Super Bowl trailers: Deadpool & Wolverine, Wicked and Twisters debut at big game

A superhero showdown, a sequel to a 90s cult classic, and one of the biggest musicals of all time are amongst the trailer highlights during today’s Super Bowl.

While the major sporting event is well known for its star-studded mid-game advertisements, movie studios used the highly watched game as a launchpad for their major blockbusters, and 2024 was no exception.

Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman reunite for Deadpool & Wolverine

Perhaps the most anticipated trailer today was the first look at Deadpool & Wolverine, the third instalment of the Ryan Reynolds-led franchise, which sees “the Merc with a Mouth” team up with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. It’s the first time Jackman has donned the metal claws and sideburns that made him a star since initially retiring as Wolverine in 2017′s Logan.

The two previously starred together in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and while multiple jokes at Jackman’s expense were fired off during the first two Deadpool movies, this new sequel sees the first time the two A-listers have shared the screen since.

Wolverine prepares to attack Deadpool in the first trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine. Photo / Marvel

The trailer teases Deadpool’s entrance into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with him in trouble with the Time Variance Authority first introduced in Loki, which hunts down “variants” running foul of the Sacred Timeline. Deadpool - aka Wade Wilson - is seen learning about the Avengers, and being offered the chance to become a hero.

“Your little cinematic universe is about to change forever. I’m the messiah. I am Marvel Jesus,” Wilson tells a TVA agent, played by Succession star Matthew MacFayden, during the trailer, before a montage of the R-rated violence Deadpool is set to unleash upon the MCU.

The movie is the first X-Men movie produced by Disney, after the company acquired 20th Century Fox in 2016. There have been rumours that Reynolds and Jackman will be joined by other X-Men stars in the movie, but the only cameo teased saw Aaron Stanford likely resuming his role as Pyro from the original trilogy.

The trailer offers only a few brief shots of Wolverine, most notably as a shadow stepping over Deadpool, so fans will have to wait for the next trailer for more of his big return.

Deadpool & Wolverine is due in New Zealand cinemas on July 25.

Wicked takes flight with first look at musical adaptation

For those watching the Super Bowl for Taylor Swift over Travis Kelce, there was a musical treat for you all.

The much-anticipated adaptation of Wicked dropped during the show as well, giving fans their first official look at Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Eviro’s Elphaba.

While little of the plot is revealed in the one-minute trailer, the movie is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, telling the story of how the two iconic witches were once friends long before Dorothy came to Oz. Adapted from the long-running Broadway musical, fans were treated to their first taste of Erivo’s cover of the show’s defining ballad, Defying Gravity.

Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard were seen briefly, alongside shots of the yellow brick road and the Emerald City.

Wicked will open in New Zealand on November 28.

Twisters puts a fresh spin on an old favourite

And for fans of 90s classics, the first look at Twisters was unveiled as part of the lineup. The movie is a standalone sequel to the 1996 cult favourite Twister, which starred Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt, with the trailer suggesting more of a climate change-related twist on the tale.

This new version stars Daisy Edgar-Jones as a storm researcher who ends up in Oklahoma tracking storm patterns alongside Glen Powell’s celebrity storm chaser.

The trailer suggests disaster quickly strikes, with multiple tornadoes and twisters descending upon one small town and forcing them to fight for their lives against the destructive wind.

If weather-related horror is your thing, you can check out Twisters on July 18.