Wolverine Is Officially Coming to the MCU in 'Deadpool 3' — Wait, What About 'Logan'?

It's time for a third bout of maximum effort. Deadpool 3 is officially on the slate of upcoming film releases for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In late September 2022, Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds took Marvel fans by surprise with a video confirming some major news. The third Deadpool movie is scheduled to be released in September 2024. Even more shocking, Hugh Jackman is confirmed to reprise his iconic role as Wolverine from the X-Men film franchise.

Of course, there's one issue that needs addressing. In the span of the Marvel multiverse where X-Men movie characters and Spider-Man actors from other studios can pop in for some quick cameos, we have to consider the events of previous X-Men films and where they fall in the canon of the MCU.

To that end, we've got to take a look at 2017's Logan. With Deadpool 3 placing the merc with a mouth and Wolverine closer to the MCU than ever before, does this make Logan canon?

If you don't want Logan spoilers, stop reading here!

The events of Logan take place in the not-so-distant future. The film follows an older version of the titular character as he struggles to survive in a world where mutants are all but extinct.

Dying from the adamantium alloy embedded into his skeleton and claws, Logan finds a new lease on life when he and an ill Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) try to help a young mutant named Laura (Dafne Keen) find a new home.

At the end of the film, Logan manages to find salvation for Laura and a ragtag group of mutant children, albeit at the cost of his own life. Content with sacrificing himself so that Laura may live on, Logan dies peacefully.

While that's certainly a bittersweet end to an iconic hero, how does his death in the critically-acclaimed film factor into Deadpool 3 and Wolverine's future in the MCU?

In a follow-up video to Ryan Reynolds's Deadpool 3 update, both Ryan and Hugh address this very issue. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions," Hugh surmises. "But rest assured, we're gonna answer them right now."

On the topic of the end of Logan, Ryan confirmed that Deadpool 3 won't tread on that in any way.

"Logan takes place in 2029," Ryan confirms. "[It's a] totally separate thing. Logan died in Logan. Not touching that."

The rest of the video dives right back into Ryan Reynolds' typical social media absurdity, in which he teases why Wolverine appears in Deadpool 3 but refuses to release any details.

This joke update, however, does nip this whole thing in the bud. Logan is not canon to the events of the MCU and Deadpool 3 will introduce these popular X-Men characters to the franchise in its own way.

The question of canon also arose when Logan was first promoted. With many fan-favorite mutants having died within this continuity, fans wondered what implications this would have for the rest of the film series.

Back in 2017, Hugh also addressed these concerns with a similar answer. In an interview with Digital Spy, Hugh confirmed that even among previous X-Men and Wolverine films, Logan stands on its own.

"Not only is it different in terms of timeline and tone, it's a slightly different universe," he told Digital Spy. He went on to say, "[Director Jim Mangold] and I had this blank canvas and we wanted to make something really different."

For all intents and purposes, Logan is a self-contained story not necessarily beholden to any films that came before or after it. That includes whatever happens in the third Deadpool movie.

Deadpool 3 arrives in theaters on Sept. 6, 2024.