One of the Deadpool 3 trailer Easter eggs might have just offered up a clue as to when it takes place on the Marvel timeline.
Towards the start of the teaser, which emerged online after debuting at the 2024 Super Bowl, titular wisecracker Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is abducted by Time-Keepers – you know, the armored officers with the light-up "pruning" sticks that we first met in Disney Plus TV series Loki – and whisked off to the Time Variance Authority headquarters. There, Matthew Macfadyen's character Paradox pitches the idea of Wade becoming a bonafide hero, like Iron Man and Captain America, and looks to fill him in or all things MCU using a bunch of TVA monitors.
Fans soon took to Reddit to theorize on what certain aspects of the promo meant, from its possible Avengers: Age of Ultron nod to that mysterious bald head. In one thread on the discussion board, a viewer suggested that one of the screens shown to Wade by Paradox proves Deadpool 3 is set before the events of Loki.
Deadpool TVA theoryfrom r/marvelstudios
As user NotABearInDisguise points out, the Sacred Timeline glimpsed in the scene is the old design seen in Loki season 1, before Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) killed He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) and essentially broke everything. In the finale of Loki season 2, the timeline looks much more like a tree.
While some commenters seemed to agree that there might be something to the old timeline's inclusion, others were doubtful, with one arguing: "They could very easily change what's on the screens before the movie comes out to match the ending of Loki."
"It's going to be similar to Black Panther to Infinity War where writers likely didn't have all the pieces of the Loki puzzle to incorporate details from Loki S2," another echoed, noting that Deadpool 3 and Loki season 2 were filmed around the same time. "Might be some in post production."
"This could easily be one of the branches of the tree that we saw at the end of Loki S2. It is a tree after all," said one more, while another claimed: "The monitors are all showing different things from the past, so it could very well be a snippet of a past timeline to show wade what has happened."
"Deadpool was never put in a TVA prisoner jumpsuit like Loki was, and put on trial for his time travel stuff. Wade was being recruited by the TVA to do something for them, that's why he was being shown the monitors and how he could "be a hero among heroes" so this is clearly post Loki season 2," argued another. "Any small inconsistencies can just be written off as errors made during production."
Others reckon that Deadpool 3, which is officially titled Deadpool & Wolverine, will be set between the events of Loki season 1 and season 2. Fortunately, we don't have to wait too much longer to find out as the movie lands in UK cinemas on July 25, and in the US a day later.
For more, check out all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way, as well as our guide to how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
