Already it seems like all Marvel movies are blender-made, as characters get rebooted, spun-off, and conveniently thrown into other multiverses and timelines so that even character deaths become meaningless. Deadpool, until now, has been somewhat Marvel-adjacent due to the character being part of 20th Century Fox’s intellectual property. He’s been off doing his own thing, being a fabulous, foul mouthed, pansexual pest, as played by Ryan Reynolds (who seems to have finally found a role this fits him like a snug red and black bodysuit). The character has gleefully and refreshingly embraced a full-on R-rating (language and violence)—cheekily breaking the 4th wall, bringing the audience in on the jokes with snarky references to celebrity gossip, moviemaking politics, and all that is Hollywood.
Deadpool & Wolverine absolutely continues Deadpool’s smartass tradition. Yes, it’s funny. Yes, fans will love it. And yes, it gets absolutely exhausting, even as it clocks in at a somewhat Marvel-efficient time of just over two hours.
This three-quel fully gets credit for admitting that the multi-verse concept is doesn’t always work… but does it anyway. It also throws non-stop shade at 20th Century Fox and the studio’s attempts at their own Marvel Universe, where (with notable exception of the X-Men) the output was either shitty or the characters unceremoniously disappeared, never to been seen again. But now that the behemoth of Disney has absorbed 20th Century Fox like the gaping maw that it is, we finally get a movie that can name drop Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Deadpool, and all the memorable and forgettable movie heroes in between. And not just name drop (mild spoiler!), but you may have heard that this merge makes way for a LOT of cameos of heroes past.
In this go-around, or in this universe let’s say, Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Reynolds) is informed by one Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) of the Time Variance Authority (TVA) that his timeline is in peril for reasons to complicated to explain. Deadpool’s solution is to go universe-hopping to grab a live Wolverine (since Logan, we all know, is dead in his world) to help save his timeline and his family of friends. It’s almost like Wade finds that he has a heart, but luckily Wolverine, in pretty much all still-living incarnations, is a depressed, self-hating, lashing-out drunk. Deadpool has to convince Wolverine, who he has plucked from his own failure of a timeline, that he, indeed, can still be a hero.
Hugh Jackman’s musky, tortured hero was always the best thing about the X-Men, so it’s nice to see him even if it takes two hours for his shirt to literally explode off his body (thank you thank you thank you!). Deadpool flirts, teases, ogles, and gets super-stabby in a not-even-veiled homoerotic way. Neither Wolverine nor Deadpool can die (their bodies regenerate), so their fights turn super bloody when Wolverine wants Deadpool to simply shut up. And they fight and fight and fight and fight. Disney (again, 4th wall) won’t allow any sex, especially gay sex, in a Marvel movie, so instead we get the cringey substitute of Deadpool and Wolverine violently stabbing each other’s butts, groins, and faces over and over… I mean, ya get it?
It’s barely worth mentioning the villain, one bald headed super-powerful Cassandra Nova (played by Emma Corrin) who is mainly memorable for her ability to literally stick her fingers into someone’s skull and mess with their minds. As we all know, Wolverine’s mind is definitely a mess and Logan’s troubled soul has always been the best part of any X-Men movie, so this conflict allows for Hugh Jackman’s reluctant hero to again rise above the material and offer what little emotional heft this film has.
But who needs heft when you have jokes? Who needs a cohesive and engaging plot when you have two of Marvel’s most appealing characters (and actors) finally co-starring in a long-awaited blood-and-joke-splattered bromance? Throw in 20+ years of Marvel/Fox references and cameos to delight even some of the more casual fans, and you have a film that I’m sure will do gangbusters at the box office, no matter what critics like me say.
I smell a new franchise, do you?
