Ryan Reynolds is celebrating Hugh Jackman’s birthday with a Deadpool & Wolverine–themed tribute.
The star posted a supersized gallery of photos of the Les Miserables actor on Instagram on Saturday to commemorate his 56th birthday. “I hope we get to do this til we’re 90. Happy Birthday, @thehughjackman,” he wrote. “A lot of years. A lot of adventures.”
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That first quote is a not-so-subtle reference to a running joke in Deadpool & Wolverine, wherein Deadpool breaks the fourth wall to poke fun at Jackman repeatedly reprising his clawed mutant character on screen. “Disney’s gonna make him do this til he’s 90,” Deadpool says in the movie, jabbing at the studio’s recent reliance on nostalgia and its inability to recast the premiere X-Man.
The Green Lantern actor’s photo gallery includes 16 pics spanning several years, including snaps from the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con, the set of Deadpool & Wolverine, some black-tie events, and the Racecourse Ground, where Reynolds’ soccer club, Wrexham A.F.C., plays.
Reynolds also posted an Instagram story with a photo of Jackman and the caption, “Happy birthday to the one and only Greatest Showman.”
Jackman and Reynolds first acted together in X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009, which introduced Wade Wilson/Deadpool to the big screen and explored Logan’s backstory. Wade later revisited that film via time travel in 2018’s Deadpool 2, which featured brief shots of Jackman from Origins intercut with new footage of Reynolds that teased Deadpool & Wolverine.
Jackman later provided a voice cameo in Reynolds’ 2021 film Free Guy. That movie was directed by Shawn Levy, who later helmed this year’s Deadpool & Wolverine, the two heroes’ first full-fledged team-up. Jackman also appeared in an episode of Reynolds’ soccer documentary series, Welcome to Wrexham, this year.
Marvel
Reynolds and Jackman seem to genuinely enjoy each other’s company: They attended an NFL game together last year (with Taylor Swift!), constantly interact on social media, and even appear in the marketing for each other’s various non-movie business ventures. For example, earlier this week, Jackman shared a video promoting his upcoming music tour and Reynolds popped up in the promo despite having no connection to the project.
The duo have also repeatedly indicated that they want to star in more movies together because they had so much fun (and, presumably, made so much money) on Deadpool & Wolverine. Reynolds noted that he’d like to make a movie with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, and his pal said he wanted to tag along.
“He’s young,” Jackman said. “We could pile on him and abuse him. You know, just yell at him.”
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Outside the Marvel universe, Jackman and Reynolds have ideas about another upcoming collaboration. “We have one we’re looking to do soon,” Reynolds told Entertainment Weekly earlier this summer. “I would say that [ours] is like any relationship that is successful and works: It’s that two parties are rooting for each other. I’m always rooting for Hugh to score and win. I also know the infinite nuance of his heart and his mind and who he is. I can say firsthand that he’s a person who’s not just worth rooting for, he’s somebody who’s impossible to not root for.”
