Warning! Spoilers ahead for Deadpool & Wolverine.

Summary

• Deadpool & Wolverine adds Chris Evans' Human Torch, Jennifer Garner's Elektra, and Wesley Snipes' Blade to the list of pre-MCU characters who have ed the MCU.
• If Eric Bana's Hulk and Nicolas Cage's Ghost Rider also return, the MCU could assemble a multiversal team of pre-MCU Marvel characters in an homage to early-aughts Marvel movies.
• Eric Bana has said that he "can't see" a Hulk return happening, and Nicolas Cage has suggested that he's open to a Ghost Rider return.

Only two characters are missing from the multiversal Deadpool & Wolverine's brief cameos or in the titular characters' full-fledged war against Cassandra Nova and her forces in the Void.

Henry Cavill's Wolverine and Channing Tatum's Gambit certainly make an impact with their Deadpool & Wolverine appearances, but Chris Evans' Human Torch, Jennifer Garner's Elektra, and Wesley Snipes' Blade bring Marvel's movies full circle. While Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Elektra, and the Blade trilogy weren't as critically and commercially successful as most of the MCU's projects, their characters hold a special place in many fans' hearts. Deadpool & Wolverine might not be the last time they will appear after their long-deserved return. In fact, a huge team-up may be coming sooner rather than later.

The MCU Is Yet To Bring Back Eric Bana’s Hulk And Nicolas Cage’s Ghost Rider

The MCU Hasn't Acknowledged Hulk (2003) And Ghost Rider (2007) Yet

Apart from the multiversal team Deadpool and Wolverine assemble in the Void in Deadpool & Wolverine, the MCU has already paid homage to previous non-MCU Marvel movies during the Multiverse Saga. Characters such as Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spider-Men in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Patrick Stewart's Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Kelsey Grammer's Beast in The Marvels returned years after their Marvel debut outside the MCU. As of 2024, almost every major pre-MCU Marvel movie or franchise has had one of their characters appear in an MCU movie.

Hulk was the first Marvel movie to feature a CGI Hulk and Ghost Rider was the first movie to introduce the Spirit of Vengeance. Although neither of these movies were as popular as Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy or the early X-Men movies, they helped lay the foundations for the MCU and still have their fair share of fans. A cameo by Eric Bana's Hulk and Nicolas Cage's Ghost Rider in multiversal MCU movies or shows would be a respectful tip of the hat that would round out Marvel Studios' homage to Marvel's early-aughts movies.

What Eric Bana And Nicolas Cage Have Said About A Potential MCU Return

Bringing Back Eric Bana And Nicolas Cage For An MCU Cameo Isn't Harder Than What Marvel Has Already Accompished

On a May 2024 episode of Eric Bana said that he "can't see" an MCU return in a movie like Deadpool & Wolverine happening. Speaking to Uproxx in December 2023, Nicolas Cage itted he's "not saying no entirely" to reprising some of his famous roles, like Ghost Rider. Although Bana's comments and Nicolas Cage's new role as Spider-Man Noir could complicate their return, Marvel Studios has already proved that nothing is impossible with Hugh Jackman, Wesley Snipes, Chris Evans, and Robert Downey Jr.'s recent MCU roles.

Sources: SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show, Uproxx