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In recent years, it's become commonplace for there to be multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe movies in cinemas. But in 2024, all of their eggs are in just one exciting basket with Deadpool & Wolverine, a movie that will team Ryan Reynolds' foul-mouthed Wade Wilson with Hugh Jackman's famously adamantium-clawed mutant for another round of superhero shenanigans.

While the first two Deadpool movies and all of Jackman's eight appearances as Logan took place under the now defunct 20th Century Fox studio banner, Deadpool & Wolverine takes place within the Disney-owned Marvel Cinematic Universe. That connection fuels the plot, which has the Time Variance Authority (or TVA for short, as seen in Loki) crash Wade's birthday party and recruit him for a crucial multi-versal mission.

Along the way, he seeks out someone who has a little experience saving the world, teaming up with a reluctant Wolverine variant against Emma Corrin's villainous Cassandra Nova. That's the impetus for a lot of R-rated gore and violence – no punches pulled, no punchlines missed.

Among the many reasons to be pumped for this much-anticipated sequel is having Reynolds and Jackman finally starring on screen together as the characters they were each born to play. Their off-screen bromance has produced several laugh-out-loud moments online over the years, and that will doubtless bleed into the frenemy dynamic that Wolverine and Deadpool share. Additionally, Wade's penchant for breaking the fourth wall means that their friendship – along with other real-world elements like Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige – could well be fodder for hilarious humour within the movie itself.

Having Jackman in Wolverine's comics-accurate yellow Spandex is also a treat for fans (and a testament to how far superhero movies have come since the early X-Men movies of the 2000s), and the MCU connection means there are endless possibilities for what can happen and who may appear.

Trailers tease Avengers: Endgame portals appearing out of nowhere, characters from the old X-Men movies reprising their roles – including Aaron Stanford's Pyro and Kelly Hu's Lady Deathstrike – and Deadpool sharing the scene with some familiar Marvel heavyweights. There's a strong chance those won't be the only surprises the movie has in store either.

What we do know for certain is that Jackman and Reynolds will be joined by several returning cast members from the Deadpool movies, including Morena Baccarin as Wade's beau, Vanessa, and Rob Delaney as X-Force member Peter, as well as Brianna Hildebrand's superpowered mutant Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al and Karan Soni as the taxi driver, Dopinder.

We thought we'd seen the last of Jackman's Wolverine in 2017, when James Mangold's Logan gave the fan-favourite mutant a pitch-perfect ending. Perhaps the biggest indicator that Deadpool & Wolverine is aiming for something truly special is that it brought Jackman out of retirement.

With a writing team that includes original Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, this could be a very funny, subversive addition to the on-screen legacy of the character, rather than something that detracts from it. With the X-Men on the horizon in the MCU, this could be the perfect appetiser to reintroduce mutants in live-action cinema, via arguably the best-known beloved X-verse characters . It's a recipe tailor-made for success. To quote the titular duo: let's f****** go.   Amon Warmann