Hugh Jackman first look in Deadpool 3 with Ryan Reynolds

Over the past six months, Australian acting royalty Hugh Jackman has been on a mission to transform into Wolverine once again and pair up with his good buddy Ryan Reynolds in the next instalment of Deadpool.

The Sydney-born, New York-based 54-year-old has been updating us on social media with his intense gym sessions, huge carb-loaded meals of shepherd’s pie and chicken dishes, treadmill workouts and weight training.

It’s been worth the wait.

Tweet from @DiscussingFilm The bromance begins again

As filming got underway on the Deadpool 3 set on July 10, Canadian actor Reynolds, 46, took to Instagram Stories with a picture of himself in his trademark red Deadpool costume, walking alongside Jackman wearing a canary yellow and dark blue catsuit.

Logan is not showing off his big guns in a singlet top, but in a throwback catsuit costume to the original comic books and animated X-Men series.

“Don’t blink,” wrote Reynolds, who has waited 10 months to hang out with his long-time friend on set.

Jackman is also seen without a mask – unlike the original comic book version – but has a beard/moustache combo, and a hair style incorporating long black ears.

Free Guy and The Adam Project’s Shawn Levy is directing, and also took to social media.

“My face hurts every day from smiling too much,” he wrote on Twitter.

“What we want is to fold it all in together and make a big, fat bromance sandwich of a movie, because the world wants the Hugh Jackman-Ryan Reynolds movie,” he said in an earlier interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Tweet from @MCU_Direct

As Deadpool enters the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time (the first two in 2016 and 2018 were Fox releases), fans were equally in raptures about the new, original look.

“It looks like Hugh Jackman will be wearing an authentic Wolverine outfit in the next Deadpool movie. I am delighted and entertained,” wrote one fan.

“As much as i have ZERO faith in Disney’s Deadpool 3, Hugh Jackman looks wonderful in that classic ’90s Xmen cartoon Wolverine outfit,” wrote another.

“The LEAST they could’ve done was show off his big sexy arms but noooooooo,” says a die-hard fan.

Little is known about the plot, but we do know US actress Jennifer Garner will return to the MCU in Deadpool 3 for the first time since 2005 in her role as Elektra Natchios, according to THR.

‘Becoming Wolverine again’

Reynolds, who plays disfigured anti-hero mercenary Wade Wilson – known as the “Merc with a Mouth” – was expected to appear at the San Diego Comic-Con and D23 Expo in July last year with casting announcements for Deadpool 3.

Instead, he decided to wait until September where he posted a video on social media saying he’d been “searching [his] soul” and reached down “deep inside” to make sure his first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe felt “special” and “stands out”.

From the lounge room of an unidentified suburban house, Reynolds pondered the direction of his next film, and who would be cast.

“I have nothing,” Reynolds says, deadpan.

“But we did have one idea.”

In the background, Jackman walks out of the kitchen eating something. With perfect comic timing, Reynolds casually asks his mate, did he want to play Wolverine one more time?

“Yeah, sure, Ryan,” replies the singing-dancing star of the 2017 hit The Greatest Showman.

Tweet from @RealHughJackman

Since then, Jackman has done a deep dive into preparation for the part, which comes almost seven years after last playing the role in 2017’s Logan.

In between trips to Europe and a skin cancer scare in April, he has regularly shared gruelling workout sessions in the gym.

Men’s website Boss Hunting revealed on July 6 that in between the release of Jackman’s X-Men: Apocalypse and the start of Logan in 2016, he had “officially joined the 1000-pound [453kg] powerlifting club – meaning he could effectively pump out a 235lb (107kg) bench press, 410lb (186kg) deadlift, and 345lb (156kg) squat in a single day”.

‘Old school way’

Appearing on CNN and HBO Max’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? earlier this year, Jackman, who has been in nine Wolverine movies, said he had six months to get in shape and was doing it “the old school way”.

“I’ve learned you can’t rush it. I’ve learned that it takes time … we have six months from when I finish [Broadway’s The Music Man] to when I started filming.

“And I’m not doing any other work. I’m going to be with my family and train. That’s going to be my job for six months.

“The one thing about eight shows a week being on Broadway singing and dancing is, I’m fit.

“So, I’m healthy. I have a good place to start. And apologies, chickens [his main protein in meal plans]. Run a mile. Start running now because I’m coming for you,” he said.

Wallace asked Jackman how he felt about playing Wolverine for a 10th time, this time in Deadpool 3.

“You categorise it as the next Deadpool movie … we like to call it Wolverine 10 in our household.”

Deadpool 3 will premiere late in 2024