Entertainment

That sound you might have heard around 5 p.m. ET Tuesday was millions of geeks’ heads exploding, thanks to Ryan Reynolds‘ Instagram. 

That’s because he teased fans that Deadpool 3 will feature none other than his pal Hugh Jackman‘s return to his X-Men character, Wolverine. 

Reynolds opened by apologizing to fans. “We were extremely sad to have missed D23,” he said of the annual Disney Expo, “but we have been working hard on the next Deadpool film for a good long while now.”

Along with pensive shots of Reynolds both in and out of his Deadpool costumes, he continued, “I’ve had to really search my soul on this one. His first appearance in the MCU obviously needs to feel really special. We need to stay true to the character …”

He continued, “It’s been an incredible challenge that has forced me to reach deep inside. And I have nothing. It’s completely empty up here. And terrifying. But we did have one idea.”

At that, Hugh Jackman walks into frame behind him, eating an apple, and casually walks up a flight of stairs in the background. 

“Hey Hugh: You wanna play Wolverine one more time?”

“Yeah, sure Ryan,” Jackman says, chewing. 

At this, Reynolds raises his eyebrows, and Whitney Houston‘s “I Will Always Love You” blares, the obvious play on words with “you” and “Hugh.”

“Coming Hughn,” a title card reads near the Deadpool logo — which is split apart by Wolverine’s three claws — and a release date reading “9/6/24.”

The news came as a shock to fans, as Jackman had retired playing the role in 2017’s Oscar-nominated Logan, meaning he was never part of the Disney-owned Marvel Cinematic Universe.

With Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox — and the Wolverine character with it — along with the MCU’s dabbling in the Multiverse, however, it looks like fans will finally get their wish and see the two heroes together.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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Awards shows are sometimes criticized for being superficial, but Oscar winner George Clooney is looking to change that with the Albie Awards.

Clooney, his human rights attorney wife Amal and their Clooney Foundation for Justice have announced they’re staging the inaugural event at the New York City Public Library on the evening of September 29.

South African judge, author and activist Albie Sachs — for whom the awards are named — will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at the event.

Filipino journalist Maria Ressa will be honored with the Justice For Journalists award; Dr. Josephine Kulea, of the Kenya-based Samburu Girls Foundation, will be singled out with the Justice For Women award.

iAct, which supports genocide survivors in refugee camps, will be presented with the Justice For Survivors award, and Belarusian human rights group Viasna will be honored with the Justice For Democracy Defenders award.

Michelle Obama, Meryl Streep, Oscar Isaac, Dua Lipa, Aloe Blacc, John Oliver, Julia Roberts, and Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa will be among the newsmakers saluting the honorees.

In a statement, the Clooneys noted, “We believe that justice must be waged — it doesn’t just happen. So when journalists are locked up just for doing their job, we try to get them out of prison. When young girls are denied the right to study, work, or marry when they want, we help them fight for their rights through the courts. When minorities are targeted for genocide, we help trigger trials against the perpetrators.”

“The Albie Awards add a new dimension to our work at CFJ: they are a way to shine a protective light on the many courageous individuals who, at great personal risk, have devoted their lives to justice,” they conclude.

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Leslie Grace is sharing more behind-the-scenes peeks at Batgirl, the now-scuttled film in which she played Barbara Gordon/Batgirl.

On her Instagram, and set to a song she apparently wrote with singer-songwriter Lauren LaRue that was initially called “Bad Girls Get Lonely, Too,” Grace is seen being put through her paces on and off set.

Grace is shown training for her role as the titular heroine and bearing the bruises her character endures in the course of the movie. One shows her tangling with Firefly, the baddie who was played by Brendan Fraser.

There’s also more lighthearted moments in between shots of time in the make-up chair or at the training gym. One shows Grace showing off a 3D printed ambigram — the model displays “Leslie” or “Batgirl,” depending on how it’s positioned.

Another shows Leslie being offered a cookie in shape of her Batsuit’s chest emblem.

Regarding the song, Grace explained she laughed at the fact that the lyrics sounded like “Batgirls are lonely, too.” She noted, “in any case, over the last couple weeks, the song obviously took on a whole other meaning – as if it were written with all of the recent events in mind!”

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At a comic convention in Belgium on Sunday, Stranger Things star Caleb McLaughlin revealed he has also weathered racist trolling, as did some of the actors of color in Game of Thrones, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

One of the fans at Heroes Comic Con Belgium caught Caleb’s unfiltered answer on video.

“It definitely took a toll on me as a younger kid,” the actor, who plays Lucas on Stranger Things, said.

“My very first Comic-Con, some people didn’t stand in my line because I was Black. Some people told me, ‘Oh I didn’t want to be in your line because you were mean to Eleven,'” McLaughlin said.

“Even now some people don’t follow me or don’t support me because I’m Black. Sometimes overseas you feel the racism, you feel the bigotry. Sometimes it’s hard to talk about and for people to understand, but when I was younger it definitely affected me a lot.”

He continued, “You’re like … ‘Why am I the least favorite? Why don’t I have the followers? I’m on the same show since season 1.’ But then my parents had to be like, ‘It’s a sad truth, but it’s because you’re the Black child on the show.'”

“That’s why with my platform, I try spreading positivity and love because I don’t give hate back to people who give hate to me,” Caleb said, to which the crowd applauded.

The video snippet has been viewed nearly 430,000 times.

Amazon Video claims its Rings of Power series has been review bombed by viewers taking issue with its Middle-Earth actors of color. Black actor Steve Toussaint vented about the racist trolls he’s dealt with after he debuted as Corlys Velaryon in HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon.

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The new legal drama Reasonable Doubt premieres Tuesday on Hulu.

The Onyx Collective series follows Jacqueline “Jax” Stewart, a high-powered attorney in Los Angeles loosely based on real-life celebrity lawyer Shawn Holley. When Jax isn’t challenging the legal system “through wild interpretations of the law and sometimes questionable ethics,” she’s dealing with a complicated personal life.

“The thing that really got me most about this show is the fact that this woman, we get to see a full life,”  Emayatzy Corinealdi, who plays Jax, tells ABC Audio. “It’s not just about her work life. It’s not just about her personal life. We get to see what makes the woman. And we know as women, there’s so many moving parts.”

The show has strong women behind the camera as well, with Kerry Washington executive producing. She also directed the first episode.

“I love directing talented actors,” Washington tells ABC Audio. “And this cast is full of them. So to be able to help an actor find their best performance brings me so much joy. And I just, I really love directing. I love directing content that I like and that I want to watch. And that is definitely the case with Reasonable Doubt.”

Reasonable Doubt, also starring Michael Ealy, McKinley Freeman, Sean Patrick Thomas and Pauletta Washington, is out on Hulu now.

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Gwyneth Paltrow turns the big 5-0 today, and she got herself some gold — body paint, that is. The Oscar winner celebrated her milestone wearing only her birthday suit in an artfully posed nude snap in which she’s glowing from head to toe with the shimmery stuff.

Paltrow was posed so that her modesty was mostly protected. She’s seen in profile with her left arm draped over a white column as she leans on her right elbow, forehead in hand.

“50,” she captioned the snap posted to her 8.1 million followers.

The post got more than 200,000 likes in the first hour it was up on social media.

For the actress and Goop CEO, it’s just the latest picture to commemorate her 50th trip around the sun. Four days ago, she posted a black-and-white snap of herself wearing a bikini, smiling and doing a mid-air split.

The caption there was “musings on a milestone.” Among those to reply to that one was Demi Moore, who called Gwyneth “a goddess.”

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) If you’d like to book Jon Hamm for your podcast, now’s your chance. In a chat with Sirius/XM’s Pop Culture Spotlight with Jessica Shaw, the Emmy-winning Mad Men star admits he’s a pushover for the right project.

Hamm explained that he said yes to his comedic turn in Bridesmaids after getting on “like a house on fire” with Kristen Wiig when he hosted Saturday Night Live. She all but begged him to be in the movie, and he agreed.

Suffice it to say, his agents weren’t too happy, the Top Gun: Maverick co-star star recalled.

“I did that movie before there was a part, before there was a script, I said ‘yes’ to it. And [my] agents went, ‘Oh, well, s***. How do we, you know, ask for money?’ And I was like, ‘Don’t worry about it. It just, let me let go have fun with friends.”

Hamm’s instincts were spot-on, as the 2011 comedy went on to make $288.3 million at the global box office.

“Mostly I drive [my agents] crazy because I say yes to everything, you know?” Hamm says. “I’m always showing up for people’s podcasts or what have you. But that’s what I like doing. I like engaging with the people that I work with and I’ve had some tremendous, fun experiences doing that.”

The Confess, Fletch actor adds, “And things like that turn into other things. And, you know, those are the kinds of things you can’t measure.”

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After calling it quits in 2020, The Bachelor‘s Peter Weber and Kelley Flanagan are back together, a source tells Us Weekly.

The two, who met while filming season 24 of The Bachelor “rekindled their romance this summer and have been spending a lot of time together since then,” says the supposed insider.

Weber, 31, and Flanagan, 30, have been planning “fun dates” and having “a lot of fun together” since reconnecting earlier this year, the source shares, adding, “Peter wants to be in a serious committed relationship and his feelings for Kelley never went away…They’re both happy and looking forward to where things go this time around.”

Flanagan was the fifth runner-up during Weber’s The Bachelor season.

The pilot first proposed to Hannah Ann Sluss before breaking things off to pursue Madison Prewett. After that relationship went south, he and Flanagan went official in April 2020.

After dating for almost a year, they each took to social media to announce the breakup on December 31. After trying to “get back together” and “work on things” in January, Flanagan told Kaitlyn Bristowe in March 2021 on her Off the Vine podcast that their brief reunion came to an end after Valentine’s Day.

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There’s good news for Jeopardy! fans. Deadline reports that on the heels of the Celebrity Jeopardy! revival, Executive Producer Michael Davies is considering expanding the franchise with other spinoffs, including a masters league featuring the show’s winningest players, and a possible version of the long-running game show focused solely on sports and pop culture trivia, he tells the New York Times. The franchise has already begun filming a Second Chance Tournament that will bring back promising contestants, as well as a revamped Tournament of Champions…

Following Netflix’s announcement at Tudum on Saturday that Good Will Hunting actress Minnie Driver will be joining The Witcher: Blood Origin, the streamer debuted a first-look photo and details about her character on Monday, according to Entertainment Weekly. Driver will play Seanchaí, who, per series creator Declan de Barra, is “a shapeshifting storyteller that can travel between worlds and times. She’s essentially a collector of stories that are forgotten. She believes this story needs to be told again in the modern Witcher world for progress to be made in the future.” Blood Origin will premiere December 25…

Hannah Gadsby has inked a multi-title deal at Netflix, which will include a new stand-up special, in addition to another multi-comic special featuring gender-diverse comedians, according to Variety. Gadsby’s new hour-long special will premiere in 2023 and comes from the comedian’s appearance at the Sydney Opera House. It will be Gadsby’s third stand-up comedy special for Netflix, following Nanette in 2018 and 2020’s Douglas. The comic special will be taped next year. The move is surprising considering Gadsby had slammed Dave Chappelle for offensive jokes about queer and trans people in his controversial Netflix special The Closer last year, and also criticized Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos for posting the specials…

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Jennifer Hudson isn’t spilling the beans when it comes to whether or not she’s a contestant on The Masked Singer.

During Monday’s episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show, Hudson chatted with Emmy award-winning actor Leslie Jordan, who appeared as a guest panelist on singing competition show, and when asked if she’s ever been on the show she remained coy. 

“I heard that they think that I’m under the mask somewhere singing, but I’m not gonna tell you if its me or not,” the Grammy-award winner said. 

“I’m not gonna tell it,” she continued. “I want y’all to watch the show…cause that’s the point of the show is to guess who’s singing.”

Last week on The Masked Singer a contestant dressed as a Harp belted out Pink’s “Perfect” in front of the judges. Some of the clues given to help the panel guess the celebrity included a call sheet listing Harp in a leading role, two bouquets of roses, a person wearing a witch’s hat and 3D glasses.

“This could be Jennifer Hudson,” panelist Ken Jeong posed during Wednesday’s episode. “She’s done everything. But the comedy clue to me — she was in my favorite movie of all time, Sex and the City.”

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