Deadpool & Wolverine's two leads and director aren't denying the characters will be back for an Avengers movie

Deadpool & Wolverine is right around the corner, and that means stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, as well as director Shawn Levy, will be getting bombarded with incisive questions for the next few weeks. Of course, the matter of whether the two iconic Marvel characters will return for one or two Avengers movies has already been brought up, and to our surprise, the trio is doing a very bad job of hiding the truth.

The relevant bits can be found in Variety's interview with the two actors and the director, who have done as much heavy lifting themselves to sell the hell out of the movie as Disney and Marvel's marketing teams.

The entire conversation is well worth a read if you still care about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially given that the Deadpool threequel - including Hugh Jackman's return as Logan - has been inherited from the 20th Century Fox era of the X-Men-related characters and represents Disney-owned Marvel Studios' first foray into R-rated territory. "But it’s never rated R just to be rated R. A lot of it is just the character. The character is very crass. His brain is like a half-eaten omelet inside the skull of a 7-year-old," Reynolds says about the adults-only rating, likely fully aware that many entire families will go watch it together regardless, as the early box office tracking suggests.

Deadpool & Wolverine is both a follow-up to Deadpool 2 and the Fox-verse characters' introduction into Marvel Studios' multiverse, opening all kinds of doors for them in this movie as well as the MCU's future. In fact, the Time Variance Authority, first introduced in the Loki series, brings Ryan Reynold's bad-mouthed character into the fold. Any fan who's been paying attention to Phase 4 and 5 (two thirds of the uneven Multiverse Saga) knows this is like blowing the door wide open with sticks of dynamite. No matter what happens in this movie, Deadpool and Wolverine's future in the MCU is almost guaranteed.

Does it include one or two appearances alongside the Avengers? Well, it's looking more and more likely by the minute. "I don’t know. Yeah, we’ll see. Yeah," said Reynolds, barely trying to shoot down fan theories. "Now is where you go to the descriptive part of the article and say, 'They were shuffling in their seats,'" Levy added. Finally, Jackman tried to make a light joke out of the awkward moment: "Clearly, this is our first major interview of this press tour. I’m not sure how to answer." Anyone who's been following the MCU and press junkets for Marvel's movies over the years knows this is as close as we get to a 'yes' before a truly official confirmation, so chances are we'll see Deadpool and Wolverine again as part of a much bigger crossover.

Could Avengers: Secret Wars be the movie? Perhaps, but Avengers 5, previously titled The Kang Dynasty, is being completely rewritten by Loki and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness' Michael Waldron, so chances are the next Avengers could be crazier and bigger than we originally anticipated. Meanwhile, Levy is showing interest in tackling a Deadpool x Spider-Man movie, but who knows what Marvel's plans for the MCU are at the moment.