Deadpool & Wolverine is confirmed as a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, but should it be considered part of one of the MCU's phases?
Marvel is currently working its way towards the end of Phase 5 of the MCU, which kicked off with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in February 2023 and ends with the May 2025 launch of Thunderbolts*. Deadpool & Wolverine launches in 2024 as the only MCU movie of the year, but according to the people behind it, it shouldn’t be considered part of Marvel’s phase structure even if technically it is a part of Phase 5.
In a recent interview with IGN, director Shawn Levy said Deadpool & Wolverine is “not part of any phase that I know of” when asked if the movie acts as a “full stop” for the two superhero characters, or whether they will appear in more MCU projects down the line.
Here’s Levy’s comment in full:
“I love these characters so much. I love these performers, these actors, these stars, these icons so much. I don't know what the future holds. I will say this, we very intentionally did not want to make a Marvel movie that is a commercial or a setup for the next Marvel movie. So we are not part of any phase that I know of. We acknowledge the antecedents, we respect the legacy that we're inheriting, but our goal was to do a self-contained story. As to whether these characters move on from here, time will tell, but I'd sure love to see it and I'd also love to be a part of it.”
We then put this to Feige himself in a follow-up interview, which you can read in full here. Feige responded to insist Marvel is sticking with the phase system and that Deadpool & Wolverine is a part of it, but the film shouldn’t be thought of in this way.
“Phasing out phases? No, I mean phases have always simply been the point in time in which the project's made, and this movie is very much, as you've already referenced with Deadpool discussing the current state of the MCU, very much of its time of where we are in the phases,” Feige told IGN.
“So I would say it's in there, but that's sort of beside the point when it comes to Deadpool & Wolverine.”
Deadpool & Wolverine occupies a unique spot in the MCU, then, which sparks obvious questions about whether or not the two characters are now set to appear in future superhero team-up movies. Could Deadpool and Wolverine join the X-Men and face-off against The Avengers at some point, perhaps? Maybe we'll find out more during Marvel's hotly anticipated panel at San Diego Comic-Con.
In the shorter term, MCU Phase 6 kicks off with 2025’s The Fantastic Four movie, and is also set to include Blade, as well as two new Avengers movies.
IGN's Deadpool & Wolverine review returned a 7/10. We said: "Deadpool & Wolverine is a hilarious superhero buddy comedy full of surprising, self-referential MCU humor and unsurprising plot and pacing problems."
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
