Spoilers follow for Deadpool and Wolverine.
We're less than a month away from Deadpool and Wolverine slicing its way into theaters – and Marvel has started the countdown clock on its arrival with the release of a new trailer.
If you're already rolling your eyes about another teaser filled with footage we've seen before, though, you might want to actually watch this one. Why? Because the Marvel Phase 5 movie's newest 60-second trailer actually contains plenty of new footage. In fact, I'd consider it to be a glorified teaser clip, because it primarily teases a rematch between two individuals who first locked claws in the very first live-action X-Men movie.
Yep, we're getting another showdown between Hugh Jackman's adamantium-clawed mutant and Sabretooth (real name Victor Creed), one of Wolverine's most notable adversaries in Marvel comics. The duo faced off on the big screen in 2000's X-Men, the first entry in Fox's now-defunct cinematic franchise (read our X-Men movies in order guide for more details), which saw Wolverine overcome his arch-nemesis in the flick's final act. 24 years on from that bout, we're getting another showdown between the pair, albeit one that'll be far more violent – Deadpool 3 will be R-rated – than their duel in the first live-action X-Men film.
If that wasn't pleasing enough, the actor who played Sabretooth in that film – Tyler Mane – will reprise his role as the animalistic antagonist to Jackman's similarly rage-filled mutant. We're not just getting any old rehash of the duo's fight from the first X-Men movie, then – we're getting one that fans (Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) or otherwise) have waited nearly 25 years for. Color me excited.
An MCU movie leak that turned out to be true
New set photos from ‘DEADPOOL 3’ show Wolverine & Deadpool's fight with Sabretooth. pic.twitter.com/b32PR56HsMDecember 3, 2023
Okay, if you've been keeping a very close eye on Deadpool and Wolverine's development, you might have known that Sabretooth was all but confirmed to feature as part of the movie's extensive cast roster. Various X/Twitter fan accounts, including the X-Men Updates social media channel, posted a bunch of leaked images in December 2023 (see above) that revealed Mane would be back as Sabretooth. To those individuals, this grand reveal won't as surprising as it is to those who are only learning about his return with this teaser.
Still, it's nonetheless satisfying to see that Mane is back as one of Wolverine's greatest enemies. And hey, if Marvel has decided to unveil Sabretooth's return prior to the film's July 26 launch, it means they must be holding back even bigger and/or crowd-pleasing cameos for the movie. Well, hopefully ones that I didn't already pick out, or speculate on, from its other two main trailers – you can read my first Deadpool and Wolverine trailer breakdown for more on those, or another article in which I pointed out the six best Easter eggs in Deadpool and Wolverine's second trailer. As for potential character cameos I missed, Marvel fans are convinced they've spotted two big character Easter eggs in Deadpool 3's first official trailer, too.
We'll see if anyone was correct in their assumptions when the film arrives in theaters next month. In the meantime, go and watch 2000's X-Men film on Disney Plus right now, regardless of where you live. Alternatively, see which X-Men flicks made it onto my best superhero movies of all time list.