Deadpool & Wolverine Easter eggs: every cameo and reference that matters

🥚 A film made of Easter eggs

🦸 This guide is part of our MCU watch order. For the film itself, see our Deadpool & Wolverine review.

We love this kind of Easter egg stuff, and Deadpool & Wolverine is stuffed with it. It is the most reference-dense Marvel film ever made: a send-off for twenty-plus years of Fox’s Marvel films, wrapped in jokes about Disney, the MCU and the actors themselves. Plenty of viewers will not get much out of it. If you grew up with these films, it is a feast.

The usual Easter egg lists run to a hundred items in no particular order. This one is sorted into groups, so you can find what you missed, and each entry says why it matters.

---

⭐ Our favorites

If you only remember seven, make it these. We go into each one below.

1. Chris Evans as Johnny Storm instead of Captain America.
2. Wesley Snipes back as Blade.
3. Channing Tatum finally playing Gambit.
4. Jennifer Garner’s Elektra and Dafne Keen’s X-23.
5. Dogpool.
6. Henry Cavill as “Cavillrine.”
7. The ruins of the 20th Century Fox logo in the Void.

---

🏚️ The Fox legends in the Void

The Void, first seen in Loki, is where the TVA dumps everything it prunes from the timeline. In this film, that includes the heroes and villains of Fox’s Marvel era. Some of them have been waiting there a long time.

The Others

• Johnny Storm (Chris Evans). Deadpool sees a man in red, white and blue and expects “Avengers, assemble!” Instead he hears “Flame on!” It is the Human Torch from Fox’s Fantastic Four (2005) and Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), the role Evans played before he became Steve Rogers. Best bait-and-switch in the movie, and the payoff is grim: Cassandra Nova kills him in one of the most gruesome moments of the film.
• Blade (Wesley Snipes). Back for the first time since Blade: Trinity (2004), more than twenty years later. That film also starred Ryan Reynolds, and the two get a short exchange that sounds like an in-joke about how that shoot went. He still delivers his old “ice skate uphill” line from the Blade films.
• Gambit (Channing Tatum). Tatum spent years attached to a Gambit solo film for Fox that was never made. Here he finally gets to play the role, accent and all, and the film makes a joke out of the fact that his movie never existed. A Taylor Kitsch version of the character had appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
• Elektra (Jennifer Garner). From Daredevil (2003) and Elektra (2005), back with her sais and still in fighting form.
• X-23 (Dafne Keen). Laura from Logan, now grown up and still wearing the sunglasses from that film. She ends up back in Deadpool’s world at the end, which leaves the door open.

The villains

Cassandra Nova’s army is a roll call of Fox-era villains, several played by their original actors:

• Sabretooth (Tyler Mane), the version from X-Men (2000), who fights Wolverine again and loses quickly.
• Pyro (Aaron Stanford), from X2 and The Last Stand.
• Toad, from X-Men (2000).
• Juggernaut, from The Last Stand, whose helmet becomes important in the finale.
• Lady Deathstrike, from X2.
• Azazel, from X-Men: First Class.

---

🗑️ The junkyard of Marvel history

The Void itself is a set made of Easter eggs. Look in the background and you will find:

• The 20th Century Fox logo, half-buried and broken. The film’s sharpest comment on Disney buying Fox: the studio that made all these films ends up as scrap, next to its heroes.
• A giant Ant-Man, or rather Giant-Man, corpse. Cassandra Nova’s lair is built inside its skull, and Deadpool gets a joke out of Paul Rudd finally aging.
• A S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, a Chitauri Leviathan and part of Stark Tower, all from The Avengers.
• The Milano, the Guardians’ ship from Guardians of the Galaxy.
• Red Skull’s car from Captain America: The First Avenger, and a comics-style Fantasticar.
• A chunk of the Golden Gate Bridge, from Magneto’s stunt in The Last Stand.
• A Secret Wars comic lying in the dirt, a nod to where the MCU is heading.

---

🐺 The Wolverine variants

Deadpool needs a Logan to save his world, so he flips through the multiverse looking for one. Each stop is a nod to a famous comic version of the character, all played by Hugh Jackman except one:

• The classic brown-and-tan suit, fighting the Hulk. A nod to the character’s first appearance in The Incredible Hulk #180–181 (1974).
• Patch, the eyepatch-wearing alias Logan used in the comics.
• A Wolverine tied to a cross, recreating the famous cover of Uncanny X-Men #251. Deadpool turns him down: they are “going in a different direction.”
• Henry Cavill as “Cavillrine,” the only Wolverine not played by Jackman. He is on screen for a few seconds, and the way he reloads his arms before a fight copies his bathroom fight in Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
• And “the worst Wolverine,” the one Deadpool brings home, who finally wears the comic-accurate yellow-and-blue suit fans wanted since 2000. The moment he puts on the mask is a fan wish more than two decades old.

---

🃏 The Deadpool Corps

In the Void, Deadpool meets a whole army of himself, the Deadpool Corps from the comics. The casting is half the joke:

• Dogpool, played by Peggy, a pug-Chinese crested mix who became the film’s breakout star. She steals every scene she is in.
• Lady Deadpool, voiced by Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds’ wife.
• Kidpool and Babypool, voiced by two of the Reynolds children.
• Cowboy Deadpool, voiced by Matthew McConaughey.
• Headpool, a zombie Deadpool head from the Marvel Zombies comics, voiced by Nathan Fillion.
• Nicepool, the long-haired, unscarred Deadpool, credited to “Gordon Reynolds.”
• Welshpool, played by Paul Mullin, a striker for Wrexham AFC, the Welsh football club Reynolds co-owns.

---

🏢 The MCU callbacks

The film starts in the main MCU timeline, and Happy Hogan’s office is a museum of it:

• Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) interviews Wade for the Avengers, and turns him down.
• On the shelves: an Iron Man Mark II helmet, the arc reactor Pepper gave Tony in a box reading “Proof that Tony Stark has a heart,” Coulson’s vintage Captain America trading cards and the prototype shield from Iron Man 2.
• The TVA comes straight from Loki, and Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) returns.
• Deadpool calls himself “Marvel Jesus,” the hero who will save a struggling franchise.

---

😂 The meta jokes

These are aimed at the film industry rather than the comics:

• The opening fight to NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye,” with Deadpool swinging the dug-up skeleton of the Logan who died in Logan. A loud way of saying: yes, we know he died.
• A “Liefeld’s Just Feet” shoe store in the finale, a dig at Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld, famous for avoiding drawing feet.
• A bus ad for “Stanlee Steemer” carpet cleaning, with Stan Lee’s face on it.
• Deadpool making “thwip” noises, the closest the film can get to Spider-Man.
• Several nods to Planes, Trains and Automobiles, the John Candy and Steve Martin road movie, which the Wade-and-Logan road trip openly copies.
• Jokes about Fox, Disney, the R rating and Hugh Jackman retiring the character, roughly every five minutes.

---

🎞️ The credits scenes

• During the credits: a behind-the-scenes montage from Fox’s Marvel films, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Deadpool films and more, set to Green Day. It is the film’s real goodbye to the Fox era, and it hits harder than you expect.
• After the credits: a short gag that proves Johnny Storm really did say the insults Deadpool claimed he said. No setup for a sequel, just one last laugh.

---

🔁 How to catch more of them

The best way is a second watch with the pause button. On the first viewing you are reacting; on the second you see the background. The Void scenes and Happy Hogan’s office are the densest.

If you want the cameos to land, the films to watch first are Deadpool, Deadpool 2, X-Men (2000), Logan and Loki. The Deadpool 3-movie collection covers the Deadpool side in one box.

Streaming is the easiest way to pause on every frame. Deadpool & Wolverine has been on Disney+ since November 12, 2024, after its digital release on October 1, 2024. The disc is the better choice if you want it on the shelf and want to rewatch it without a subscription, whenever the next cameo argument starts at the dinner table.

The film is also proof that this kind of fan service can work at the biggest scale. According to Box Office Mojo it grossed more than $1.3 billion worldwide and passed Joker as the highest-grossing R-rated film. A movie built on jokes about Fox’s back catalogue became one of the biggest hits of 2024, which says a lot about how many people grew up with those films.

One note for parents: like the film, this is adult territory. Deadpool & Wolverine is rated R, and we put it at 17+. Our age guide explains why.

📌 FAQ – Frequently asked questions

Who are the cameos in Deadpool & Wolverine?

The big ones are Chris Evans as Johnny Storm, Wesley Snipes as Blade, Jennifer Garner as Elektra, Channing Tatum as Gambit, Dafne Keen as X-23 and Henry Cavill as a Wolverine variant. Add Blake Lively, Matthew McConaughey and Nathan Fillion voicing members of the Deadpool Corps, Tyler Mane’s Sabretooth, Aaron Stanford’s Pyro, and Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan.

Is Chris Evans playing Captain America in Deadpool & Wolverine?

No, and that is the joke. Deadpool sees him in the Void and assumes Captain America has arrived. Instead it is Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, the role Evans played in Fox’s Fantastic Four films in 2005 and 2007, years before he became Steve Rogers.

What is the 20th Century Fox logo doing in the Void?

The Void is where the TVA dumps pruned timelines, and the half-buried Fox logo is the film’s sharpest joke about Disney buying 20th Century Fox. The studio that made the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool films ends up as scrap at the end of time, next to its heroes.

Who is the Wolverine played by Henry Cavill?

A Wolverine variant fans call Cavillrine. He appears for a few seconds when Deadpool searches the multiverse for a replacement Logan, and Deadpool waves him off. The way he reloads his arms before a fight is a nod to Cavill’s famous bathroom fight in Mission: Impossible – Fallout.

Does Deadpool & Wolverine have post-credit scenes?

Yes, two. During the credits there is a behind-the-scenes montage from Fox’s Marvel films, set to Green Day. After the credits there is a short gag scene showing that Johnny Storm really did say the insults Deadpool claimed he said.

Do I need to see the Fox X-Men films to get the Easter eggs?

Not to follow the plot, but most of the cameos only land if you have. X-Men (2000), X2, The Last Stand, Logan, the two Deadpool films, Blade, Elektra and the 2005 Fantastic Four are the ones the film draws on most.

More on Deadpool & Wolverine: Our full review · Is it OK for kids? · MCU watch order

Planning a rewatch? Prime Video’s 30-day free trial is an easy way to line up the older X-Men films first.