Deadpool & Wolverine marks the second time that the iconic duo has appeared in a film together, and the fist time that it was a part of the MCU. The pair, which takes its inspiration from the likes of “Midnight Run,” “48 Hours,” “The Odd Couple,” and “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles,” also put on their comic-book inspired suits. This would be a first for the Wolverine who had to wear the black leather suit throughout the X-Men films. And now, for the first time in over 20 years, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige gives us an answer as to why.
ThatsItLA was invited to join the “Deadpool & Wolverine” virtual press conference where Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, both of whom reprise their titular roles, respectively, along with their co-stars Emma Corrin and Matthew Macfadyen, and director Shawn Levy, executive producer Wendy Jacobson, and Feige talked about the film.
For years, Logan/Wolverine fans had been wondering why the first X-Men films did not use the classic John Byrne blue and yellow designs. Because the “Deadpool & Wolverine” is set in the multiverse, the film was a great opportunity to bring that to life while also exploring the many other variants that exist. When Tessa Smith of Mamas Geeky asked about which one of the Wolverine variants was Jackman’s favorites, he spoke about the costumes and inadvertently got Fegie to explain why it has taken so long to bring the suit to the big screen.
“We were sort of joking a bit before, but the highlight was putting on that suit, the yellow and blue suit, and it had been talked about from the very beginning, right?,” Jackman said. “I mean, that those conversations were there. It wasn’t like it was never mentioned.”
As one of the associate producers on the first X-Men, Feige knew full well why the X-Men were in their one-note black leather suits as opposed to unique and colorful costumes. “There were studio execs in charge, who knew that “The Matrix” had been a big hit and “The Matrix” had black leather, so let’s put them in black leather,” he said.
Levy was stunned at the answer and chimed, “now we know why.”
“Finally an answer, after all these years,” Jackman said.
While audiences will have their joyous reactions to seeing Jackman in the suit he was supposed to be in from the very beginning, it was complete silence, for all the right reasons, when the actor, who had been playing the role of the Wolverine for the past 20 years, walked on set wearing the Blue and Yellow. Although, Jackman was admittedly unsure if he could make it work.
“It sort of became like, I don’t know if we can make it work. I don’t know if we can. And the moment I put it on. I remember walking out there with Ryan on set, him in the Deadpool, me in the yellow and blue, amongst this crew that had done hundreds of movies and seen everything, there was just a hush,” Jackman said. “You could feel that everyone was like, going, ‘Oh, okay, this is a moment that should have happened 24 years ago, and now my coolest moments of my whole career standing next to you.’
Jackman recalled when he was given a sheet of Wolveirne trading cards, which had all of the different Wolverine variants that have appeared throughout the multiple story arcs in the comics, when he was working on the first movie. While there are upwards to 50 or 60, he did have a few favorites, and now that he gets to work on a multiverse film, it is a chance to explore those differant variants and their apperances.
“I just can’t imagine doing it any other way in terms of the variants. It was so cool. I was given, actually, on the very first movie, a thing which I had framed, which was a collection, imagine like trading cards, but not cut up. So it was just a sheet of trading cards of all the different Wolverine variants that I There would have had to have been 60 on that, maybe 50 or 60,” Jackman said. “And so I’ve had it next to my bed in Australia, and I look at it all the time, and I just think, how we get Wow, the pirate, wow, the samurai. Like, how can you pull that up? And all of a sudden this movie, I’m like, oh, yeah, tick, tick, tick, tick, not the pirate, by the way. Anyway, it was really cool. Did you ask which was my favorite? I think of the variants. I loved [Age of] Apocalypse, but I have, I have to say I think Patch. There’s something about {atch that ticked the little internal James Bond.”
“Deadpool & Wolverine” opens in theaters on July 26, 2024.
Photos: Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan in 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios’ DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 MARVEL.
