Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman lead the third Deadpool movie that’s full of characters and cameos from the erstwhile X-Men universe. Here’s the full list.
Akhil Arora, a Film Critics Guild member and a Rotten Tomatoes-certified TV critic, who has been reporting on superhero movies since 2015. He has written for NDTV and SlashFilm.
Deadpool & Wolverine, in some ways, is the X-Men version of Spider-Man: No Way Home. (I’m referring to all those X-Men movies that were made by 20th Century Fox before it was acquired by Disney.) You can be dead, you might have been long forgotten, or you were seemingly put to bed. But the third Deadpool movie finds a way to bring you back. It’s all thanks to its inclusion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is currently in its (beleaguered) multiverse era. The Time Variance Authority—that maddening organisation introduced in Loki that has been toying with the timelines—once again serves as the thrust of the narrative. Deadpool is sucked into a new mission and then must recruit a Wolverine, from across the multiverse, to save his doomed home world.
Deadpool & Wolverine review: too focused on the now
All the jokes about its new setting (in Marvel’s world) and the lovey-dovey X-Men fan service cannot overcome the fact that Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are hacking about without a solid purpose.
That adventure finds the two title characters traversing the infinite galaxies and encountering a whole host of superpowered characters. Some we’ve previously met and others a spin on those we are used to. So, who can you see in Deadpool & Wolverine? A lot of the cameos and extended supporting cast of Deadpool 3 have (unfortunately) been revealed through trailers and teasers released publicly or shown at film events. And now that the film is in theatres, we know a lot more. Naturally, that means there are heavy spoilers ahead.
If you wish to go in blind, I strongly advise you to stop reading. It’s better to come back after you’ve seen Deadpool & Wolverine. Everyone else, let’s f••king go! This is the full cast of Deadpool 3.
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool / Wade Wilson
The 47-year-old Reynolds returns as Deadpool, a mercenary who has grotesque scars all over his body due to an experimental regimen he tried to get rid of his terminal cancer. As a positive byproduct, Wade ended up with mutant power that affords him accelerated healing. Deadpool loves cracking jokes and breaking the fourth wall.
At the start of Deadpool & Wolverine, Wade has dropped his Deadpool alter ego and is working as a used car salesperson. But when the Time Variance Authority shows up with a mission, he’s pulled back in. This is the fourth time that Reynolds is playing Deadpool in a feature film.
Reynolds also portrays Nicepool, a long-haired, non-scarred variant of Deadpool.
Hugh Jackman, Wolverine / James “Logan” Howlett
The 55-year-old Jackman is back as Wolverine, a mutant like Deadpool who has super-healing abilities, retractable claws in his wrists, and a skeleton infused with the indestructible metal adamantium. It’s like vibranium but stronger. Jackman technically isn’t reprising his role as this Wolverine is from an alternate universe where he hasn’t accomplished much.
“We’re opposites, [we] hate each other,” Jackman said of Wolverine’s dynamic with Deadpool on The Empire Film Podcast. “I’m just talking from my perspective. [Logan’s] frustrated by him, wants to be a million miles away from him or wants to punch him in the head.” What unites them is that they are both “haunted with regret,” Reynolds said to Vanity Fair.
This is the tenth time that Hackman is playing Wolverine in a movie.
Jackman also portrays multiple Wolverine variants: 1. Old Man Logan who’s very pro-guns, 2. One with a comics-accurate height of 5 feet 3 inches, 3. One with a brown and tan costume, 4. The gambling Patch who wears an eyepatch and a white tux, 5. One crucified on a giant X, inspired by the cover of Uncanny X-Men #251, and 6. One with “glam rock-like” hair and a black costume from the ‘90s X-Men comics.
Emma Corrin, Cassandra Nova
The 28-year-old Corrin plays the villain Cassandra, an alien parasite that “appeared to Charles Xavier / Professor X in utero and formed into his polar opposite”. Like him, Cassandra is bald and has telekinetic and telepathic powers. Corrin—best known as Diana in The Crown—was excited as they hadn’t played a major antagonistic role before.
“Ryan and Shawn pitched this idea, which I was totally on board with: ‘We want this villain to not be a villain in the sense that you expect them to be. We want you to be so endeared by her, so charmed by her, and just when you think that maybe she’s totally seen into your soul and you are going to be best friends for life, you’re dead,’” Corrin told Entertainment Weekly.
Corrin was given Christoph Waltz’s Inglourious Basterds character Hans Landa as a reference while they also looked to Willy Wonka actor Gene Wilder.
Matthew Macfadyen, Mr. Paradox
The 49-year-old Macfadyen plays Mr. Paradox, an agent of the Time Variance Authority. Macfadyen is best known as Succession’s Tom Wambsgans.
To prove himself to the TVA, Paradox is using a device called “Time Ripper” that can “mercy kill” timelines and speed up their deletion. That covers Earth-10005, a new label Deadpool & Wolverine hands to Fox’s X-Men universe.
Deadpool & Wolverine cast: returning characters
Morena Baccarin, Vanessa Carlysle
The 45-year-old Baccarin returns as Vanessa, Wilson’s former fiancée. At the start of Deadpool & Wolverine, they are no longer seeing each other. Baccarin told Screen Rant: “I think that the franchise and Ryan and the director, they’ve done a really great job of always reinventing that relationship and making it interesting but maintaining the core thing that keeps them always coming back to each other. So, I think there’s a little bit more of that in this film.”
If you’re wondering how Vanessa is still around, you might wish to revisit Deadpool 2’s mid-credits scenes. Though they might have seemed like a joke in the moment given the inclusion of the original X-Men Origins: Wolverine Deadpool and Ryan Reynolds as himself reading the Green Lantern script, they were dubbed canon shortly after the film’s release. That means Deadpool did go back in time and save Vanessa from her death.
At the start of the third Deadpool movie, Vanessa has a new boyfriend called Dermot who likes hiking. This is the third time Baccarin is playing Vanessa Carlysle.
Rob Delaney, Peter Wisdom
The 47-year-old Delaney returns as Peter Wisdom, the only surviving member of Wade’s X-Force team from Deadpool 2. Like Vanessa, he was saved using time travel. In Deadpool & Wolverine, he’s a car salesman alongside Wade. This is the second appearance for Delaney as Peter Wisdom.
Leslie Uggams, Blind Al
The 81-year-old Uggams is back as Deadpool’s blind elderly roommate, Blind Al. You can catch a glimpse of her in the teaser above. This is the third appearance for Uggams as Blind Al.
Karan Soni, Dopinder
The 35-year-old Soni returns as Dopinder, a taxi driver and Deadpool fan. This is the third appearance for Soni as Dopinder.
Brianna Hildebrand, Negasonic Teenage Warhead
The 28-year-old Hildebrand is back as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, a member of the X-Men who can launch atomic bursts from her body. This is the third appearance for Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead.
Stefan Kapičić, Colossus
The 45-year-old Kapičić returns to lend his voice to Colossus, a member of the X-Men who can transform his body into organic steel. This is the third appearance for Kapičić as Colossus.
Shioli Kutsuna, Yukio
The 31-year-old Kutsuna is back as Yukio, a member of the X-Men and Negasonic Teenage Warhead’s girlfriend. This is the second appearance for Kutsuna as Yukio.
Randal Reeder, Buck
The 52-year-old Reeder returns as Wade’s friend Buck. This is the third appearance for Reeder as Buck.
Lewis Tan, Shatterstar / Rusty
The 37-year-old Tan is back as Shatterstar, a member of the short-lived X-Force. It’s unclear how that happens given Shatterstar was sliced into goo by the blades of a helicopter in Deadpool 2 and not among those rescued in the mid-credits scenes. Maybe it happened offscreen?
This is the second appearance for Tan as Shatterstar.
Deadpool & Wolverine cast: cameos from the X-Men universe
Jennifer Garner, Elektra Natchios
The 52-year-old Garner returns as Elektra Natchios, an assassin and martial arts expert who wields a pair of the Japanese melee weapon sai. This is the third appearance for Garner as Elektra after Daredevil (2003) and Elektra (2005).
Aaron Stanford, Pyro / John Allerdyce
The 47-year-old Stanford is back as Pyro, a mutant who can control not create fire. This is the third appearance for Stanford as Pyro after X2 (2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). In Deadpool & Wolverine, Pyro gets a comics-accurate costume.
“I was just very happy to even have a costume,” Stanford said. “In X2, … the SWAT team bursts in in the middle of the night, and we have to flee. So, for half the movie, I’m in my jammies. I never got the cool leather, tactical suit that all the X-Men wear. And in [Last Stand], I was just dressed in an ensemble from Hot Topic, basically. So, to have him be in a proper superhero costume that was actually taken from the comics themselves was very cool.”
Stanford is in fact credited as part of the Deadpool & Wolverine main cast.
Dafne Keen, Laura
The 19-year-old Keen is back as Laura, Wolverine’s biological daughter who has similar powers and was introduced in Logan. Given the time gap, this is an older version of Laura which excited Keen. She appears in the final Deadpool & Wolverine trailer.
“It was wonderful to get to come back to that and explore that as a grownup,” Keen told Entertainment Weekly, “now understanding more parental rage so much more and bringing that to the table for her. I found that Laura in Logan stumbled into having a dad and then having lost her dad. We find her again really knowing how to appreciate—and with this kind of wiseness to her—how much her father means to her.”
And she talks now! “Laura has now been around a lot of English-speaking people, so she has a neutral accent every so often,” Keen added. “She spats a little bit in Spanish, obviously. I had to include that.” Keen was born and brought up in Madrid.
Wesley Snipes, Blade / Eric Brooks
The 61-year-old Snipes returns as Blade, a vampire who is immune to the usual weaknesses but ages like humans. Snipes last played the character in Blade: Trinity (2004), a movie that incidentally featured Reynolds in a different role.
This is the fourth appearance for Snipes as Blade after Blade (1998), Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004).
Channing Tatum, Gambit / Remy LeBeau
The 44-year-old Tatum plays Gambit for the first time in Deadpool & Wolverine, fulfilling what had long been an unrealised dream for the actor. Tatum spent nearly 20 years lobbying to play the New Orleans native in the erstwhile X-Men universe but was unsuccessful. Deadpool & Wolverine makes several jokes about that.
Gambit can create, control and manipulate kinetic energy—something he usually deploys with a deck of playing cards. He also wields a purple staff. This is the second appearance for Remy LeBeau after Taylor Kitsch played him in the poorly received X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009).
Chris Evans, Human Torch / Johnny Storm
The 43-year-old Evans is back as Johnny Storm, who can fly, control and harness fire, and engulf his entire body in flames. It’s why his catchphrase is “Flame on!”
Deadpool & Wolverine uses that to great comedic effect, playing on the fact that Evans famously played Captain America / Steve Rogers in the MCU. It also works because Johnny isn’t wearing his usual pristine costume.
Evans spoke about that with Entertainment Weekly: “Primarily because where we find Johnny, he’s meant to be a little more rundown, so the costume didn’t have to be pristine.”
This is the third appearance for Evans as Johnny Storm after Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007).
Tyler Mane, Sabretooth
The 57-year-old Mane returns as Sabretooth, formerly a member of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Mutants who has extendable claws, superhuman strength, animal-like senses and healing abilities akin to Wolverine’s. This is the second appearance for Mane as Sabretooth.
Deadpool 3 cast: cameos from the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Wunmi Mosaku, Hunter B-15
Mosaku, who is in her late thirties, returns as Hunter B-15. She is an agent of the Time Variance Authority and was introduced in Loki. This is the first movie appearance for Mosaku as B-15 after two seasons of Loki on Disney+.
Chris Hemsworth, Thor
The 40-year-old Hemsworth is back as Thor, the God of Thunder. Or rather, I should say 29-year-old Hemsworth as the Australian actor didn’t film any scenes for Deadpool & Wolverine. Instead, the film repurposes archival footage from Thor: The Dark World (2013).
Jon Favreau, Happy Hogan
The 57-year-old Favreau is back as Happy Hogan, Tony Stark’s former driver and bodyguard and the former head of security for Stark Industries. This is the ninth appearance for Favreau as Hogan in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Deadpool & Wolverine cast: more confirmed cameos
Henry Cavill, Cavillrine
The 41-year-old Cavill plays a Wolverine variant with the character’s classic comic book hairdo. He is dubbed as Cavillrine by Deadpool in Deadpool & Wolverine in what is a nod to Cavill’s fan-casting on the internet.
Cavill is best known for playing Superman / Clark Kent in the DC film universe. With Deadpool & Wolverine, he’s one of the few major actors to cross over between DC and Marvel.
Blake Lively, Lady Deadpool
The 36-year-old Lively voices Lady Deadpool, a blonde-haired female variant of Deadpool who carries submachine guns. Her face is never shown and an uncredited stuntwoman plays her on set.
Lively is Reynolds’ wife. The role was teased in a couple of minute-long teasers which led to speculation whether Lively or Taylor Swift, a close friend of the couple, was playing Lady Deadpool.
Matthew McConaughey, Cowboy Deadpool
The 54-year-old McConaughey lends his voice to Cowboy Deadpool—or Cowboypool if you prefer. His face is never shown and an uncredited stuntman plays Cowboypool on set.
This role was showcased in the second of those teasers featuring a Deadpool with cowboy boots who carries a pistol with an ebony-coloured grip.
Peggy, Dogpool / Mary Puppins
Born in early 2018, Peggy—a crossbreed between a Pug and a Chinese Crested Dog, also known as a Pugese—has been selected to play Dogpool, the canine variant of Deadpool.
Reynolds picked Peggy after the dog became famous for winning the title of Britain’s ugliest dog. Dogpool is also called as Mary Puppins in Deadpool & Wolverine, a reference to the character and movie Mary Poppins.
Aaron W. Reed, Juggernaut
Reed steps in to play Juggernaut in the Deadpool 3 cast. The character was originally portrayed by Vinnie Jones in X-Men: The Last Stand. In Deadpool 2, he was played on set by director David Leitch and voiced by Reynolds.
TBD, Toad, Azazel, Lady Deathstrike, Callisto, Bullseye and Psylocke
Toad is a mutant who can jump far, spit slime and extend his tongue. It’s unknown if either Ray Park or Evan Jonigkeit are returning to play him. This will be the third appearance for Toad after X-Men (2000) and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).
Lady Deathstrike, introduced in X-2: X-Men United (2003), had adamantium claws and near-instant healing abilities like Wolverine. Azazel, introduced in X-Men: First Class (2011), could teleport.
Callisto, who has superhuman senses and regenerative healing, was first seen in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). Psylocke previously featured in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and was played by different actresses.
Bullseye, an expert marksman, has featured in Daredevil (2003) and the third season of Marvel’s Daredevil. The character in Deadpool & Wolverine is a variant and unrelated to those two.
TBD, Hulk
A variant of Hulk shows up in Deadpool & Wolverine. He’s about to fight the brown-and-tan-costumed Wolverine, in a nod to the cover of The Incredible Hulk #181, the comic book issue that featured Wolverine’s first full appearance. It’s unclear who played him on set.
Rob McElhenney, TVA Hunter
The 47-year-old McElhenney was part of the Deadpool 3 cast, rumoured to be playing an agent of the Time Variance Authority. But his role was seemingly cut.
He and Reynolds are close friends—they are co-owners of the Welsh football club Wrexham A.F.C. McElhenney is best known for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Greg Hemphill, unnamed bartender
The 54-year-old Hemphill plays a bartender whose voice opens the first full-length trailer. Hemphill is best known for the comedy series Chewin’ the Fat and Still Game.
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