Summary
Warning: This article contains spoilers forDeadpool & WolverineDeadpool & Wolverineofficially brought the titular heroes to theMCUand in doing so sparked the question of where they and their story fit into the timeline. The X-Men and mutants generally are now back under Marvel’s purview afterDisney’s acquisition of Fox in 2019transferred the movie rights back to Marvel. Since then, the MCU has debuted Fox’s X-Men characters in cameos across several productions, with Kelsey Grammer’s Beast cameo inThe Marvelsbeing the most recent. Still, it fell toDeadpool & Wolverineto bring these charactersinto the MCU fold in earnest.
The MCU’s Multiverse Saga has thankfully provided the perfect narrative in which to do this. Now that multipletimelines and universes exist in the MCU, Fox’sX-Menfranchise has simply been designated as part of a universe separate from the MCU’s Earth-616.Deadpool & Wolverinesaw Deadpool encountering this new multiverse along with the TVA, an organization whose new directive is to maintain the multiverse and branching timelines. The movie, therefore, takes Deadpool on a somewhat mind-bending trip through several points in time and outside of it.
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When Deadpool & Wolverine’s Earth-616 Avengers Scene Fits Into The MCU Timeline
Deadpool Has Already Been To Earth-616
Deadpool & Wolverinebegins with Deadpool exhuming the corpse of Logan in the timeline that houses Fox’s X-Men, designated Earth-10005. He then explains how he got there with a flashback that saw him meeting with Happy Hogan in March 2018 in the MCU’s Earth-616, AKA the Sacred Timeline. This appears to take place within Stark Industries, as paraphernalia from CEO Pepper Potts' office seen inIron Man3can also be seen in various shots here.
Deadpool appears to have made it to this universe using Cable’s time travel device. This lines up with the date in the scene asDeadpool 2also took place in 2018, meaning the device would likely still have been in Wade’s possession. His ability to hop to entirely different universes was also established atthe end ofDeadpool 2as he can be seen killingX-Men Origins: Wolverine’s alternate Deadpool and Ryan Reynolds in the real world (designated Earth-1218 in Marvel continuity).
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Regardless, Deadpool’s meeting with Happy ends in tragedy as his professed dream of becoming an Avenger is knocked back. Given this scene makes sure to establish the date as March 2018, it is apparent that the events ofAvengers: Infinity Warhave not yet occurred, with the Black Order set to invade New York around two months later. Sometime after that, Wade Wilson returns to his own universe dejected and depressed, which leads to a leap in time.
Deadpool & Wolverine’s Main Story Is Set 6 Years Later, In 2024
A Title Card Reveals The Time Jump
The majority ofDeadpool & Wolverinetakes place six years afterDeadpool 2, in 2024. This is established with a title card after Happy rejects Deadpool and Deadpool returns to his own universe. From there, Deadpool suffers six years of feelings of inadequacy, which leads him to drop the Deadpool mantle and the deterioration of his relationship with Vanessa. The flashback picks up with Deadpool living a mundane civilian life. Like most Marvel movies, the majority of the movie takes place in the same year that it was released.
Why Josh Brolin’s Cable Doesn’t Return In Deadpool & Wolverine
Josh Brolin’s Cable was notably absent from Deadpool & Wolverine, but there are reasons behind the apparent ousting of the character in the sequel.
The MCU’s most recent installments have taken place in 2026 but this is due to the five-year time jump that occurred at the beginning ofAvengers: Endgame, taking the events from 2019 to 2024. This means thatthe events ofDeadpool & Wolverinein Deadpool’s universe happen concurrently with or close to the events ofAvengers: Endgamein the MCU. Deadpool does not revisit Earth-616 after his meeting with Happy Hogan, though he comes relatively close after Mr. Paradox invites him to join for a “higher purpose” after being taken to the TVA.
Deadpool & Wolverine Is Set After Loki Season 2
The TVA Exists Outside Of Time
The time frame ofDeadpool & Wolverinegets more confusing within the TVA. Mr. Paradox confirms thatthe events ofLokiseason 2have occurred as the TVA is now concerned with nurturing the multiverse instead of pruning branches from the Sacred Timeline, as they were inAvengers: Endgame. He also introduces the concept of anchor beings, which are people whose deaths cause the destabilization and decay of the timelines in which they once lived - with Logan being the anchor of Deadpool’s Earth-10005. This is why Deadpool’s timeline is doomed, rather than the TVA intending to prune it.
Deadpool’s timeline is doomed, but Paradox intends to speed the process along with a new TVA device called the Time Ripper, which draws parallels to Reset Charges introduced inLoki.
The TVA is operating under this new directive despite it being 2024 in Deadpool’s timeline becausethe TVA operates outside of time.Lokiseason 2 established the multiverse, and the TVA has ostensibly operated in its new guise at every point in every timeline.Loki’s resurrection of the multiverseat the end ofLokihas therefore allowed the events of everyX-Menmovie to happen, and every event in each of those movies occurred with Loki holding their timeline together thanks to his actions inLokiseason 2.
It is a similar case forthe events ofDeadpool & Wolverinethat take place in the void. The void is a timeless nether realm that does not operate on any timeline, instead acting as a junkyard for pruned inhabitants of the multiverse. Most of the scenes inDeadpool & Wolverinetherefore take place independently of any time frame on Deadpool’s timeline or the Sacred Timeline. The litany of characters from Fox’s Marvel franchises could have been pruned from any timeline, which also explains why some of them are portrayed by different actors.
When Deadpool & Wolverine Takes Place In Fox X-Men’s Earth-10005 Universe
Deadpool’s Universe Is The Same As 10005’s Logan’s
…most of the events depicted in Fox’s X-Men franchise have transpired by the time Deadpool & Wolverine shows Wade Wilson living his civilian life, but Logan - which takes place in 2029 - has not.
Mr. Paradox establishes thatLogan’s death inLoganhas caused the deterioration of Deadpool’s timeline. This confirms that Deadpool’s universe is the same as Earth-10005’s Logan’s and the same as at least most of Fox’sX-Menmovies. With that in mind,Deadpool & Wolverinetakes place in 2024 in Fox’s X-Men’s Earth-10005. This means that most of the events depicted in Fox’s X-Men franchise have transpired by the timeDeadpool & Wolverineshows Wade Wilson living his civilian life, butLogan- which takes place in 2029 - has not.
Fox’sX-Menmovies have a notoriously convoluted timeline that was thrown into question following the events ofX-Men: Days of Future Past. Every movie released afterDays of Future Pastis likely part of a new timeline which, in the context ofthe MCU’s time travel rules and the multiverseof different realities/timelines, means it is a branched timeline after Wolverine changed the past. Whatever the case, this is the one where theDeadpoolfranchise andLoganalso take place.
Loganestablished that, in 2029, no mutants had been born for 25 years, which still works with the Deadpool continuity as Firefist is 14 in 2018.
It can be deduced that Deadpool traveled to the future of his own timeline to exhume the corpse of Earth-10005’s Logan. This also suggests that 2024, which is now whereDeadpool & Wolverine’s Logan has settled, is now home to two Wolverine variants, asLogan’s Logan is also still alive. Suffice it to say, however, that the MCU has its work cut out to iron out the details of Earth-10005 should the mutants of this reality arise in a future MCU installment.
Deadpool & Wolverine
Cast
A follow-up to the highly successful Deadpool and Deadpool 2 films starring Ryan Reynolds as the Merc with a Mouth. The third film will be the first in the franchise to be developed under the Marvel Studios banner following Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox.
