Hugh Jackman knew fans needed Wolverine and Deadpool together

Hugh Jackman partly came out of retirement from playing Wolverine because he knew teaming with Deadpool would be best for everyone.

Deadpool & Wolverine has been a long time comin’. From comic book history to big screen sightings to actor-on-actor ribbing, it was really only a matter of time before we got Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in character for a movie. Sure, Jackman had said he was done playing Logan, but there’s only so much hounding a grown Australian man can take! As such, moviegoers will get Deadpool & Wolverine on July 26th, a full 15 years after they first shared the screen.

Hugh Jackman admitted to Rotten Tomatoes that while he was absolutely sure he would never don the claws again, he couldn’t resist the chance to team with Ryan Reynolds in a more complete form. “Literally just like a bolt of lightning came this knowing, deep in my gut, that I wanted to do this film with Ryan, for Deadpool and Wolverine to come together…I swear to you, when I said I was done, I really thought I was done.”

Jackman confirmed in 2015 that Logan would be his last go as Wolverine, yet seeing that following year’s Deadpool made him come to regret his words. “I was like, ‘Those two characters together…’ I knew it, I knew the fans wanted it. Ever since I put on the claws people have talked about these two. So that had always been there, but I just knew. I literally could not wait to arrive. As soon as I arrived, I rang Ryan and I just said, ‘Let’s do it.’ Like, I hadn’t rung my agent, no one…I had to ring my agent [after] and say, ‘Oh, by the way, I’ve just committed to a movie.’”

A Wolverine and Deadpool reunion has been circling for quite some time, with the characters first appearing on the big screen in 2009’s X-Men: Origins. While nothing developed from there and Wade Wilson was just a shell of who Reynolds would turn him into, Reynolds would continue to nudge Jackman out of retirement. And fans couldn’t be more excited, with ticket sales breaking Fandango records.

Will you be checking out Deadpool & Wolverine on opening weekend? Did you always have a feeling that Hugh Jackman would reprise his character? Let us know below!