‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ Trailer Easter Eggs: Wade Wilson Has the MCU Pegged

In the new teaser trailer, which aired during one of Super Bowl Sunday’s eagerly-watched commercial breaks, Deadpool & Wolverine debuted its new title, a slew of Easter eggs, and plenty of previously unknown plot details. Formerly known as Deadpool 3, the film marks the third in the trilogy of Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and the first explicit acknowledgment of the merger between the Fox and Disney Marvel universes.

Before this trailer, we knew Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) would be joining the Merc with a Mouth in his latest outing, but the new poster and title make it abundantly clear: this is a duo movie through and through. Whether this is the Wolverine we’ve come to know over the past two decades remains in question. His death in 2017’s Logan could mean that this is one of his variants, which have become a prominent part of the MCU. Variants, which were the focal point of the Loki series, were what the TVA (Time Variance Authority) was all about. As the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer indicates, the TVA seems to be the key to finally bringing Wade Wilson (and maybe some other Fox characters) into the MCU. Let’s break it down.

At the end of Deadpool 2, Wade Wilson uses Cable’s (Josh Brolin) time-travel device to jump the timelines and save Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), his fiancée, as well as Peter (Rob Delaney), the non-powered doter that Wade just enjoys having around. The trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine begins with Wade celebrating a birthday, surrounded by his loved ones, including those previously deceased. According to MCU canon, it seems that Wade has jumped to a branched timeline, making his entrance into the MCU a perfect fit for the Multiverse Saga.

The TVA Plays a Key Role in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’

Making their feature film debut, the TVA interrupts Wade’s birthday celebration with a knock at the door. He’s met by a group of TVA hunters, who immediately unsheathe their pruning devices (these devices remove an individual from their timeline and doom them to the Void Beyond Time). Wade responds to the intimidation display with a quip, “Pegging isn’t new for me, friendo, but it is for Disney.” He looks directly into the camera, in true Deadpool fourth-wall-breaking fashion.

The hunters pull Wade through a Timedoor and bring him to the TVA, where he is met by an unnamed agent (played by Matthew Macfadyen). “This is your chance to be a hero among heroes,” the agent says to Wade, before gesturing to a wall of screens depicting various scenes from MCU films (and one tiny screen even shows Ryan Reynolds dressed as Deadpool at the Emmy Awards this year). Catching on, Wade retorts, “Your little cinematic universe is about to change forever.”

Whether TVA favorites like Mobius (Owen Wilson), B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), or Ouroboros (Ke Huy Quan) will play a role remains unknown, but the door for them is certainly wide open. Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), however, concluded Loki‘s second season by being sent to the treacherous Void, with the menacing shadow of Alioth approaching. This brings us to the next surprising revelation that the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer offered.

The Void and Alioth From ‘Loki’ Return to the MCU

One of Deadpool & Wolverine‘s set pieces appears to be an action sequence that takes place in the Void, a mysterious place we’ve seen before. We first visited the Void in season 1 of Loki, when our main Loki was pruned. Essentially, it’s a realm that exists outside of time itself, where pruned variants are trapped until Alioth swallows them up. That’s how we can infer that this sequence takes place in the Void; in the teaser, we see a TVA agent getting snatched by Alioth’s signature purple cloud-like form. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) managed to escape the Void, and how Deadpool orchestrates his escape will surely prove interesting. Moreover, this is the first time we have seen TVA agents in the Void, whom Deadpool spends the teaser battling against, and this appears to be where Wolverine makes his dramatic entrance as well.

Undoubtedly, the biggest standout of these shots is the giant 20th Century Fox logo, seen in ruins in the background. Has the TVA pruned the entire Fox Marvel universe? We already know that Wade is a fourth wall breaker, constantly acknowledging the fact that he’s in a film, but the explicit inclusion of the Fox logo suggests that Deadpool’s transition into the MCU is quite literally the plot of the movie.

A ‘Secret Wars’ Easter Egg Hints at Marvel Comics’ Battleworld

Speaking of Wolverine’s entrance, just before his shadow towers over a supine Deadpool, we catch a glimpse of the trailer’s most exciting Easter egg. We know that an Avengers: Secret Wars movie is already slated for the MCU, and an issue of Marvel Comics’ Secret Wars can be seen on the ground next to Deadpool. An Easter egg like this wouldn’t be given such prime real estate in the trailer’s big moment if we weren’t meant to begin theorizing. In the Secret Wars storyline, Battleworld was a celestial realm that served as a war zone and prison of sorts for heroes and villains suffering from the events of an incursion between realities. With everything the Multiverse Saga has been building toward, this Easter egg could be hinting at the Void acting as the MCU’s version of Battleworld, with the incursion of realities involving the merging cinematic universes.

A Return to Madripoor, Patch, and a Mystery Villain Are Teased

Of the breadth of brief glimpses, three moments call for closer speculation. First, there’s a quick shot of someone from behind; it’s practically just a silhouette of the back of their head, but we can see the figure is seated and has a bald or shaved head. Could this be Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart)? The MCU has already brought him back once, as a variant for Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) to massacre in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but that’s not the only possibility. In Marvel Comics, Cassandra Nova, the twin sister of Professor Xavier, sports an identical silhouette to her sibling. She’s essentially a twisted, genocidal opposite of her brother, carrying a mind-bending origin story behind her, and she’d certainly make for a menacing villain should the MCU choose to bring Cassandra Nova into the fold.

Soon after this moment, the trailer features two swift shots that appear to depict Madripoor and Patch, two names that avid comic fans will surely recognize. Madripoor, the laissez-faire island of wealth, crime, and a mix of luxury and debauchery, has been a staple location for many X-Men misadventures in the comics. A version of it appeared in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. In these glimpses, we see Deadpool approaching what appears to be Patch, an alias that Wolverine often took up in the comics when blending in on Madripoor.

Aaron Stanford Reprises His Role as Pyro in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’

In what is surely the first of many surprise reprisals from Fox’s Marvel movies, Aaron Stanford is back in the role of John Allerdyce, better known as the fire-wielding mutant called Pyro. Stanford appeared in 2003’s X2 and 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, and he’s finally returning to the role of Pyro in Deadpool & Wolverine. Details are limited, beyond the fact that he’s sporting a slightly more comic-accurate outfit (the goggles!), but he’s a welcome sight and hopeful indicator of many more cameos from the Fox universe.

Is Deadpool Fixing the Continuity of All Marvel Movies?

“I’m the Messiah. I am Marvel Jesus.” Wade’s immediate and hilarious acceptance of the TVA’s interest in him is not only fitting for his character, it’s also the prime set-up for a plot centered on acknowledging the chaotic continuity of the MCU. With the number of rumors surrounding this film, rumors involving cameos from Fox’s multitude of Marvel movies, and the confirmations this trailer has given us, Deadpool & Wolverine seems to be using Wade Wilson and the TVA to fix the continuity of all the timelines the MCU has been juggling. One brief moment in the teaser even appears to show Deadpool in the setting of Avengers: Age of Ultron‘s opening sequence (the battle at Hydra’s Sokovia facility). The TVA’s abilities and Deadpool’s self-aware relationship with the fourth wall allow the MCU to patch any plot hole and set themselves up with whatever timeline they desire.