With five credited writers using characters from several dozen films spanning three major movie studios, Deadpool & Wolverine’s script reads more like a hostage negotiation. Disney and Marvel wanted the raunchy R-rated revenue from the Deadpool franchise without sullying its future financials from family-friendly franchise fare. The compromise is Deadpool & Wolverine, a collection of scenes that people thought would be fun, loosely duct taped together, having nothing to do at all with the actual Marvel cinematic universe.
Several sequences will tickle the nether regions of die-hard comic book enthusiasts and will be absolutely inscrutable to those who have only ever seen the big-budget Marvel movies. It is appropriate that Deadpool’s catchphrase is “maximum effort,” because instead of feeling like care-free debauchery, the whole thing reeks of exhausting, clever-free calculation. It’s every bit as edgy as when an internet parent asks their kid to swear on camera.
Instead of a plot, Deadpool & Wolverine opts to just relentlessly reintroduce characters. The umbrella conceit that allows this is that Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) must save his “timeline,” which we know as the 20th Century Fox Marvel movies, after the death of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), who was that timeline’s “anchor being.” It’s kind of like how our world sunk deep into the crapper after Mr. Rodgers died.
Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) is trying to hasten the death of that timeline for…reasons? So Deadpool skips across the multiverse until he finds a suitable replacement Wolverine for his world’s dead one. The pair then fight a lot before falling into a weird limbo populated by Professor X’s evil twin, Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), and a billion cameos. Shockingly, pretty much every character reappearance is at least a little satisfying, even if the whole thing adds up to a meal that is more “snack” than “feast.”
On page and screen, Deadpool has been to parody and satire what Alanis Morisette’s “Ironic” is to actual irony. That the character works at all here is actually due to Jackman. He is doggedly sincere. Line this up with his performance in Logan, and you’d have an expert-level “Where’s Waldo” hard time finding the difference. Reynolds does the literal exact same schtick he has done for a quarter century now. You “enjoy” his performance in various movies the same way repeat customers at restaurants order “the usual.”
For all its buildup, Deadpool & Wolverine simply could not be less consequential. It is meaningless, even within the context of a comic book continuum that constantly wipes out and resets things as it wishes. It isn’t even clear that this will be the end of this incarnation of either titular character. This is not some triumphant conclusion but a mere continuation of the same goofy bits and beats, punctuated with a few genuinely entertaining moments.
The credits make clear that this is intended to be something of a sincere eulogy for the 20th Century Fox Marvel universe. What it actually could be is the tombstone towering above the era of comic book movie dominance. To be clear, there will be so many more of these films. Just so many. Many will do very well. But the pattern here is reminiscent of what happened to actual comic books right around the time Deadpool was created in the early 1990s.
That boomtime era saw Marvel and DC churn out an absolutely mind-boggling number of titles. It saw gimmicks like holographic and foil covers, designed to make readers purchase multiple versions. Opportunism is gasoline in the fire of capitalism, and eventually the flames burn to a smolder.
They still make comic books. They just don’t make quite as many. They don’t make quite as much money. They aren’t quite the “event” that they once were. Deadpool & Wolverine is a double-sized, holographic, foil covered issue that likely marks the last of its kind. It was fun while it lasted. What’s next?
Grade = C
Other Critical Voices to Consider
Caroline Siede at Girl Culture says “Once upon a time, these films found success by putting likable characters in straightforward stories with just a handful of interconnected Easter Eggs sprinkled in. Now Marvel is so obsessed with evoking nostalgia for the past or laying groundwork for the future that its movies and TV shows seldom simply exist in the present anymore.”
Kelechi Ehenulo at Movie Marker says “Whilst this is not the LFG game-changer that it’s hyped up to be, what’s undeniable is the amount of sheer fun Deadpool & Wolverine has as one of the entertaining entries in the MCU. Even when the plot falters, Levy’s direction reminds us why Deadpool is so effective as a counterbalance to other superheroes and offers plenty of surprises to boot.”
Wenlei Ma at The Nightly says “For sure it will make money, but it’s not contributing to any soul-searching that may have risen from the genre’s existential crisis. It has no answers as to how to move forward when it’s so intent on looking back.”