Deadpool & Wolverine has taken over the world, shattering box office expectations, earning nearly $450 million worldwide on opening weekend. It’s the 34th (!) film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and delivers many of the staples of the MCU—complicated plotting, multiple timelines, and a whole slew of cameos.
As the first film with X-Men characters in the MCU (Sony previously held the rights to Deadpool and the X-Men), there are even more cameos than fans are accustomed to from previous Marvel entries. Some are expected, and some are genuinely shocking—and most of them are a whole lot of fun. Let’s get into the cameos of Deadpool & Wolverine, ranked by epicness. Who gets the most laughs and the biggest impact? Read on to find out.
(Warning: Spoilers ahead!)
15. The Hulk
A nice nod to Wolverine’s comic book origins—he first appeared in the last panel of The Incredible Hulk #180—but otherwise it’s pretty underwhelming, especially since we never see the Hulk’s face.
14. Various Villains
X-Men villains Azazel, Deathstrike, Toad, Juggernaut, Psylocke, and Callisto appear in Deadpool & Wolverine via their various X-Men movies. There’s also Bullseye from Daredevil and The Russian from The Punisher. None of these villains are played by their original actors, most don’t speak, and the majority appear in an overly busy action sequence that makes their shining moments more like window dressing than something of importance.
13. Thor (Chris Hemsworth)
Chris Hemsworth didn’t even know he was in Deadpool & Wolverine, but his character Thor appears through altered video footage in a couple of scenes from old MCU movies. Most intriguingly, he’s seen crying over Deadpool’s dying body in one alternate timeline, which leads to a fairly amusing running gag of Deadpool wondering about his potential romance with the mighty Thor.
12. Happy Hogan (John Favreau)
Head of security at Stark Industries and personal confidant of Iron Man, Happy gets a fun scene where he interviews Deadpool about his viability to join the Avengers. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t go well—Deadpool can’t hide his snark to save his life, and Happy isn’t thrilled by the insistence he’s nothing more than a chauffeur. Still, Happy is ever-reliable, and his preternatural patience in the face of madness is on display here.
11. B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku)
One for fans of the TV series Loki, head of the Time Variance Authority B-15 makes a late appearance. It’s largely unremarkable, but Mosaku is always charming, and her flirtations with Pete (Rob Delaney) turn this from something basic into a laugh-out-loud moment.
10. Sabretooth (Tyler Mane)
Reprising his role from 2000’s X-Men it’s genuinely thrilling to see Mane return as Wolverine’s nemesis Sabretooth. It looks like the two are about to get into an epic brawl, but it ends disappointingly quickly as Wolverine beheads him in seconds. That takes the excitement factor down a peg, though it’s still a good time, even if it's brief.
9. Pyro (Aaron Stanford)
Interestingly, the biggest spotlight on an X-Men villain goes to Pyro, and Stanford reprises his role from X-Men: The Last Stand. He gets a very satisfying moment where he effortlessly absorbs an attack from the Human Torch, and even tries to take down big bad Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), which he fails miserably at. It’s pleasing to see Pyro get something of a redemption since he wasn’t particularly well received in 2006’s Last Stand, and he’s considerably less whiny and more fun this time around.
8. The Cavillrene (Henry Cavill)
This one’s quick, niche, and genuinely unexpected. Deadpool is on a mission to find the right Wolverine, which has him traveling through countless timelines to find him. One of the many Wolverines he encounters is The Cavillrene—instead of Hugh Jackman, the actor playing the character is none other than Henry Cavill. There were rampant rumors that Cavill would eventually replace Jackman to play Wolverine, so his appearance is a nod to those rumors. While Jackman probably isn’t going anywhere (especially after the success of Deadpool & Wolverine), the multiverse means just about anything can happen.
7. An Assortment of ’Pools
In a mockery of the multiverse, Deadpool and Wolverine find themselves batting against…a ton of different Deadpools. There’s Lady Deadpool, voiced by none other than Ryan Reynold’s wife Blake Lively, Cowboypool (voiced by Matthew McConaughey), a Deadpool with a cowboy hat and gun, and Headpool (voiced by Nathan Fillion), Deadpool’s floating head. There’s also Kidpool (Reynolds and Lively’s daughter Inez) and Babypool (their 1-year-old Olin). In a wink to Reynold’s soccer club Wrexham AFC, striker Paul Mullin plays Welshpool. It’s a silly sequence, and while most of these are impossible to tell until the credits roll, spotting all the various Deadpool variants is fun.
6. X-23 (Dafne Keen)
X-23 was a major part of Wolverine’s defining film, Logan, and gets a key scene where she delivers a pep talk to Logan himself. It’s stirring, but the emotional impact is dulled somewhat by the fact that multiverse rules mean that this Wolverine is not the same Logan from Logan, but a different one who has never met X-23 before. Still, she gets a truly gnarly moment in the big fight when she slices Juggernaut’s feet off.
4. Elektra (Jennifer Garner)
The world always needs more Jennifer Garner and her appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine is a delightful surprise. Reprising her role as Elektra (from 2003’s widely disliked Daredevil and the even more critically reviled Elektra in 2005), Garner is ready to kick ass and take names. The negative reception to her character is part of her plot here, as she, with other misbegotten heroes, seeks a sort of redemption by taking down Cassandra Nova and freeing those in the Void from her brutal rule.
3. Human Torch (Chris Evans)
One of the big shocks in Deadpool & Wolverine is seeing Chris Evans in the Void. While Deadpool thinks it’s Captain America, in a clever twist, he’s playing Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, from the misbegotten Fantastic Four movie in 2005. Like the film he came from, Evans’ Human Torch is largely ineffectual, getting his power absorbed by Pyro and suffering the film’s most gruesome death courtesy of Cassandra Nova. He’s very funny, and his terrific post-credits scene elevates him close to the top of the ranking.
2. Blade (Wesley Snipes)
It’s hard to overstate how freaking cool Wesley Snipes looks in this movie. His graying beard does much to layer on the intensity. He delivers a great line that there will only ever be one Blade, putting the Mahershala Ali-led reboot that’s never seen the light of day, after first being announced back in 2019. Snipes brings the grit that made his character beloved since the 1998 film and gets some excellent action moments in the big fight. It’s the kind of performance that really makes you crave another Blade film—with Snipes in the lead.
1. Gambit (Channing Tatum)
Scene-stealer supreme Channing Tatum runs away with Deadpool & Wolverine in a ridiculous turn as the Cajun X-Man who specializes in making playing cards explode (it’s way cooler than it sounds). Tatum is extremely funny, and his thick accent is largely unintelligible, and that’s by design. When his dialogue does come through, it’s suitably outrageous. When everyone is talking about how they’re ready to take on Cassandra Nova, Gambit says, “I shot out of his dick ready,” which disgusts everyone around him. It’s a lovely redemption for Tatum as well, who was supposed to play Gambit in an X-Men spinoff, but was canceled in the wake of the Disney-Fox merger.