“He is the master at this”: Deadpool & Wolverine Star Dafne Keen Took a Page Out of One Marvel Star’s Playbook to Hide Her Role in the Movie Until the Big Reveal

Deadpool & Wolverine is finally bringing two of Marvel’s most beloved characters together. Ryan Reynolds is back as the Merc with a Mouth, and Hugh Jackman is reprising his role as Wolverine. But they are not the only familiar faces fans can expect to see.

The newest trailer for the movie revealed Dafne Keen’s return as Laura, aka X-23, whom she played last time in 2017’s Logan. Now, she is back after 7 years, ready for action alongside Deadpool and her father’s variant of Wolverine.

Dafne Keen Learnt the Art of Misdirection from Andrew Garfield

But the toughest part for Keen, other than working for her role, was to keep her involvement a secret for months. She had to manage to dodge all the questions from reporters and media outlets. By channeling her inner Andrew Garfield, Dafne Keen was able to pull off one of the best-kept secrets in recent Marvel memory.

During her promotion of The Acolyte, Keen was able to successfully lie to On Demand Entertainment about not appearing in Deadpool & Wolverine. She said,

Of course it’s sad. I love Hugh and creatively, I love Ryan [Reynolds] and I love Shawn [Levy]. I’m really excited to see what they’ve made. I think Shawn is one of the best directors out there right now. Obviously, Ryan’s a legend. It would have been amazing to be part of it, but I’ll just go watch it as a fan, to see my old buddy in it.

However, during her recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, she revealed how fun it was for her to lie around to keep her involvement a secret. She further named Andrew Garfield as her inspiration behind all these.

All the inspo comes from Andrew Garfield. He is the master at this.

Garfield was able to misdirect the media and the world about his role in Spider-Man: No Way Home until the movie actually came out. Similar to Keen, he was also constantly bombarded with questions during his promotions of Tick, Tick… Boom! which came out just before No Way Home. Moreover, leaked images and footage made the matter worse for him, but he was a master at lying to maintain the surprise element for fans.

Initially, Keen thought her chance to play Laura had passed when Disney bought 20th Century Fox which canceled all X-Men projects. However, Disney had other plans for her, and she is seen having a deep conversation with Wolverine in the latest trailer of Deadpool 3.

Will Spider-Man Be There in Deadpool & Wolverine?

While there will be multiple cameos and returns, the final trailer raised some more doubts among fans after a Spidey reference in it. 

In one scene, Deadpool is seen making Spider-Man’s iconic web-shooting pose and making the “thwip” sound of web shooters. It might just be a cheeky nod, or it might be hinting at something more. However, the Marvel-Sony partnership put those speculations in doubt.

Some other wild speculation suggests that the famous Spider-Man villain Mysterio might be behind the downfall of Wolverine’s universe. In the Old Man Logan comics storyline, Mysterio tricks Wolverine into killing all the X-Men and he might also play a similar role here, as in the earlier trailer, it can be seen that a TVA agent is blaming Logan for letting down his people and universe.

There are also rumors of the Spider-Man 2 character Mr. Aziz appearing in Deadpool 3. Peter Parker’s old boss at Joe’s Pizza might also appear, because in one scene in the earlier trailer, Deadpool and Wolverine are talking in a restaurant, and “Joe’s famous chili bowl” and “Joe’s easy omelet” can be seen in the background.

One thing is for sure- Deadpool & Wolverine is shaping up to be a multiversal and cameo-packed movie. Although there are still doubts about Spider-Man’s appearance, only time will tell how many Spidey hints will be seen in the movie. 

Deadpool & Wolverine is releasing in theaters on July 26, 2024.