Hugh Jackman Begged Kevin Feige on Camera to Let Him Join ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ — And Deadpool Wouldn’t Stop Interrupting

Marvel Studios has built an entire cottage industry out of stunt-casting reveals designed to break the internet, but even by those standards, D23 delivered one of its most chaotic moments yet. The night was already packed with major announcements, from a new Doctor Doom trailer to a freshly unveiled ‘X-Men’ cast, leaving fans wondering what else could possibly top it.

Then the lights dimmed for the ‘Avengers: Doomsday‘ portion of the presentation, and instead of jumping straight into new footage, Marvel opened with something nobody expected: a surprise video message from Hugh Jackman.

In the clip, Jackman made a direct and slightly desperate pitch to join the cast of ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, name-dropping his frequent collaborator for good measure. “I’d love to join, and I might be able to convince Ryan to appear,” Jackman told the crowd in the video message, referring to his longtime ‘Deadpool’ co-star Ryan Reynolds.

That’s when things got chaotic. Reynolds’ Deadpool character heckled Jackman from off-screen, pointing out that Marvel already has roughly twenty other people in the movie, so why exactly would they need two more.

Reports from inside the room also caught Deadpool barking at Jackman to “follow the script,” turning what could have been a simple plea into a full-blown comedic bit. Kevin Feige, for his part, didn’t take the bait on stage, simply moving forward with the panel and bringing out Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Hayley Atwell to introduce the new Doomsday footage.

The gag wasn’t exactly coming out of nowhere. Weeks earlier, Reynolds had crashed Marvel’s Hall H panel at Comic-Con in person, debuting a gray X-Force suit under the alias “Ricky” while begging for a spot in ‘Doomsday’, only for Downey Jr. to insist the movie was already locked and finished.

Running the same bit at two of Marvel’s biggest events within a month isn’t a coincidence so much as a calculated rollout, and it’s had fans buzzing about whether Wolverine and Deadpool are secretly locked in for the film. Some outlets have already begun treating the video as unofficial confirmation, even though Marvel has yet to say the words outright on stage.

There’s plenty of reason for fans to want it to be true. ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ pulled in $1.3 billion worldwide as Marvel’s only R-rated release to date, and Reynolds has already confirmed another ‘Deadpool’ film is in the works, giving both characters real box office weight behind the joke.

It’s also not the first time Jackman and Reynolds have played this game in public. The pair have a long history of trading playful jabs over Jackman’s on-again, off-again Wolverine retirement, dating back to Reynolds’ original campaign to bring him into the ‘Deadpool’ franchise years ago.

Fan reaction to the D23 bit was immediate, with clips of Jackman’s plea and Deadpool’s interruptions spreading quickly across social media. Whether or not the pair actually appear in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ remains technically unconfirmed by Marvel, but the timing, tone, and repeated public campaigning suggest the studio may be building toward something bigger.

‘Avengers: Doomsday’ is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and arrives in theaters on December 18, bringing together heroes from the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four for what’s being billed as the beginning of the end for the Multiverse Saga.

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