Ryan Reynolds & Hugh Jackman Surprise Comic-Con Fans With “Deadpool & Wolverine” Screening

Hall H at San Diego’s Comic-Con has long been the home to some of the biggest moments in the Con’s history—yesterday, it became the undisputed domain of the Merc with the Mouth and the Mutant Berserker.

Deadpool & Wolverine stars Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and Emma Corrin (who plays the film’s villain, Cassandra Nova), along with director Shawn Levy and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, surprised and delighted Con attendees by turning the panel into a secret screening for the new film.

“We’ve been all around the world with this movie, but the icing on the cake is right here, right now,” Jackman told Hall H. The panel-into-secret-screening was organized by lottery, with those lucky enough to win a ticket getting treated to Marvel’s one and only 2024 release. And that release, already generating a ton of buzz, is the long-awaited cinematic reunion of Reynolds and Jackman, 15-years after their less-than-satisfying battle in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Now, they’re back in top form, with Reynolds’ Deadpool a much different, much more interesting character than he was in his mute appearance in the 2009 film. Now, Reynolds’ Merc with the Mouth has had two films in his own franchise to become an offbeat beloved member of the larger MCU (officially now, thanks to Disney’s acquisition of Fox in 2019), and Jackman’s Wolverine, inarguably the most popular of the X-Men, has risen from the dead after his beautiful, brutal denouement in James Mangold’s 2017 film Logan to join Reynolds in the team-up fans have been salivating for.

Deadpool & Wolverine opens wide on July 26 and is on pace to land the biggest opening weekend for an R-rated film of all time, tracking for somewhere between $160 to $175 million in North America alone.

Reynolds came to the Con in 2015 to unveil the first Deadpool trailer, and Jackman revealed that he was also there on behalf of 20th Century Fox’s X-Men characters. At the time, Jackman had fully intended to hang up the claws after Logan. Only now, nine years later, the two shared the stage together.

By the time the screening was over, Kevin Feige, always a fan as much as Marvel’s big boss, was certainly feeling the excitement.

A little earlier: Kevin Feige calls the Hall H surprise screening “the best movie experience of my life” while Ryan Reynolds says “it changed his DNA.” #SDCC2024 pic.twitter.com/ZE1rmnWNIN

— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) July 26, 2024

For more on Deadpool & Wolverine, check out these stories:

First Reactions to “Deadpool & Wolverine” Say the Chemistry is Explosive in MCU Game Changer

Who’s Playing Lady Deadpool in “Deadpool & Wolverine”?

“Deadpool & Wolverine” Critical Reaction: Killer Chemistry Equals Bloody Good Fun

Featured image: SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 25: (L-R) Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, and Shawn Levy speak onstage during Marvel Studios: The Ultimate Deadpool & Wolverine Celebration of Life in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 25, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)