“To see both [Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman] in costume together was just mind-blowing.”
It took over two decades and a studio acquisition, but Hugh Jackman will finally wear Wolverine’s classic yellow and blue suit when the X-Men star returns in Deadpool & Wolverine. The Marvel Studios movie — which will reunite Merc with a Mouth Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) and razor-clawed mutant Logan (Jackman) for the first time since the Fox-made X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009 — made it a priority to have Jackman suit up in the comic-accurate “yellow spandex” that Cyclops (James Marsden) put on blast in 2000’s X-Men.
“It was one of the craziest things. It was the camera test before we started shooting, and to see both of those guys in costume together was just mind-blowing,” executive producer Wendy Jacobson told HeyUGuys. “But Hugh walking out in the yellow and blue, there were grown men, like, sobbing on the set. So we knew it was a very special thing.”
Jacobson, a production and development executive at Marvel Studios whose credits include Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, added that the yellow-clad Jackman was just one aspect of wish fulfillment.
“Honestly, it’s like in my wildest dreams I never could have imagined being part of a project like this. Even if just from the auspices of being part of a project like Deadpool & Wolverine with these characters. And on a personal level, being able to collaborate with [Reynolds and Jackman] or try to contribute one iota,” she said. “It’s been the most personally gratifying experience of my entire life. I keep semi-joking that maybe I should retire because I just don’t know what I could possibly do that will ever be as good as this again.”
In fact, the Shawn Levy-directed Deadpool sequel might not have happened without Jackman. After nine Fox X-Men movies — including 2013’s The Wolverine, which briefly teased the classic costume in a deleted scene — Jackman retired the role in 2017’s Logan, only to come out of superhero retirement for the at-the-time untitled Deadpool 3. Kevin Feige, the president and producer of Disney-owned Marvel Studios, had just one request: “‘Yes, but he wears the yellow,” Levy recalled Feige saying during a recent fan event. “Can he finally wear the yellow?'”
Deadpool & Wolverine is produced by Feige, Reynolds, Levy and X-Men franchise producer Lauren Shuler Donner. Jacobson serves as executive producer alongside Marvel Studios co-president Louis D’Esposito, Mary McLaglen (Free Guy), Josh McLaglen (The Adam Project), George Dewey (IF), Simon Kinberg (Logan), Jonathon Komack Martin (Deadpool 2), and Deadpool trilogy co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. The MCU movie opens only in theaters July 26th.
