Hugh Jackman's return to the role of Wolverine in Deadpool 3 is exciting for many reasons. First, Jackman reprising the role of Wolverine is a treat for fans left wanting more after his swan song in Logan. And seeing Jackman's Wolverine share the screen for more than a cameo with Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool finally makes up for the disappointment of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. But the most appealing prospect for some won't have anything to do with Fox's X-Men.
Reynolds only asks Jackman to play Wolverine "one more time" in the Deadpool 3 reveal video. But his return to the role can't help but leave fans hoping that he has a future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With the multiverse an essential part of Phase Four and Five, Marvel Studios has the perfect place to integrate Jackman into the MCU -- Avengers: Secret Wars.
Because it won't be released until 2025, the plot of Avengers: Secret Wars can only be speculated on at this point. But using Secret Wars as a subtitle gives fans an obvious clue. While Marvel Studios doesn't make direct adaptations of Marvel Comics storylines, movies like Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War have at least used the source material as a framework for those movies' plots. Secret Wars may bring to mind the toyetic '80s crossover and its '90s adaptation in Spider-Man: The Animated Series for long-time fans. However, a more recent story by that name fits in with Marvel's current obsession with the multiverse.
2015's Secret Wars crossover takes place following the destruction of Marvel's multiverse in writer Jonathan Hickman's Avengers. Hickman teamed with artist Esad Ribić in the crossover's main miniseries to tell the story of a new kind of Battleworld, the name of the planet where the battle royal between Marvel's heroes and villains took place in the original series. Hickman and Ribić's Battleworld is a patchwork of different universes brought together by Doctor Doom. That led to tie-in miniseries in settings like the Age of Apocalypse and the Ultimate Marvel Universe.
That mash-up of alternate realities and universes suggests that Avengers: Secret Wars could do something similar. What If...? and Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness have played with introducing variants of characters from both the MCU and Marvel movies outside its continuity, including Patrick Stewart's Professor Xavier. Using Secret Wars 2015 as a framework could lead to a full-on crossover between the MCU and those universes.
It could mean that Jackman's Wolverine will be joined by other iconic members of the X-Men from Fox's movies, including Halle Berry's Storm. But it's just as likely that Deadpool 3 will serve as a lead-in to Jackman's Wolverine appearing in Avengers: Secret Wars. That could happen in one of Marvel Studios' trademark post-credits scenes, explaining why the raunchy Deadpool won't be a part of a PG-13-rated Avengers movie with the series' patented meta humor.
If Jackman was willing to commit to bringing Wolverine to the MCU full-time, 2015's Secret Wars offers a precedent for it. While the Ultimate Universe was brought to an end during the crossover, in the appropriately titled Ultimate End miniseries by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, its standout character didn't perish along with it. Miles Morales and his supporting cast were transferred to the mainstream Marvel Universe when reality was restored at the end of Secret Wars. Marvel could do something similar with Jackman's Wolverine, leaving him to join the MCU's X-Men or one of the many other teams he has ties to in the comics, from The Avengers to Fantastic Four.
The beauty of adapting Secret Wars' conception of the multiverse is it's malleable. Assuming Jackman can be convinced to carry on past Deadpool 3, he could be a central figure who helps Avengers: Secret Wars go out with the bang Mark Ruffalo promised. He could just as easily make a cameo appearance where he finally interacts with pre-MCU icons like Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man, leaving Marvel free to cast a Karl Urban-type as the new Wolverine. If Avengers: Secret Wars is going to be the ultimate crossover, Deadpool 3 should follow in Spider-Man: No Way Home's footsteps and involve a teaser for the further MCU adventures of Jackman's Wolverine.