Deadpool & Wolverine’s Female Variants Join The MCU In Brilliant New Art As Cameo Rumors Swirl

Brilliant new fan art promoting Marvel Studios’ upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine imagines the titular heroes’ powerful female variants teaming up in the MCU. Ryan Reynolds was quickly revealed to be returning as Wade Wilson’s Deadpool in the MCU following Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019, and Hugh Jackman was confirmed to be joining him as James “Logan” Howlett’s Wolverine in September 2022. Marvel Studios’ much-anticipated Deadpool & Wolverine is scheduled for release on July 26, 2024, as part of the MCU’s Phase 5, and will bring Deadpool and Wolverine into the MCU proper for the first time ever.

While the introduction of Deadpool and Wolverine in the MCU is hugely exciting, the pair are expected to be joined by several of their multiversal variants. This could include their iconic female counterparts from Marvel Comics, X-23 and Lady Deadpool, who have been imagined in new art shared by arifinity_.

This art imagines X-23 and Lady Deadpool in comic-accurate superhero costumes, following the confirmation that Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine would finally get his yellow-and-blue costume in the MCU. The art also puts an older version of X-23 front-and-center, after the young mutant was previously portrayed by Dafne Keen in 2017’s Logan.

While neither Lady Deadpool nor X-23 have yet been confirmed to be appearing in Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine, the female versions of Deadpool and Wolverine would fit perfectly into the Phase 5 movie. Deadpool & Wolverine will see the titular heroes recruited by the Time Variance Authority for a mission across various timelines of the MCU’s multiverse, so it stands to reason they’ll cross paths with multiple different incarnations of themselves. This creates the perfect opportunity for Lady Deadpool and X-23 to finally make their MCU debuts, and perhaps even allow them to stick around in the franchise’s future.

Dafne Keen previously portrayed Laura, a.k.a. X-23, in 2017’s Logan, which is widely regarded as one of the strongest projects in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise. While there is speculation that Keen could reprise the role, now delivering an older and wiser version of X-23, the fact that Deadpool & Wolverine presumably takes place before Logan suggests this may not be possible. Keen could portray a completely different variant to the version of X-23 in Logan, of course, particularly since Hugh Jackman himself is said to be playing a new version of Wolverine, or the character could indeed be recast.

Ryan Reynolds’ own wife, Blake Lively, has been speculated to be portraying Lady Deadpool in the MCU, which would create a fantastic dynamic between her and Reynolds’ Deadpool. Deadpool & Wolverine’s first teaser trailer spurred rumors of Lady Deadpool’s involvement, as a character with different gloves to Deadpool was seen firing Uzis, which are Lady Deadpool’s signature weapon in Marvel Comics. Merch for Deadpool & Wolverine has confirmed several Deadpool variants will appear in the MCU, and while Lady Deadpool hasn’t been included in this promotional material, she would make for a brilliant inclusion in the highly-anticipated Phase 5 project.

Source: Instagram