Credit: Marvel StudiosDeadpool & Wolverine will hit theaters worldwide in just a few weeks, so Marvel is doing the logical thing: changing Weapon X for yet another time in his long and confusing history.
Shawn Levy is directing the third Deadpool movie, which will reunite star Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson and Hugh Jackman as Logan/James Howlett/Weapon X for the first time since the notorious X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009).
Although that film is considered one of the worst in the Fox X-Men film franchise, it did introduce audiences to Reynolds as Deadpool, albeit only to largely replace him with a very non-canon version of the character played by Scott Adkins.
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It has taken 15 years and Hugh Jackman’s temporary retirement from his most famous character, but Ryan Reynolds finally managed to get Deadpool and Wolverine back together. The upcoming movie (written by Shawn Levy from a script he co-wrote with Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Zeb Wells) will feature Deadpool being recruited by the Time Variance Authority to fight Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), with a Multiversal Variant of Wolverine being reluctantly dragged along.
Obviously, fans are excited to see Hugh Jackman return to the role (even in an alternate version) after the bleak, elegiac Logan (2017) and even more excited to see the hinted-at introduction of the X-Men to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Apparently, the Marvel Comics branch of Disney is pretty excited about it, too, because it just won’t stop messing with Wolverine before the movie’s release.
First, Marvel replaced the character with Donald Duck for Marvel & Disney: What if…? Donald Duck Became Wolverine #1, written by Luca Barbieri with art by Giada Perissinotto. The company seems to get a thrill out of replacing iconic Marvel heroes with Donald because they have since followed up by turning Disney’s main duck into the Mighty Thor, too.
Now, Annihilation 2099 #1 (written by Steve Orlando, art by Dale Eaglesham and Ibraim Roberson) has changed the classic version of Wolverine entirely and turned him into a different hero: Nova. In this new story, Wolverine has joined the Nova Corps sometime in the future and has adopted their cosmic powers and codename, basically becoming a different character.
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According to Marvel Comics’ description of the story:
WHO IS THE LAST NOVA?! A remote town on a remote world is devastated by the ravenous, unforgiving KNULL SET, a gang of raiders and thieves obsessed with offering all life up to the darkness. But that all changes when a stranger comes to town, a stranger from the stars who answers to his own code. THE LAST SURVIVOR OF XANDAR…the LAST NOVA. Who is the Last Nova, and what great tragedy does he carry on his back? Is he the inheritor of the NOVA CORPS or its destroyer?
This may actually be two different attempts at synergy by Disney at once. Obviously, the imminent release of Deadpool & Wolverine means it is time to strike the adamantium while it’s hot, but Marvel Studios has also been developing a Nova Corps series (or one-shot special) for quite some time. Bringing Wolverine into the mix could generate more interest in the relatively unknown (outside of comics) space cop organization, which may be the whole point.
For now, however, we’ll just have to wait and see how Marvel decides to change Wolverine again.
What do you want to see happen to Logan next in comics or the MCU?