Deadpool and Wolverine director Shawn Levy says Hugh Jackman's performance as Logan in the threequel is "unlike anything he's seen" in the actor's previous superhero movies.
The X-Men star is set to make his MCU debut in the upcoming flick, which sees his adamantium-clawed mutant form an unlikely alliance with the Merc with a Mouth, in an attempt to save the latter's friends and family from a TVA-related disaster. Along the way, though, it becomes clear that the blue-and-yellow-suited hero is holding onto some serious guilt, which threatens to get in the way of the mission.
"I think it was reciprocal. Hugh brought something, we brought something as writers," Levy tells 12DOVE and Inside Total Film when we ask him what Jackman brought anew to the film, having played Wolverine for almost a quarter of a century.
"Hugh brought his 55 years… Hugh brought his soul and gravitas and wisdom and heart from having lived this many years, and having been Wolverine this long," he continues. "He's a haunted man [in this movie], who's wrestling something, and Hugh brought a depth of feeling and experience that is unlike anything I've seen in the other movies.
"Our job was to give him some meat to chew on," Levy continues, noting how he and fellow writers Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, and Ryan Reynolds purposefully wrote certain scenes where Jackman could "tear it up and explore a Logan who's still very much the character we love but maybe less silent, less laconic, a little less distant." The result? Well, a more verbal Logan, for one. "The challenge was writing Logan scenes with words that Hugh can say that don't betray the character that we all adore."
So far, the trailers for Deadpool and Wolverine have been refreshingly vague, but they seem to hint at a tragic backstory for Jackman's character, as Wade Wilson asks him in one: "Is that what you said when your world went to shit?"
"Trust me, kid, I'm no hero," a solemn Wolverine says in another scene, while a further moment shows him falling to his knees in some sort of barren land.
Given Wolverine's death in James Mangold's Logan, and the inclusion of the Time Variance Authority, we can assume that the new version is a variant from an alternate universe. With that, some viewers reckon he's a Wolverine who's witnessed the near-extinction of his kind as part of the canon comic book event, the Genosha massacre.
Later described as the worst act of genocide in all of mutant history, it's believed that over 16 million mutants lost their lives on that fateful day Wild Sentinels attacked the island; thus, the mutant population of Earth was reduced by over 94%. What's perhaps most intriguing about the theory is that the Sentinels' assault was orchestrated by Professor X's evil twin Cassandra Nova, who just so happens to be the villain in Deadpool and Wolverine...
Also starring Rob Delaney, Matthew Macfadyen, and Emma Corrin, Deadpool and Wolverine lands in UK cinemas on July 25, and a day later in the US. For more, check out all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way, as well as our guide to how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
Listen out for our chat with Levy on the upcoming episode of the Inside Total Film podcast, which is available on Apple, Audioboom, Spotify, and more.
