Hugh Jackman on Ryan Reynolds's Dis: Wolverine Would Beat Deadpool '100 Percent'
Deadpool has been incessantly shooting off his trap — as Deadpool is wont to do — over the past few weeks in the ramp up to his titular movie, out Feb. 12.
Among the most notable targets of Ryan Reynolds’s mouthy alter ego: Wolverine. Specifically, the 2009 movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine, where the Marvel mercernary made his first big-screen appearance alongside Hugh Jackman’s hirsute hero.
Watch Deadpool’s screen debut in ‘Wolverine’ scene:
Last week, to celebrate Australia Day (yes, that’s a thing), Reynolds, in Deadpool guise, belittled the film.
“You gave us Wolverine. And for that, I can’t forgive you,” he says in an awful Aussie accident. “I’ve got no problems with Hugh. I mean, he’s a delightful guy. A true legend. But that movie, that was a career-low for me.”
Indeed, the Deadpool character in the film was a far cry from his comic-book origins and fans hated it. Plus, Deadpool got his butt kicked by Wolverine (with a timely assist from Sabretooth).
Watch Wolverine battle Deadpool:
Anyhoo, we caught up with Hugh Jackman at Sundance, where he was promoting Eddie the Eagle, and asked him what he thought about the disrespect from Deadpool.
“Love it. It’s just brilliant. I mean, I love Ryan, he’s a good mate of mine. He’s so fantastic,” Jackman answered cheerily.
But does he think Wolverine would still be able to take down Deadpool?
“A hundred percent,” a grinning Jackman replied without missing a beat.
And would Jackman, who’s about to shoot his final Wolverine flick, ever consider donning the claws in a Deadpool 2?
“I’ve never thought about it till now, but doing something with Ryan – he’s awesome – that’s always attractive to me. But I think you’ve probably got several other people lined up to play [Wolverine]… probably you,” he says, pointing to his Eddie the Eagle co-star and Kingsman: The Secret Service breakout Taran Egerton.
“I don’t think I’ve quite got the facial hair for it,” said the young actor, chuckling.
As for the cinematic status of Wolverine, he’s rumored to appear in this summer’s X-Men: Apocalypse and then wrap things up in the 2017 standalone film. That means Jackman will extend his record by playing the same character in nine different movies.
“I don’t really count the numbers but I certainly am amazed at 17 years of playing this character, which I love, obviously,” he said. “And it’s been the backbone of my career, and I am ridiculously grateful to the fans and I am really taking this last one so seriously. I’ve never worked as hard on one as this, and I really leave it on a high. Not just for me, but for all the fans. It’s kind of amazing, no one really saw all this coming.”
Now if we could just line up that Deadpool rematch.