Every Avenger cameo and Easter egg in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’

Warning: The article contains spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine.

In the run-up to Deadpool & Wolverine, we heard a lot about how it served as a final kiss goodbye (and maybe a quick fondle of farewell too, knowing Wade Wilson) to Fox’s X-Men universe. Sure enough, the much-vaunted threequel has oodles to offer for lovers of what is still the world’s longest-running superhero movie franchise — the MCU will beat it in four years, though.

On the other hand, this is also Deadpool’s first time coming to Disneyland so of course the movie doesn’t just look to the past but also embraces the present and the potential insanity of the future by featuring an abundance of Avenger-related Easter eggs and even cameos as well. For a full round-up of all the cameos in the film see elsewhere, but here is every nod to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Deadpool 3.

Iron Man (Easter egg)

Deadpool & Wolverine kicks off as it means to continue with a nod to “the big man” himself. After the Logan-desecrating opening scene, we flash back to 2018, when Wade apparently zipped over to the Sacred Timeline to apply to join the Avengers. Happy Hogan cameos here, but Wade isn’t exactly happy himself to be stuck with the “chauffeur,” instead wanting to talk to the big man, aka Iron Man. This appears to be set prior to the events of Avengers: Infinity War but following Deadpool 2 (which, confusingly came out after Infinity War).

Thor (cameo)

Technically, Iron Man does appear on screen in Deadpool 3, thanks to the little Marvel Studios Legends clip show that Mr. Paradox puts on for Wade when he brings him to the TVA. However, as Tony’s not particularly prominent it would be a bit of a stretch to call him a cameo. Thor, however, definitely gets a much bigger presence in this archival capacity. Edited footage from Loki’s death in Thor: The Dark World is used to tease a potential future where Thor cries while holding a dying Deadpool in his arms. Is this a preview of Avengers: Secret Wars?

Captain America (cameo)

Likewise, Captain America’s presence in the TVA’s clip show is similarly significant as the typically irreverent Wade is awed to see footage of Steve Rogers in action, even saluting him. This does a neat job of setting us up for a fall later on, when DP and Wolvie encounter Chris Evans in the Void. We’re primed to expect him to be playing a Cap variant, but he instead turns out to be a variant of Johnny Storm/Human Torch, from the Fantastic Four.

Hulk (cameo)

Hulk 100% makes a cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine, and not just through old footage either. A brand-new scene sees the Green Goliath battling with a Wolverine variant. The only hitch is that it’s the full CGI Hulk, complete with generic grunting sounds, rather than a return for Mark Ruffalo. Nevertheless, it does fulfill a decades-long dream Hugh Jackman has had of battling the Hulk on screen. Let’s hope he gets to do it for longer in an upcoming Avengers movie.

Ant-Man (cameo)

Ant-Man’s role in Deadpool 3 isn’t a surprise for anyone who saw the trailers. Yes, Scott Lang’s giant-sized cadaver is used as the lair for Cassandra Nova and her goons in the Void. Unfortunately, we don’t get any further clarification on what happened to this Scott variant, but we can assume — going by her fearsome reputation and references to killing other iconic characters — that Cassandra killed him and hollowed out his body to use as a house. Wow, she must’ve really hated Quantumania.

Scarlet Witch (Easter egg)

When Deadpool awakens in the lair of the Void rebels, he comes to and sees an effigy of none other than Scarlet Witch. Sadly, Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff did not end up making a cameo in the flesh in the threequel, but clearly at least one Wanda variant has been hanging around the Void before — likely an all-powerful evil one, too, going by the statue erected in her honor. Agatha All Along, it’s still all on you to bring Wanda back from the dead.

Hawkeye (Easter egg)

Deadpool has been making pot-shots about Hawkeye since before the notion of him hanging out in the MCU was even a glint in Kevin Feige’s eye. Back in Deadpool 2, a depressed Wade likened himself to Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton, and in this third movie he again uses Hawkeye in a pejorative sense to mock Channing Tatum’s Gambit. Wade describes the Ragin’ Cajun as a “superhero version of Hawkeye.” When will the Hawkeye slander end?

Doctor Strange (Easter egg)

We knew this one was coming, too, thanks to that epic shot of Wade and Logan leaping through a sling ring portal in the trailers. Sadly, it turns out that Benedict Cumberbatch does not show up as Doctor Strange in Deadpool 3. Instead, Cassandra mentions how an “amateur magician” came to the Void once and she snatched a sling ring from him before killing him. “Strange,” Wade quips, just to clarify that Cassandra didn’t murder a Wong variant. Because if any Wongers anywhere in the multiverse were to die there would be a riot.

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