because you’re talking about two massive movie stars in their most iconic roles,” Levy told Screen Rant. “It also gave me an opportunity. It’s the third Deadpool movie, but it’s not Deadpool 3. It’s a different thing that’s very much Deadpool and Wolverine. And it’s not trying to copycat anything from the first two movies. They were awesome, but this is a two-hander character adventure.”

Levy promised Screen Rant, as he has promised previously, that Deadpool & Wolverine wasn’t going to be any less raunchy than its predecessors just because it’s now officially part of the MCU. “It’s going to be gnarly,” he told Screen Rant, and he also revealed that early screenings of the film have been “extremely, extremely promising.” The screenings helped Levy and his team “feel where the pace wants to tighten; you feel where you can afford to slow down and have a deeper, more durable character moment.”

Considering he got to work with two of the most beloved characters—and performers—it’s safe to say Deadpool & Wolverine will have plenty of durable character moments. And insanity.

Deadpool & Wolverine arrives in theaters on July 26, 2024.