Despite meeting his demise back in 2017, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is joining the MCU in Marvel Studios’ upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine, and one theory could explain how this is possible.

Hugh Jackman has portrayed James “Logan” Howlett, a.k.a. the mutant Wolverine, since 2000’s X-Men, and is returning as Wolverine in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine making him one of the longest-running superhero actors of all time. While Wolverine’s return in the MCU’s Phase 5 is highly-anticipated, there has been confusion about where Deadpool & Wolverine will fit into 20th Century Fox’s X-Men timeline, as audiences have already witnessed Wolverine’s emotional death.

Before his return in Deadpool & Wolverine was announced in September 2022, Hugh Jackman had retired from playing Wolverine, with 2017’s Logan acting as his last hurrah. Logan marked the introduction of Dafne Keen’s Laura, a.k.a. X-23, Wolverine’s biological daughter who urged him to take her to safety at the Canadian border while being chased by Wolverine’s clone, X-24. X-24 got the upper hand on Jackman’s original hero,

killing him after an epic battle, and Reynolds and Jackman have promised not to mess with this powerful ending, so questions have arisen about how Wolverine can return in Deadpool & Wolverine.