Deadpool & Wolverine spoilers follow.
After Deadpool 2 featured surprise cameos from the likes of Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and James McAvoy, all bets were off when it came to Deadpool & Wolverine given that Ryan Reynolds had the entire MCU to play with.
Early reveals such as Aaron Stanford reprising his role as Pyro from the original X-Men trilogy always felt like the starter to a veritable feast of cameos. However, perhaps we should have taken it as more of a sign of what to actually expect.
If you feared a hit parade of brief appearances from various stars that serve only as 'Hey, remember this guy?' cameos, that is not what the movie ends up being.
Because while Deadpool & Wolverine does have some major cameos and genuine surprises for Marvel fans, it also shows an admirable restraint when it comes to choosing who to include and why.
(Last chance to avoid spoilers which come thick and fast after the photo, and you really should want to be surprised in the cinema.)
After the genius cold open which sees Deadpool kill a host of TVA agents using Logan's skeleton, he goes to visit Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) to ask to become an Avenger. Unsurprisingly, Happy turns down Deadpool's request, but surprisingly, this is the only notable MCU cameo until Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) shows up briefly in the final act.
Chris Hemsworth's Thor pops up in a reworked scene from Thor: The Dark World as Thor mourns the loss of Deadpool. We also see Hulk briefly in an early montage, but it's so short as to be barely worth noting.
Initially, though, you're still expecting more MCU cameos, especially when Chris Evans shows up in the Void. When Deadpool first sees him, he's sure that he's finally face-to-face with Captain America, preparing for him to say his iconic "Avengers assemble" line.
But in a genius – and hilarious – misdirect, Evans says "flame on!" revealing that he's actually reprising his Johnny Storm (aka the Human Torch) role from the two Fantastic Four movies released in 2005 and 2007.
We then see various X-Men cameos which were already spoiled in the set photo leaks, but it's only Tyler Mane who reprises his role as Sabretooth. Other characters such as Toad, Juggernaut and Lady Deathstrike have been recast, perhaps because the others don't really have their own moments in the movie.
If that's a disappointment for fans, the movie soon removes any such negativity with a showstopping reveal.
After Deadpool and Wolverine escape from Cassandra Nova, they're picked up by Dafne Keen's Laura, aka X-23, which we knew from the final trailer. What we didn't know is that Laura is working with Elektra (Jennifer Garner), Blade (Wesley Snipes) and Gambit (Channing Tatum).
Garner had been rumoured to reprise her role from Daredevil and her own spin-off movie, but the other two actors' appearances are genuine surprises – especially since Tatum has never actually played Gambit on screen before. (Sorry, Taylor Kitsch.)
Far from being cameos for the sake of it, they're woven into the plot with Deadpool persuading them to join his fight to give them all an end to their story. Much like with the behind-the-scenes footage that plays over the credits, the cameos are meant to pay tribute to a Marvel before the MCU.
It's a universe that is now defunct and one that kind of sputtered to an end with the back-to-back flops of Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants. But Deadpool & Wolverine has now made sure that there is a new ending to it.
(Whether this is really the end, we'll have to wait and see. Laura is back with Deadpool and Wolverine at the end of the movie, but the others are nowhere to be seen.)
Sure, Blade wasn't part of that Fox Marvel universe, but there arguably isn't an MCU without that movie leading the way. It was the first movie to prove that Marvel movies could work, so it's right that in paying tribute to the X-Men universe, it doesn't forget the Daywalker.
For some fans, it could be a disappointment that the movie doesn't feature more of the higher-profile X-Men characters. There's no appearance, despite heavy rumours, for the likes of Patrick Stewart's Professor X or Ian McKellen's Magneto.
However, that fits with the nature of the Deadpool movies, which have always made jokes about not getting the A-list X-Men. The MCU sandbox potentially gave Reynolds and co the opportunity to draw in the bigger names, but it feels more Deadpool to instead have a deep-cut reference to an X-Men movie that never happened.
Deadpool & Wolverine isn't totally innocent of throwing a cameo in for the sake of it, such as Henry Cavill popping up briefly as a Wolverine variant officially coined the Cavillrine.
But even this showcases the restraint when it comes to surprise appearances, as the other Wolverines in that sequence are all played by Hugh Jackman. Not a Daniel Radcliffe in sight when it would have been the easier win.
You can never really say Deadpool & Wolverine is understated, but at least when it comes to its cameos, it didn't take the path that you might expect.
For more on Deadpool & Wolverine, check out:
• Deadpool & Wolverine review
• When is Deadpool & Wolverine coming to Disney+?
• Who's playing Lady Deadpool?
• Does Deadpool & Wolverine have a post-credits scene?
• Deadpool & Wolverine's tribute explained
Deadpool & Wolverine is out now in cinemas.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
