*SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS*
Your experience with Deadpool & Wolverine will vary wildly depending on your expectations.
If you’re craving a strong story comparable to the upper half of MCU fare, albeit with more jokes, you’re likely going to have a middling time at best.
If you’re instead looking for R-rated violence, self-aware meta humor that often satirizes the MCU, and fan-servicing cameos aplenty, then you’ll be very happy.
The challenge for an MCU Deadpool was always going to be two-fold: one, would Disney allow an unabashedly R-rated character to exist in its universe? I can safely report that the Deadpool we get this time out is every bit as raunchy and profane as the one we saw in the Fox outings.
Two, how do you incorporate a character like this into an existing cinematic universe that (She-Hulk aside) does not break the fourth wall? Will the tone work, and, probably more importantly, does Deadpool as a character “break” the MCU? Here, the results are inconclusive.
After watching She-Hulk, my final verdict was that the Disney+ show was watchable, but, despite crossovers with existing core MCU characters, it would basically need to be treated as non-canon. To some extent, I wound up in a similar place watching Deadpool & Wolverine, but the film side-steps the issue a bit by having Deadpool interact almost exclusively with Fox Marvel characters. His only extended interaction with an “Earth-616” character comes in a scene with Happy Hogan.
This scene makes little sense, by the way, as there’s no clear explanation for how Deadpool is even able to reach Earth-616 in 2018, aside from the assumption that Cable’s gadget from Deadpool 2 did the trick. But that gap in the plot speaks to the larger point about this movie: the story really isn’t that important. Nor is it intended to be particularly tight (and, trust me, it is not). Deadpool is absurd by design, and the jokes work best as standalone meta comedy, rather than James Gunn-style, story-based humor.
As such, Deadpool & Wolverine winds up less as Deadpool’s bridge to the MCU (it really isn’t, in fact!) and more of an expletive-filled love letter to Deadpool fans, as well as a surprisingly sincere farewell to Fox’s now-dead Marvel universe.
The jokes are too numerous to mention, but my favorite actually comes in the opening scene. While Deadpool takes cover behind a fallen treed, A TVA trooper gives a little speech informing Deadpool that he’s under arrest. As the speech unfolds, Deadpool groans and says “Ugh. Death by day player.”
Other favorites included Deadpool’s commentary on Gambit’s dialect coach, Elektra not lamenting the death of Daredevil, and Deadpool inexplicably wasting time by taunting Logan with gags through the window of the security door in the climactic scene.
Bringing back a host of Fox characters and actors was also a treat, especially Chris Evans, Jennifer Garner, Wesley Snipes, and Channing Tatum (finally getting to play Gambit). Most of all, Dafne Keen returns as X-23 to provide tonal assistance to Hugh Jackman, who does almost all of the heavy lifting in this movie, acting-wise.
Ultimately, where you rank this film in the Deadpool franchise will depend on how much you value the “I-can’t-believe-Disney-let-them-do-that” aspect of many of the jokes, including barbs that gently criticize the current slump of multiverse-mired MCU films. If that scenario sounds especially appealing to you, this entry probably winds up at #1. Reynolds is a comedic home run, Jackman is a superb actor as always, and his constant annoyance with Deadpool is very entertaining.
For me, the original Deadpool is still the best. It was not only very inventive, but it also had a much more complete story. As noted, the story in Deadpool & Wolverine is an afterthought—basically a delivery system for more fourth-wall-breaking bits. The story doesn’t really “fit” with any existing canon, but it’s probably not supposed to. Example: Logan explicitly took place in 2029, but, for the sake of the “using Logan’s corpse to kill TVA troops” gag, it all implicitly happens in or before 2024.
Not only that, but the entire idea of an “anchor being” is painfully contrived, even by superhero movie standards. However, without that contrivance, I suppose the movie can’t happen.
There’s also no real reason that Paradox pulls Deadpool out of his native reality in the first place. He vaguely tells Deadpool he’s “special,” and that he’ll add him to the “sacred” timeline (616), but there’s no explanation beyond that. This problem could have been fixed very easily by telling Deadpool that he has some kind of “meta-consciousness” that allows him to perceive events and realities beyond the one he occupies.
This would not only explain why Paradox wanted to save Deadpool from his universe’s destruction, it would also clarify the origin of Deadpool’s fourth-wall breaks in a way that makes sense and fits nicely within the existing MCU. In a nutshell, Deadpool has the ability to intuit that there is a larger reality / other realities and reacts to that in real time. To the other people around him, he simply looks slightly insane. All of that would take care of the second problem I described above.
Given its minimal interaction with the mainline MCU, unless you count the TVA from Loki, I would even go as far as to say that Deadpool still hasn’t really joined the MCU. We’ll probably have to wait until the next Avengers movie to see Deadpool truly join the MCU. If nothing else, though, Deadpool & Wolverine was a funny, fitting send-off for the Fox Marvel universe. And that’s more than enough.
The Axis of Ego 
Timely Movie Review: Deadpool & Wolverine
*SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS*
If you’re craving a strong story comparable to the upper half of MCU fare, albeit with more jokes, you’re likely going to have a middling time at best.
If you’re instead looking for R-rated violence, self-aware meta humor that often satirizes the MCU, and fan-servicing cameos aplenty, then you’ll be very happy.
The challenge for an MCU Deadpool was always going to be two-fold: one, would Disney allow an unabashedly R-rated character to exist in its universe? I can safely report that the Deadpool we get this time out is every bit as raunchy and profane as the one we saw in the Fox outings.
Two, how do you incorporate a character like this into an existing cinematic universe that (She-Hulk aside) does not break the fourth wall? Will the tone work, and, probably more importantly, does Deadpool as a character “break” the MCU? Here, the results are inconclusive.
After watching She-Hulk, my final verdict was that the Disney+ show was watchable, but, despite crossovers with existing core MCU characters, it would basically need to be treated as non-canon. To some extent, I wound up in a similar place watching Deadpool & Wolverine, but the film side-steps the issue a bit by having Deadpool interact almost exclusively with Fox Marvel characters. His only extended interaction with an “Earth-616” character comes in a scene with Happy Hogan.
This scene makes little sense, by the way, as there’s no clear explanation for how Deadpool is even able to reach Earth-616 in 2018, aside from the assumption that Cable’s gadget from Deadpool 2 did the trick. But that gap in the plot speaks to the larger point about this movie: the story really isn’t that important. Nor is it intended to be particularly tight (and, trust me, it is not). Deadpool is absurd by design, and the jokes work best as standalone meta comedy, rather than James Gunn-style, story-based humor.
As such, Deadpool & Wolverine winds up less as Deadpool’s bridge to the MCU (it really isn’t, in fact!) and more of an expletive-filled love letter to Deadpool fans, as well as a surprisingly sincere farewell to Fox’s now-dead Marvel universe.
The jokes are too numerous to mention, but my favorite actually comes in the opening scene. While Deadpool takes cover behind a fallen treed, A TVA trooper gives a little speech informing Deadpool that he’s under arrest. As the speech unfolds, Deadpool groans and says “Ugh. Death by day player.”
Other favorites included Deadpool’s commentary on Gambit’s dialect coach, Elektra not lamenting the death of Daredevil, and Deadpool inexplicably wasting time by taunting Logan with gags through the window of the security door in the climactic scene.
Bringing back a host of Fox characters and actors was also a treat, especially Chris Evans, Jennifer Garner, Wesley Snipes, and Channing Tatum (finally getting to play Gambit). Most of all, Dafne Keen returns as X-23 to provide tonal assistance to Hugh Jackman, who does almost all of the heavy lifting in this movie, acting-wise.
Ultimately, where you rank this film in the Deadpool franchise will depend on how much you value the “I-can’t-believe-Disney-let-them-do-that” aspect of many of the jokes, including barbs that gently criticize the current slump of multiverse-mired MCU films. If that scenario sounds especially appealing to you, this entry probably winds up at #1. Reynolds is a comedic home run, Jackman is a superb actor as always, and his constant annoyance with Deadpool is very entertaining.
For me, the original Deadpool is still the best. It was not only very inventive, but it also had a much more complete story. As noted, the story in Deadpool & Wolverine is an afterthought—basically a delivery system for more fourth-wall-breaking bits. The story doesn’t really “fit” with any existing canon, but it’s probably not supposed to. Example: Logan explicitly took place in 2029, but, for the sake of the “using Logan’s corpse to kill TVA troops” gag, it all implicitly happens in or before 2024.
Not only that, but the entire idea of an “anchor being” is painfully contrived, even by superhero movie standards. However, without that contrivance, I suppose the movie can’t happen.
There’s also no real reason that Paradox pulls Deadpool out of his native reality in the first place. He vaguely tells Deadpool he’s “special,” and that he’ll add him to the “sacred” timeline (616), but there’s no explanation beyond that. This problem could have been fixed very easily by telling Deadpool that he has some kind of “meta-consciousness” that allows him to perceive events and realities beyond the one he occupies.
This would not only explain why Paradox wanted to save Deadpool from his universe’s destruction, it would also clarify the origin of Deadpool’s fourth-wall breaks in a way that makes sense and fits nicely within the existing MCU. In a nutshell, Deadpool has the ability to intuit that there is a larger reality / other realities and reacts to that in real time. To the other people around him, he simply looks slightly insane. All of that would take care of the second problem I described above.
Given its minimal interaction with the mainline MCU, unless you count the TVA from Loki, I would even go as far as to say that Deadpool still hasn’t really joined the MCU. We’ll probably have to wait until the next Avengers movie to see Deadpool truly join the MCU. If nothing else, though, Deadpool & Wolverine was a funny, fitting send-off for the Fox Marvel universe. And that’s more than enough.
Share this:
Related