How many of these 20 "Deadpool & Wolverine" facts do you know?

While Disney has been the home of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for years, the entertainment conglomerate did not have access to every Marvel character. Deadpool, for example, was over at 20th Century Fox, which is where the X-Men movies were also made. After the success of 2016’s “Deadpool,” 20th Century Fox had plans for two sequels. Then, in 2017, it was announced that Disney was buying Fox, and that move was completed in 2019.

The “Deadpool” movies separated themselves from other superhero movies, especially Marvel movies, by being raunchy, violent, hard-R affairs. The MCU was built upon safe, PG-13 films. One of the first things then-CEO of Disney Bob Iger had to broach was how the tone of Deadpool might fit into the MCU. Iger said he was not against the idea of R-rated Marvel movies, but the PG-13 cut of “Deadpool 2” was something Disney did monitor closely to see how that might impact the idea of R-rated Deadpool.

All sorts of different ideas were floated related to the third “Deadpool” movie. There was talk of a low-budget road movie about Deadpool and Wolverine. Reynolds also threw out the idea of a movie in the style of “Rashomon.” Actor Karan Soni said at one point the idea was that Deadpool would save Christmas. Both Josh Brolin and Zazie Beetz said they expected to return after “Deadpool 2.” In the end, neither did.

Once Fox was officially part of Disney in 2019, Reynolds had his first meetings with Marvel Studios. He brought up some of his old ideas for a third Deadpool movie, including his Wolverine-related ideas. However, at the time, he was told that Wolverine was a no go. This was partially due to Marvel not being sure how to fit him into the MCU, but also because Hugh Jackman had said he would no longer play Wolverine after “Logan.”

Actors have retired roles, or full-on retired, and returned in the past. In 2022, Jackman had come around to the idea that playing Wolverine alongside Reynolds’ Deadpool could be “so much fun.” There was still some hesitancy, with Marvel bigwig Kevin Fiege not wanting to undo the ending of “Logan,” which he thought was pretty much perfect. Fortunately, by this point the multiverse was well established in the MCU, so it was decided Jackman would be playing a different Wolverine from a different universe. For what it’s worth, “Logan” director James Mangold was all for the Deadpool and Wolverine team up.

Reynolds is quite committed to Deadpool, and he’s also somebody who seems to like to stick with the creatives he likes. Shawn Levy directed Reynolds in “Free Guy,” and then Reynolds starred in Levy’s “The Adam Project” after that. It was during the filming of “The Adam Project” that Reynolds asked Levy about directing the third Deadpool film, and he agreed.

In 2020, sister screenwriters Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin were hired to write the script for the new “Deadpool.” They were, and are, best known for writing on “Bob’s Burgers,” but had essentially no experience writing for film. Ultimately, in 2022, “Deadpool” veterans Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, were brought on to rewrite the screenplay. In the end, “Deadpool & Wolverine” was credited to five writers: Reynolds, Levy, Reese, Wernick, and Zeb Wells. You will notice none of them are one of the Molyneuxes, and the duo didn’t even get a “story by” credit, so one has to assume the screenplay was entirely revamped.

There are jokes in “Deadpool & Wolverine” stating that Disney wouldn’t allow them to show cocaine use in the film. That is plausibly true, though it could just be a bit. There is one line that was included in an early version of the script that was changed at Disney’s behest, though. It was a quite-vulgar reference to Mickey Mouse. It was then changed to a quite-vulgar reference to Pinocchio, so it would seem Disney just wanted to protect Mickey.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” is packed to the brim with familiar faces, mostly from the Fox Marvel movies. Jennifer Garner, Dafne Keen, and Wesley Snipes all return as Elektra, Laura (aka X-23), and Blade, respectively. Chris Evans, best known for playing Captain America, reprised his role as Johnny Storm from the “Fantastic Four” movies. However, Tyler Mane also returned as Sabretooth, and Aaron Sanford played Pyro, who he played in the second and third “X-Men” movies.

Reynolds’ wife, actress Blake Lively, provided the voice of Lady Deadpool (though a stuntwoman did the actual physical work). Nathan Fillion did the voice for Headpool, while Matthew McConaughey lent his voice to Cowboypool.

Reynolds, along with fellow actor Rob McElhinney, is an owner of the soccer club Wrexham. Though the club is based in Wales, it is in the English Football League. Two Wrexham players, Paul Mullin and Ollie Palmer, have cameos in the movie. Palmer plays a bar patron, but Mullin plays Welshpool, so it’s kind of easy to notice him.

Snipes was surprised when he was offered the chance to return to the role of Blade. One, plans for a (seemingly not likely to ever happen now) Blade movie starring two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali were in the works. Two, Snipes and Reynolds had worked together on “Blade: Trinity.” During filming of that movie, Snipes didn’t take to Reynolds’ style of humor, and the two had not talked since. Snipes said that in the context of “Deadpool & Wolverine” he finally got Reynolds’ humor, and that he really enjoyed the experience.

Tatum plays Gambit in “Deadpool & Wolverine,” and while he likely wouldn’t have used such a thick Cajun accent in a serious take on the character, this was not an apropos-of-nothing appearance. The actor was attached to a Gambit movie for years, but he never got a chance to make it before the project was axed. In fact, Levy had been one of the directors that Tatum had approached to direct the Gambit movie back in the day.

Directing a massive Marvel movie is enough for most, but Levy had to work with Disney and Marvel to make sure he’d have some breaks in his schedule. The sixth and final season of “Stranger Things,” which Levy has served as an executive producer on since the beginning, was expected to shoot at the same time. Levy intended to direct episodes in that final season, so he wanted to make sure he had time to do both.

By the time filming began in late May, the WGA strike was already in the mix. That didn’t prevent them from shooting, but it did prevent any writers from pitching new lines, and also kept Reynolds from being able to tweak the script while shooting. Then, SAG-AFTRA went on strike as well. Filming stopped on July 14 while only halfway finished, and would not resume until November. Due to this, “Deadpool & Wolverine” was pushed from a May release to a July 26 release.

Beginning with a teaser trailer airing during the Super Bowl, the marketing push for “Deadpool & Wolverine” went all out. You could find Deadpool and Wolverine in ads for “The Bachelorette,” replacing the Whammys on “Press Your Luck,” and appearing in a music video for K-Pop band Stray Kids, who have a song on the soundtrack.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” made $96.5 million domestically on its opening day of release, a record for an R-rated film. Over that weekend it made $211.4 million domestically, and $444.6 million worldwide. That was the biggest opening for an R-rated movie, but also the biggest opening weekend for any movie in 2024.

Three 2024 movies would end up grossing $1 billion worldwide, “Inside Out 2,” “Moana 2,” and “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Yeah, Disney had a good year. Of course, two of those are PG movies, while “Deadpool & Wolverine” is R-rated. Making $1.33 billion worldwide, the movie is now the highest-grossing R-rated film in history. Domestically the movie made $636.7 million, second only to “Inside Out 2.”

“Marvel Studios: Assembled” is an ongoing Disney+ series featuring behind-the-scenes documentaries about MCU movies and TV shows. With Deadpool and company now under the Disney umbrella, they could get in the mix as well. “The Making of Deadpool & Wolverine” debuted on Disney+ in November of 2024.

The very existence of “Deadpool & Wolverine” speaks to the fact you should never, ever count out the idea of an actor, or character, returning in the MCU. Feige, once a skeptic, has said Marvel is thinking about ways to get Deadpool, and also Wolverine, into future projects. Reynolds has also said he doesn’t know “when” he will play Deadpool next, which of course is a strikingly different work than “if” in this context.