Deadpool 3 Star Ryan Reynolds Has One Major Request For His Fight With Wolverine

One of the most anticipated big-screen fights in recent memory is on the way in "Deadpool 3" when Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) finally squares off against Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), and the film's director, Shawn Levy, said Reynolds is already tipping his hand as to who he wants to win.

During a recent interview on Sirius XM's "The Jess Cagle Show," Levy said since Reynolds is his co-writer on the film, he appears to be leaning toward a victory by Wolverine when their hotly anticipated showdown is all said and done — even though that it appears that Jackman wants his character to come out on the losing end.

"Hugh is such a fan of Ryan's and Ryan knows the opportunity that it is to have Wolverine co-star in a Deadpool movie," Levy told Cagle and his co-host Julia Cunningham. "Both guys are always trying to set up the other to win and I'll say this, because Ryan also was my fellow writer on this movie and is my fellow producer on this movie at every turn, Ryan is amazing at wanting Deadpool to lose."

The reason Shawn Levy believes that Ryan Reynolds wants Wolverine to win his fight against Deadpool seems to boil down to a couple different factors. To begin with, Wolverine is the more upstanding individual of the two, plus a victory from the adamantium clawed mutant would be a better move from a film standpoint.

"The truth is that Deadpool's awesome, but he's deeply flawed and Wolverine is Wolverine and so I'll just say that as a 360-[degree] creative force Ryan operates from a place of, 'What's going to be most satisfying to the story," not from a place of 'Well, I gotta get equal number of victories and punches into the other character,'" Levy explained to "The Jess Cagle Show."

While Jackman's appearance as Wolverine and his big fight with Deadpool may be enough to satisfy X-Men movie fans, speculation that the Merc with a Mouth fighting a different iteration of the Wolverine isn't completely out of reason. After all, the film is shaping up to be a MCU Multiverse adventure, which gives merit to a "Deadpool 3" rumor that teases how Daniel Radcliffe can finally play Wolverine.

Apart from the pairing of Deadpool and Wolverine — and Daniel Radcliffe's potential involvement — "Deadpool 3" is shaping up to be a star-studded superhero extravaganza. Jennifer Garner is reportedly resurrecting Elektra for "Deadpool 3" — reprising her role from 20th Century Fox's "Daredevil" and "Elektra" movies — while MCU fans are eagerly anticipating a Halle Berry cameo in the film after she posted a Storm-y-like photo on social media. Shoring up speculation over Berry's return, another "Deadpool 3" rumor suggested she is among three original X-Men who will return with Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, along with Famke Janssen and James Marsden.

No matter how the rumors pan out, Shawn Levy is thrilled to be working with Ryan Reynolds and Jackman on "Deadpool 3," not only to experience their talents firsthand, but because who they are as people off the set. "Here's the truth," Levy told "The Jess Cagle Show." "Ryan and Hugh, and the reason they're close friends of mine is, they're both extremely grounded, generous people and I will say one of the great luxuries for me on [Deadpool 3] is that both of them ... they love each other's jam."

On top of that, Levy added, he's simply a huge fan of their work. "For us as audience members because I count myself — I'm an audience member before I'm a director — to get these two movie stars in their most iconic roles, together, is a dream come true," Levy told Cagle's show. Currently "Deadpool 3" is scheduled for a May 3, 2024, release, but because of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, the film will reportedly get a new release date.