The relationship between Deadpool and Wolverine is…well, it’s pretty tumultuous, at best. These two have a long history of kicking the everloving day lights out of each other in vicious bouts that often leaves them worse for the wear. Luckily, both of these pop culture titans bounce right back, relying on their own insanely powerful healing factors. And while Deadpool might have the edge in the realm of bouncing back from horrendous injuries, Wolverine is no scrub when it comes to utilizing his regenerative abilities. Both of these guys have been beat down more times than any comic reader can count. And sometimes, these nasty acts come at the hands of one another.

One of the more iconic encounters between Deadpoool and Wolverine is depicted on the cover of Wolverine #88 in which artist Adam Kubert portrays these two Canadian combatants in a pretty compromising position as Deadpool has Wolverine skewered on a pair of katantas above Wade Wilson’s head. But things would not always continue to be so strenuous between them. In fact, they would often fight side by side in many missions. Their rocky “friendship” is on full display in Uncanny X-Force where Wolverine enlists the Merc with a Mouth for covert missions.

20 RELENTLESS RYAN

Even with all the massive fanfare practically demanding Hugh Jackman put the claws back on once more and then maybe use them to stab Deadpool on-screen, the biggest advocate for this reunion is Ryan Reynolds, the Merc with a Mouth, himself. A lot of the public back and forth between Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds has been very tongue and cheek and playfully silly. But Reynolds seems to be way more serious about things despite the constant rejection from Jackman when it comes to even entertaining the idea of Wolverine showing up in a Deadpool film. But you can’t blame Ryan Reynolds for trying.

However, if Hugh Jackman did grace the screen as Wolverine, especially in a comic book accurate costume, it would stand to reason that not only would Ryan Reynolds lose his mind in utter joy, but fans across the world would rejoice. Fan service in comic book films is often derided by certain circles of movie critics, but for fans, as long as it is presented in a reasonable way, it can often make or break a film. Nods and winks regarding comic book character, costumes, and events is always appreciated, but Hugh Jackman stepping back into the role of Logan for another R-Rated X-Men film is something on an entirely different level.

19 THE FEELS...

Thus far 20th Century Fox has released two films set in the new timeline-bending, slapdash X-Men film universe. Those films are the 2016 film Deadpool and Logan, which was released a year later. And despite these two having some loose connectivity with regards to certain characters and meta-narrative references, they could not be any more different in terms of tone and story. Deadpool is essentially a comedy, despite some pretty dark moments in the middle bit of the film. While Logan is dour neo-western pretending to be a super hero film with a small dash of humor for good measure. But despite how wildly different these films are, they do share a lot outside of the superficial aspect of both being X-Men movies.

Both films are rife with carnage in every frame where action is taking place. While Deadpool’s gore is often played for laughs, Logan’s violence is as straight faced as Clint Eastwood in a staring contest. Both films are also bursting at the seams with vulgarity. F-bombs fly in these films at an almost Tarantino level. But the most endearing things Logan and Deadpool share is the sense of desperation. Wade Wilson is a man trying to get revenge on the man who ruined his live, while Logan is reluctantly trying to live us the level of heroism that has been mythologized about him and do one last good thing before he exits this world.

18

17 ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING!

Fans have been chomping at the bit for Wolverine and Deadpool to square off in a film one more time for quite a while. It’s hard not to blame them for their desire to see these two go head to head in a film that isn’t the abysmal X-Men Origins: Wolverine. While that film did deliver on the promise of two of the toughest mutants in the X-Men canon facing off, the results were less than desirable. Watching whatever that monstrosity with a sewn mouth and knife-arms like Baraka from Mortal Kombat trying to take out Logan and Sabertooth was so laughably bad, even the most diehard fans of Deadpool were weary of the character popping back up.

Thankfully, the 20th Century Fox showed fans a huge amount of mercy and allowed actor Ryan Reynolds to portray the character in a manner that was fittings to both the actor and the comic version of Wade Wilson, with all his vulgar motor-mouthed buffoonery in tow. Now, we just need to get these two in the same room together. Hugh Jackman has turned in one of the most memorable comic book film performances in Logan and Reynolds has finally made Deadpool his own. It’s almost as if these two actors owe the fans this level of service after the last time they shared a film.

16 JUST LET THIS HAPPEN ALREADY!

During the 17 years of portraying the character, Hugh Jackman redefined Wolverine in ways many fans never thought possible. While Jackman’s physical appearance differs greatly (about a foot in height to be exact) from that of the character’s comic book counterpart, the Australian actor will forever be remembered as Logan. Through his rough around the edges charm to his snarling battle cries, the way in which we see Wolverine as a leading character in film has had its bar set incredibly high. It is hard to imagine another actor inheriting the claws, but surely someone eventually will.

While it took nearly two decade for Hugh Jackman to fully realize Wolverine on-screen, Ryan Reynolds defined Deadpool in a much shorter time. His first outing as Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine will forever be seen as laughably ridiculous, even by the most diehard fans of the X-Men film franchise, but Ryan Reynolds would redeem himself (and the on-screen version of the character for that matter) in 2016’s Deadpool, in which Reynolds captured all the aspects of Deadpool that make him a character who is often loved and sometimes reviled depending on exposure time (Deadpool is often best enjoyed in small doses for a lot of fans, which is fair). But now these two have reached their peaks on screen, it’s time they share the screen… here’s to holding out hope.

15 OH, WADE...GETTING INTO EVERYTHING

To a certain degree, Deadpool operates as a company sanctioned troll of a character. He is frequently seen on variant covers of comic book issues (even in titles he is not even featured) causing some sort of disturbance or just generally annoying other superheroes. But Deadpool’s reach expands beyond comic books. There have been tons of promotional material for other films in which Wade Wilson is ruining everything -- the above image pretty much encapsulates this sort of thing. Around the time Hugh Jackman announced he was going to play Wolverine one last time in the 2017 film Logan, this image of Wolverine popping that middle claw starting appearing on social media.

While this is obviously a call back to the same claw gag from his inaugural performance way back in 2000’s X-Men, it’s also a subtle reveal that the (presumably) final Hugh Jackman contribution to the character would take place in a film with an R-rating. The year prior to Logan’s release, Deadpool had proved, beyond a shadow of doubt, than an R-Rated X-Men film could not only be a hit with critics, it could generate a ton of revenue. Having Deadpool mock this image by using Wolverine’s claw as a dancer's pole did a great job of sort of showing that Deadpool was mostly a proof of concept, one that Logan would go on to keep being successful.

14 GROWL TOWN

Several of the guttural growls, howls, and other various sounds Hugh Jackman produced during his time playing Wolverine are somewhat comical. Jackman had been quoting saying he was unaware of what a wolverine was when he took the role of Logan and assumed it was some sort of wolf. This hyper animalistic behavior took the steering wheel in his portrayal of the character so aggressively, he was asked to tone it down by the filmmakers behind X-Men. Despite bringing things down a notch, Hugh Jackman still produced his fair share of strange noises during the action sequences of the X-Men film franchise. In fact, there is an amazing clip of Hugh performed grunts and growls in an ADR session for the film Logan on YouTube.

Deadpool on the other hand keeps the exasperated sounds to a minimum. This might be due to the fact that, unlike Wolverine, Wade Wilson has a mask that muffles his voice. That or perhaps not having a heavy adamantium laced skeleton forcing him to exert more energy is the reason. This image of Deadpool being superimposed in a photo of a promotional cut out for the film The Wolverine captures the dichotomy between of these two characters when it comes to their own expressive characteristics. Also, Wade must be pinching Logan something fierce!

13 GIVE THE MAN A (NEW) HAND

Watching Deadpool's healing factor at work after he severs his own hand is equal parts fascinating and disgusting. In comic books, the passage of regeneration time is not chartered in the same manner as it is on film. A few panels can illustrate this action, but seeing the staggering time in which a limb actually grows back really shows audiences how the sausage is made, so to speak. When Wade shows how far his new hand has developed to his roommate Blind Al (well, sort of shows… she is blind after all), it really makes the audience recoil with a mixture of laughter and cringes.

Ryan Reynolds taking a swipe at the somewhat iconic poster for Logan double downs on the bizarre nature of Wade’s regeneration factor. While in the poster, we know that the little hand (which has been criticized by some for seeming a bit too large in relation to Logan’s) belongs to Laura Kinney (or X-23), when Reynolds tweeted this joke, suddenly it’s all we can see. That creepy little Deadpool hand clutching Logan’s blistered mitt is again hilarious and kind of gross. The fact that Wade Wilson makes a blue joke about the size of his hand in relation to another part of his body only makes Reynolds’ comment funnier.

12 WORST. GIFT. EVER.

Wolverine is old by even Marvel Comics standards. Sure he isn’t as immortal as say, Thor or Galactus or any number of cosmic being, but still, the dude has some years behind him. After the release of the six-issue miniseries, Origin by Bill Jemas, Paul Jenkins, Joe Quesada, Andy Kubert, and Richard Isanove, longtime fans of the character were shown just how old Logan (or James Howlett, as it turns out) really was, dating his childhood to the late 19th century. This would put Wolverine well into triple digits in age these days. Wolverine, of course, is able to live to such an old age due to his healing factor. The guy is practically indestructible and his slowed aging process is a side effect to it.

Presumably, Wade Wilson is saddled with a similar gift (or curse depending on how you look at it). While there have been future versions of Deadpool in the Marvel Universe, we’re hard pressed to think of a version that has the same years on him as Logan has. But despite this, given that both characters have a similar set of powers, one would only assume that Wade’s longevity would rival that of Wolverine’s. This sounds terrible for Logan seeing as how he would be unable to shut Deadpool up, and boy the constant riffing would get old over that much time.

11 HE'S STILL GOT JOKES... REALLY DARK JOKES

Somethings never truly fade away over time. The character of Old Man Logan, who once was a meek man just trying to eke out a living under the vicious tyranny of a band of inbred Hulks, made his way into the primary Marvel Universe (Earth-616) a few years ago. Watching this haunted version of Logan struggle with seeing the faces of friends and enemies he had seen die (in some cases at his own hands) was heartbreaking. But despite the trauma that Old Man Logan carries around (which is actually somehow deeper than the trauma any other version of the character shoulders), he hasn’t fully lost his savage sense of humor.

The Wolverine from Earth-616 was dead by the time Old Man Logan made his trek into the world he once knew. So the shock of seeing him was reciprocated by living characters. X-Men comics play with time travel and alternate realities like a toddler crafting a narrative with action figures from very different franchises. None of it should really work, but if you’re able to suspend disbelief enough, you can see how the pieces all fit together, even when they’re jammed together haphazardly. Deadpool, being a character who has broken the fourth wall, rolls with the punches when it comes to inherent weirdness of X-Men comics. Perhaps because despite how dire his own existence is, he’s still a toddler at heart.

10 DID WE JUST BECOME BEST FRIENDS?

While Wade Wilson and James Howlett are not blood related, they do share quite a bit in common. They are both Canadian. They both have super advanced healing factors that make them pretty much indestructible. Deadpool and Wolverine have endured almost unfathomable traumas with regards to their own families and origins. They both have an affinity of razor sharp cutlery. And… well, that’s about it. Despite the superficial similarities between these two, when it comes to personality traits, their individual modus operandi, and morality code, they couldn’t be any more different. Wait, that last one they do share quite a bit. When it comes to morality, both Deadpool and Wolverine have killed people indiscriminately. To be fair, one of them often did this because of brainwashing or being sent into a primal blind rage and the other does so for money (guess which is which).

These two are kindred spirits. And their stark differences make them a wonderful pair on page. The fact that they carry a ton of baggage from their pasts and handle it in wildly different ways makes for interesting conversations and action moments between the two characters. The film versions of these characters are just as disparate to one another. Now if we can just get them to make that comic book relationship show up on film.

9 YOU'RE A WOLVERINE, HARRY

Come on, let’s be honest, if Wolverine were to put on the Sorting Hat from the wizarding world of Harry Potter, he would 100% be assigned to Ravenclaw. No doubt about it. Deadpool, on the other hand, would be the one sent to Hufflepuff. Despite his proficiency when it comes to combat, he’s a goofball through and through. And if we are to believe anything from the thousands of Internet memes lovingly poking fun at Hufflepuff, the silliest named house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is that it is a place for dorks and generally lame characters (yeah, we’re looking at you Cedric Diggory). So Deadpool really missed the mark on this one.

But the one thing Wade Wilson is right about in this comic strip is that fact a wolverine, the actual animal, is pretty much a really big, really aggressive badger (which is the house sigil of Hufflepuff). Both badgers and wolverines are members of the Mustelidae animal family and share very similar features. But to be fair, saying a wolverine is basically a big badger is kind of like saying a wolf is just a big dog. You wouldn’t technically be wrong, but you would be missing some pretty important bits of information.

8 MEME WHAT YOU SAY

When it comes to diving into meta-narratives, breaking the fourth wall, and embracing pop culture and Internet memes in brazen ways few characters in the Marvel pantheon can hold a torch to Deadpool. Wade Wilson is a man who not only knows he is in a comic book (or movie or video game, depending on what media you’re consuming), he is constantly commenting on this realization by addressing the audience and popping up on comic book variant covers that often lampoon famous (or infamous) moments in pop culture history.

But Deadpool isn’t the only game in town when it comes to this sort of thing. Marvel has released dozens of hip-hop covers for all their manifold titles, recreating classic hip-hop and rap album covers with superheroes in place of the musicians. It was an amazing marketing idea and spoke to the obsessive nature of both hip-hop fans and avid comic book readers, two groups who intersect more than people who are not impressed in either world would really expect. The variant cover here for All-New Wolverine #4 recreates something different: a once extremely popular meme taken from the pages from another set of comic book characters : Batman and Robin. The layers of Meta here are so strong it’s almost impossible to process without any knowledge of why this cover is actually pretty funny. This is basically a high end, big budget meme.

7 THE BROMANCE IS REAL

Even one terrible movie together can’t stop the bromance between Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds. Yes, X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a mess on every single conceivable level both narratively and stylistically (with the exception of that super cool opening sequence of Wolverine and Sabretooth fighting through every major war that the United States was involved in from The Civil War right up to the Vietnam War…oh, and Liev Schreiber was pretty awesome as Victor Creed), and no we will not stop harping on this fact. But we have to thank the film for generating a small seed of hope for fans. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was released nearly a decade ago, and was the first and only time Deadpool and Wolverine shared screen time together.

The fact that Ryan Reynolds has been consistently trolling Hugh Jackman on social media in the most adorable ways possible has many fan holding on to hope that the bromance they seem to have off-screen will finally come to fruition in the upcoming Deadpool 2 or perhaps the possible X-Force film. Even if this union never comes to pass, the fact that these guys seem to have a lot of fun ribbing one another is a joy to see.

6 X-META FILMS

After 20th Century Fox released Deadpool, the subsequent entries in the X-Men Film Franchise embraced a lot of the self-referential elements that made the Ryan Reynolds vehicle such a success. Now, given it wasn’t to the same level as Deadpool, which played its self-mocking moments pretty broadly, but the fun little meta-jabs were certainly there in X-Men: Apocalypse and Logan. While Deadpool commented on how poorly the titular character was portrayed in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the insane timeline that X-Men: Days of Future Past created without a veil, the following X-Films were far more subtle… for the most part.

X-Men: Apocalypse took a swipe at the much chided Brett Ratner film X-Men: The Last Stand, which was the first entry into the franchise not helmed by director Bryan Singer. When leaving the theater after watching Return of the Jedi, Jean Grey comments that the third film in a series is always the worst. This could have easily been shrugged off as basic banter, but any longtime fan who knows the history of the tumultuous production of some of these films knows better. Logan’s meta-fiction nod is a little more broad, but still not as hit-you-over-the-head broad as they are in Deadpool. In fact, the use of the X-Men comic books within the film harkens back to other meta-fiction works like Alan Moore’s legendary run on the comic Miracleman.

5 THE TALE OF TWO TWITTERS

Hugh Jackman’s Twitter account could not be any different from that of Ryan Reynolds.’ Jackman fills his feed with promotional material for the projects he’s working on and the works of other artists he admire. There is a ton of pictures of him with other celebrities, at award shows, and quasi-candid selfies showing a lighter side of the Wolverine actor. Followers get the general feeling that Hugh Jackman is just a regular guy. A famous super buff regular guy, but a regular guy nonetheless. Jackman comes off as super approachable and appreciative of the charmed life he has, sending out love to every one of his fans.

Ryan Reynolds’ Twitter feed is filled with similar posts, but with a biting and often hilariously vulgar edge. The Deadpool actor’s feed features playful jabs toward friends and family members and snarky replies and retweets when follows reply to one of his posts. It seems like it’s all in good fun, but the one fellow actor who is often the butt of Reynolds’ Twitter jokes is his X-Men Origins: Wolverine co-star Hugh Jackman. Ryan Reynolds appears to have made ripping on Jackman a part time job. Even if his remarks are often self-deprecating, they always end up stealing Jackman’s thunder or an attempt to make him uncomfortable, much to our enjoyment.

4 A SPECIAL KIND OF SILLY

Deadpool is a character birthed from satire. When he made his very first appearance in New Mutants #98 back in February of 1991, creators Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza supposedly used the character as a riff on DC Comics supervillain Deathstroke. Everything from Deadpool’s costume and massive arsenal to his real name (Deathstroke’s being Slade Wilson and Deadpool’s being Wade Wilson) was a play on the character. In fact, other than Dan from the Street Fighter video game series (a character that Capcom allegedly created to make fun of Ryo from the SNK games series King of Fighters) we can’t think of a character who shares so much with the original subject it was satirizing. We’re talking Mad Magazine level farce here.

But over the years, Deadpool has become more than just a joke of character (although to many heroes within the comics he still is, especially to Wolverine). Deadpool had gone on to show some great depth as an anti-hero, but he’s never lost his sense of silliness. One of the more volatile relationships Wade Wilson is involved in is with Wolverine. Logan’s stoic persona stands in stark contrast to Deadpool’s slapstick goofiness, despite the fact they share similar trauma in their pasts. Deadpool cosplayers love to toy with this relationship, often trolled people in Wolverine costumes or just using action figures or stuffed animal as props.

LOVE AT FIRST SNIKT

Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing? Well, there might be. When it comes to the sheer number of Wolverines in the Marvel Universe (the Earth-616 Universe anyhow), is somewhat off putting to a certain degree. With characters like the displaced Jimmy Hudson, the son of Logan from the Ultimate Universe and Old Man Logan running around, it seems that the void left behind after the demise of Wolverine from Earth-616 has been filled a bit too much. But one particular Wolverine has yet to wear out their welcome or seem haphazardly thrown into the greater Marvel continuity, and that person is Laura Kinney, the cloned daughter of James Howlett, better known as X-23 or just simply Wolverine.

Laura is one tough cookie who takes after her old man something fierce. She’s cunning, strong, and is walks him her father’s footsteps like a Greek god. The notion of someone like Wade Wilson fawning over her is not only goofy, it’s kind of creepy. Seeing as how the original Logan and Deadpool have a storied history together, any shred of infatuation Wade may have with Laura puts the poor young, clawed mutant is put in a very strenuous situation.

3 NO, YOU LOCK IT UP!

Is it just us, or should the roles in this Keep Calm poster really be reversed. Seriously, how often has anyone told Wolverine to put a sock in it or complained that the guys talks too much? If anything, Logan should probably jabber on a bit more… preferably to a mental health professional. This is by no means a slight against this fictional character or people seeking treatment. It’s just if the last 40 years of comics have taught us anything is that Wolverine could really use a shoulder to cry on… or maybe one of rooms where you can just smash things and it’s actually sanctioned.

Perhaps Deadpool is duct taping Wolverine because he keeps trying to get the Merc with a Mouth (a moniker he has earned quite easily) to stop yammering on constantly about chimichangas and unicorns and outdated pop culture references for just one second. Wolverine can be stoic. And with stoicism comes silence. Deadpool can be obnoxious. And with obnoxiousness comes a tirade of mouth diarrhea that even the most well trained soldier, samurai, ninja, assassin, mercenary couldn’t stand to be on the receiving end of. Go count the number of word balloons between these two when they’re in a comic together and then remove anything of any relevance from those balloons. You’ll be left with nothing but Deadpool making more wisecracks than Spider-Man at open mic night.

2 WHAT WE ALL SEE

It does not matter how long a character has been gracing the pages of a comic book. When it comes to defining a superhero (or villain) for a wide audiences, it is often done by the person portraying them in a live action medium, for better or worse. Simply based on the storied histories within comic books and having to go out of your way to consume them to a certain degree, makes the exploits of heroes on the page less appetizing to large groups of people. But when the characters from comics come to life, things change. Actors step into these roles (and often tights), and have the difficult challenge to pay homage to the character from the source material while finding their own take on them.

When things click into place, we get iconic performances like Heath Ledger’s Joker or Christopher Reeve’s Superman. The moment we see them on-screen, we know that they that character in a way that transcends the source material and defines both the actor and the character for generations to come. Thankfully, these two fine gentlemen have done the same. Ryan Reynolds will forever be known as the wisecracking, katana-wielding Merc with a Mouth and Hugh Jackman is and always will be our Wolverine.

1 BIG BUDGETS

Even before the 2016 film Deadpool became a box office juggernaut, earning almost 800 million dollars worldwide on a rather meager budget of less than 60 million, Wade Wilson cosplay practically plagued every comic book and pop culture conventions across the country. Men and women donning Deadpool’s signature red bodysuit and brandishing a veritable arsenal of fake weapons, which surely has to make every single bystander in the convention hall turn their heads, are pretty much taking over the world. But once Deadpool became a massive success and Ryan Reynolds galvanized the character on the big screen, the number of cosplayers skyrocketed to an obscene level, one that teeters on the precipice of being overkill… or maybe it is.

Oddly enough, despite his everlasting popularity among fans for generations, Wolverine isn’t as omnipresent. Sure there are cosplayers who slink into a white tank top, comp on a cigar, and gel their hair up into sharp points in an attempt to recreate the portrayal of the ol’ canucklehead that Hugh Jackman popularized in the X-Men Film Franchise, but rarely do we see a comic book accurate representation of Wolverine. But when we do, it is pretty amazing. Whenever a cosplayer can make yellow spandex, huge blue shoulder pads, and outrageously large black mask “ears” work, it’s always a treat.