How is Wolverine alive in Deadpool and Wolverine?

After 2017's Logan film fans mourned the sacrifice of Hugh Jackman's beloved character, the actor bid farewell to the role and the X-Men icon was dead and buried — but not anymore, at least, not in Deadpool and Wolverine.

It came as a surprise when Jackman announced he would return to his iconic role again for Deadpool's first outing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, albeit a nice one. But it left many people wondering how exactly it would work when the character —the one that we know— had died at the end of Logan.

The good news is that the film covers their backs on this, and the trailers reveal that there is a reason that Wolverine is alive in the Marvel movie.

Wolverine's return comes down to one thing: the Multiverse. Much like how Spider-Man: No Way Home allowed three Peter Parkers to be around at once, Deadpool and Wolverine deals with the idea of the multiverse because Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is tasked with saving the Marvel Cinematic Universe by the Time Variance Authority.

This means that the Merc with the Mouth will be traversing different timelines that have different iterations of the same characters.

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For example, the fact there is a whole army of Deadpools in the movie —including Lady Deadpool and Dogpool— suggests that we are going to see the Deadpool Corps come into full force. These are Deadpools from different timelines, so it makes sense that the Wolverine that Jackman portrays is a new iteration to the one audiences know from the Fox era.

Matthew Macfadyen's Mr Paradox calls the film's version of the character "the worst Wolverine", who let down his entire world. It suggests that this is an iteration of Wolverine with a tragic backstory we have yet to explore — which will be impressive, really, given how tragic his past already is.

Jackman teased this aspect of his character at a press conference for the film, saying: "There are parts of the character that I've always... I pitched different versions to try and get it across, I can't tell you what it is but it was something I was scratching at. And these guys did it, it was so thrilling."

The actor added that he has a monologue that has "more countable words than I had in an entire movie playing Wolverine," and that he's found it was a "joy" to play the character this time around.

"There's something about maybe being my age and this time in my life, and with friends and playing him with such joy, it was so invigorating playing him again," the actor says. "I think fans will see a whole different side to him, which I'm really excited about. These guys wrote so generously, and with incredible detail and love for the character."

Deadpool and Wolverine premieres in UK cinemas on Thursday, 25 July.