Deadpool & Wolverine [2024]
But, of course, the Multiverse ended up being a whole load of teases that never paid off (with the sole exception of Spider-Man: No Way Home), and that's even if they do anything with it in the first place.
And this movie... isn't exactly the 'canon-welding' event that people wanted, but it's close enough and, more importantly, fun enough that the movie was a really great experience. There is, admittedly, a rather impressive amount of comic-book-movie you need to understand before watching this movie... but it also kind of works in-universe, which is impressive. They do give an info-dump on a lot of what you need to know just to follow this movie, but basically, the TVA from Loki decide to bring Deadpool over to the 'sacred timeline' of the primary MCU universe. Turns out the TVA agent Mr. Paradox is actually there to prune the rest of Deadpool's universe. And Deadpool ends up escaping, recruiting 'the worst' Wolverine. Hijinks ensue as they lampoon every aspect of the MCU and Fox's movie franchises, and they eventually encounter and fight against Cassandra Nova and even recruited a bunch of superheroes whose movie-series were long-cancelled.
And... written on paper, I really didn't think the movie would work well... but it somehow did. Just like the animated Spider-Verse movies, this movie is chock-full with cameos and references that should, by rights, overload the movie... but we move from one to the next with such ease and so much focus on our main characters -- Deadpool, Wolverine and Cassandra Nova -- that the rest of the cameos just become entertaining background noise, but a huge 'fuck, I remember that guy, that's Azazel!' or 'holy shit, Age of Apocalypse got referenced'! A lot of the jokes are, I think, fun enough that alternative joke interpretation kicks in even if you don't 'get' it. Most of the jokes also don't stick and overstay their welcome, and the actual self-deprecation that Deadpool does towards Disney-Marvel is actually quite refreshing.
After a similar "mid-action you must be wandering how we got here" to his first movie, Deadpool brings the movie to a quick recap of Deadpool 2's ending. We establish that Deadpool has done a lot of time-traveling with Cable's time machine... and a huge chunk of this movie has Deadpool basically feeling like a loser. He actually shows up in the 'Sacred Timeline' and tries to interview into the Avengers and gets rejected by Happy Hogan. And over the next six years, Wade's obsession over this has costed him his relationship with his girlfriend Vanessa. This leads to a rather happy birthday party, still, where all of Deadpool's colourful friends show up...
...only for agent of the TVA to appear. With a glorious joke where Deadpool mistakes them for strippers, they eventually bring Deadpool to the TVA headquarters, where both Deadpool and the audience get a huge exposition about what the TVA does, the existence of the sacred timeline and the multiverse. It's a bit of a clever bit of exposition, and thematically it even works with where Wade is as a character at the moment. He's offered a place on the 'sacred' MCU timeline, or Earth-616... but the rest of his universe is going to be pruned.
(Which, of course, is a cheeky allegory of how some people expected the Disney/Fox merger was going to go, with a pick-and-choose methodology to the character-actor combos that make it to the MCU).
Mr. Paradox, who is technically the main antagonist of this movie but quickly gets subsumed by a different, more immediate threat, also explains that the 'Anchor Being' of Deadpool's corner of the universe, Wolverine, has died.. and that his universe is doomed either way. Again, another allegory to the 'death' of the whole Fox-X-Men movie series, but presented in a way that makes sense in-universe.
Unwilling to accept that his universe is doomed, and in a way that he is, once more, not as important as he thinks he is, Deadpool steals a Tem-Pad from the TVA and goes off to... the grave where Wolverine is buried at the end of Logan. Now Logan is probably one of the best superhero movies ever made, and always noted to be a perfect cap-off to the Wolverine's cinematic history as actor Hugh Jackman retires. And... I both love and hate that this movie actually desecrates that ending by having Deadpool literally dig up Wolverine's corpse and ne utilize said corpse in the subsequent action scene... but I also appreciate that they didn't resurrect this Wolverine specifically and that they acknowledge how well this movie ended.
Because, yes, this is where the movie opening happens, with the TVA agents charging in at Deadpool, and Deadpool weaponizing Wolverine's adamantium skeleton to deliver a brutal, R-rated beating to the TVA agents to the tune of 'NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye".
This then continues to a heavy-on-the-fanservice sequence as Deadpool jumps from one universe to the next trying to recruit a Wolverine to bring home as the Anchor Being of his universe. Going from Age of Apocalypse to Patch to Old Man Logan to a gloriously comic-accurate brown outfit Wolverine, all of these sequences end up with Wolverine beating the shit out of Deadpool.
Ultimately, Deadpool recruits a Wolverine -- one that's going to be our Wolverine for the rest of the movie. And for the first time in cinema, this Wolverine wears a proper superhero outfit! Admittedly it's a 'MCU-ified' version of the classic yellow and blue, but the colours and the mask are right. Can't complain too much.
The two return to the TVA, but apparently anchor beings can't be so easily replaced. Additionally, Paradox identifies this Wolverine as "the Worst Wolverine", one that failed to save the rest of the X-Men, pouring more salt to the wound. However, Deadpool realizes the inconsistencies in Paradox's claims, and deduces that he's acting without the knowledge of his supervisors.
Paradox zaps Deadpool and Wolverine, sending the two tumbling into the desert realm where everything 'pruned' by the TVA go to -- the Void. Here, Deadpool and Wolverine get into a pretty fun fight, which Deadpool defuses by telling Wolverine that the TVA would have the technology to undo the deaths in Wolverine's timeline. They get interrupted by villains, however... and very fun villains, too -- using a mixture of returning actors or lookalikes, the entire villainous faction is made up of former X-Men villains like Pyro, Toad, Juggernaut, Azazel, Lady Deathstrike and Sabretooth.
We also have one of the most glorious cameos ever, as one of the denizens of the Void is a guy in a hood that sounds like Captain America, acts like Captain America... and Deadpool is excited to hear his catchphrase of "Avengers Assemble"... but it's actually Chris Evans' other superhero character! The Human Torch yells "flame on!" and flies into battle but gets trounced by Pyro.
Again, this is the kind of ridiculous but loving references to he superhero genre as a whole that should not have worked... but it does.
Deadpool, Wolverine and Human Torch get captured and taken to the overlord of the Void, Cassandra Nova. Human Torch gives us some backstory on her, revealing how she's been ruling the denizens of the Void with an iron fist (or, well, creepy psychic fingers) and how there are a lot of universes with their own heroes and villains that were pruned and sent to the Void. Oh, and she is the evil twin sister to Professor X, and the movie showcases her mindfuckery very well with the visual effect of fingers literally wiggling through your face.
Thanks to some seemingly ill-advised comments on Deadpool's part (which as the post-credits show, turn out to not be actual lies) Cassandra kills Human Torch very graphically, stripping the skin and flesh off his bones and turning him into a pile of graphic goop. Cassandra's psychic powers prove to be extremely powerful even without the aid of her army of superpowered mutants, but the fight is interrupted when the giant cosmic smoke monster that lives in the Void, Alioth, show up. It's a pretty fun nod to the MCU without overloading the show with even more cameos.
Escaping Alioth with a Sentinel boot, we get a sequence where they meet more Deadpool variants, like "Nicepool" (who is just Ryan Reynolds without the cancerous makeup he wears as Wade) and Dogpool (played by "the world's ugliest dog", and is a good dog), which is mostly just there for gags and to set up the appearance of the Deadpool corps later on.
At this point, Deadpool accidentally lets it slip that he isn't certain that the TVA is actually able to fix timelines, leading to a very furious Wolverine attacking Deadpool, in a nice subversion of their little bonding moment. It's around this time that we also learn of this "Worst Wolverine's" backstory, where he also views himself as a bit of a loser thanks to being unable to save the X-Men of his timeline. The two of them fight, giving us the biggest Deadpool/Wolverine fight in this movie which, again, is pretty fun choreography that makes full use of the two characters' healing factors.
Deadpool glosses over the death of Human Torch, and manages to convince these other heroes to team up with him to fight against Cassandra Nova. We get a nice dramatic scene where Laura walks up to Logan, and while Logan isn't convinced that he can be the hero that Laura wants to see in him, Laura tells Logan that he is the Wolverine whatever things may be. It's a pretty nice, dramatic character-driven moment.
The assembled heroes charge into Cassandra's base, and this is the big badass fight scene which I really don't want to describe beat by beat. But having all of these heroes fight against the X-Men villains, with powers being accurately represented? It really is extremely fun to see. X-23, Blade, Gambit and Elektra fight against the rest of the evil villains, which gives us a lot of fun action sequences. Most notable is Elektra killing Bullseye, which is a small moment but a very nice one for her. Blade also takes down motherfuckers like a mofo. I am a huge Hugh Jackman/Wolverine fanboy, but seeing Blade of all people get so much screentime is a blessing.
While this is going on, Wolverine and Deadpool go against Cassandra... at which point we're treated to some creepy mind-fuckery. Wolverine is forced to contend with the dead X-Men he failed to protect in a creepy misty tombstone-hallucination, while Deadpool gets shoved into a hallucination where his closest friends talk him down... but the imagined Vanessa telling Deadpool that he'll never fucking matter ends up jolting him out of his reverie. With their allies killing Juggernaut and getting his helmet, Deadpool and Wolverine manage to disable Cassandra and they have her dead-to-rights.
However, Pyro, having been in contact with Paradox, betrays and leaves a mortal wound on Cassandra. And in a rather stupid -- but in-character -- move, Wolverine has a "what would Professor X do" moment and resolves to save Cassandra, convincing Deadpool to remove the helmet. While Cassandra does hold her word long enough to send Deadpool and Wolverine back to Deadpool's home universe, she quickly kills Pyro, finds out about the Time Ripper, and goes off to enact her multiverse-destroying plan. Which... I think it is important that we do show that for all the gore and cynicism that our heroes in this movie show, they are still heroes at the end of the day.
The final act takes place in Earth-10005, Deadpool's dimension, as Cassandra Nova kills Pyro and steals the Dr. Strange portal ring to travel there. Having learned of the "Time Ripper" device that the TVA owns, Cassandra reveals her master plan of utilizing the Time Ripper to destroy all timelines and return it to the Void... which... okay, sure. She's not the most right in the head, as established by Wolverine's attempt to spare her and talk things out.
Deadpool and Wolverine charge in to try and stop the Time Ripper, but Paradox tells them that even with their healing powers, trying to stop the device would kill them. We get a pretty fun "who gets to sacrifice himself" as the theme of being the biggest loser plays out, and it almost seems to lead to Wolverine (who's played by an actor who retired once, and comes from a universe without X-Men anyway) going to do it... but of course, friendship prevails and Deadpool charges in, and the two of them together manage to stop the device, overload Cassandra Nova and survive in the process.
And shirts explode. Of course shirts explode.
The movie ends with Hunter B-15 from the TVA arriving to arrest Paradox, and thank Deadpool because his actions have saved the deterioration of his universe. Wolverine ends up staying in Deadpool's universe and bond with him and his friends... and even Laura gets to stay with them. A nice ending!
And... is the movie messy? It sure is. Cassandra isn't the most well-realized villain. The TVA stuff, ultimately, felt pretty superfluous. I personally think that the last chunk of the movie feels a fair bit like padding, although I also realize the need to have Logan and Wade have a proper moment of them confronting their 'loser'-ness and bonding together, just the two of them. I love most of the cameos, and while I don't think all of the jokes landed, it was still a great experience that does, first and foremost, focus on the struggles of the heroes and who they are as characters before anything else. This movie has way more cameos and easter eggs (this list below isn't anywhere near the full depth of what the movie did) that your average Marvel movie, but unlike something like What If season 3, it doesn't really detract from the actual story they're trying to tell with Wade and Logan as characters. I'm not sure if this is the movie that'll get general audiences to give the new MCU a chance, but it sure is a nice way to get many fans back.
Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:
- Post-Credits Scene: A long, protracted scene of Human Torch actually cussing and talking shit about Cassandra Nova while being captured, showing that Deadpool didn't actually lie about him.
- Continuity Placement:
- The events of this movie take place specifically some time after the post-credits scene of Deadpool 2, in which Deadpool uses Cable's time-slider to revert the death of Vanessa.
- The timeline of Logan gets revisited briefly way after the end of that movie, where Deadpool visits Logan's grave.
- The events on the TVA's side of things happen after Loki season 2, where the TVA is purged of Kang's influence and B-16 is in charge. The Void and Alioth are both established in that series -- with Deadpool even correctly noting that Alioth was last seen in "Loki, Season 1, Episode 5".
- The scene with Happy Hogan, lining up the timelines, would've taken place slightly after Spider-Man: Homecoming, explaining his kinder attitude to Wade as well as his appearance.
- Live-Action Cameos:
- Blade, played by Wesley Snipes, was the star of his movie trilogy from 1998-2004. Ryan Reynolds himself starred as a supporting character in Blade: Trinity.
- Elektra, played by Jennifer Garner, was a supporting character in 2003's Daredevil and had a movie in 2005's Elektra.
- Human Torch, played by Chris Evans, is the incarnation from the 2005-2007 Fantastic Four movies. The joke here is, of course, that Chris Evans would go on to play the MCU's incarnation of Captain America.
- X-23/Laura, of course, makes her debut in Logan.
- Deadpool's supporting cast, namely Vanessa, Blind Al, Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Yukio, Shatterstar, Peter, Dopinder and Buck the Mercenary make brief appearances in the beginning and end of the movie. Shatterstar is notable because he was apparently killed in Deadpool 2.
- The various X-Men villains who form Cassandra Nova's minions, played by reprised actors include: Pyro (from the first 3 X-Men movies) and Sabretooth (specifically the incarnation from X-Men).
- Various returning villains based on older X-Men/Fox movies characters not played by reprising actors include: , Juggernaut (X-Men III), Blob (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Lady Deathstrike (X-Men 2), Azazel (X-Men First Class), Toad (the appearance from X-Men), Psylocke (the incarnation from X-Men III), a gender-flipped Quill (X-Men III), Callisto (X-Men III), Bullseye (Daredevil) and surprisingly, The Russian (Punisher 2004).
- 'Meta' Live-Action Cameos:
- Gambit, played by Channing Tatum, is a reference to the fact that Channing Tatum was tapped to play Gambit for a movie that infamously had a long history of troubled production -- a fact that Gambit lampshades several times in the movie, noting that he "wasn't sure if he was pruned or not", and mentioning "stories that hasn't been told yet".
- One of the Wolverine variants (the one working on a motorbike) is played by Henry "Superman" Cavill, who himself was a very popular casting choice for Wolverine before the announcement of Hugh Jackman's return. Deadpool disses DC comics a bit, noting that they'll treat him much better than "those assholes down the street".
- In addition to the other characters that actually make a physical appearance, Blade and Elektra mention Magneto, Quicksilver (these two are presumably variants from the Fox X-Men movies), Daredevil (from Daredevil 2003) and the Punisher (from any of the 3 movies that Fox produced from him).
- Wade makes a joke about 'which one' when Blade and Elektra mention the Punisher, noting that he's always been played by four different actors across three movies and a Netflix series.
- While the visuals are consistent with the sling-rings from the MCU, the existence of Dr. Strange sling-rings is likely a reference to the 1978 TV movie made for the character. Yes.
- At one point, Blade notes that "there's only ever gonna be one Blade", while Deadpool looks at the audience, either noting that the MCU has a Blade movie already in the pipeline... or lampshading that that Blade movie is also in production trouble.
- Comic-Book Cameos:
- Wolverine variants:
- The Wolverine in this movie has a yellow-and-blue suit that's based on his first major appearance in Uncanny X-Men and would become extremely popularized by X-Men: The Animated Series. It was almost a running gag in the original X-Men movies that it was near-impossible to get a superhero suit on Wolverine. As the movie progresses, the suit's sleeves get torn off and Wolverine dons the mask, making it even more comic-accurate.
- "Patch", the Wolverine that wears a white suit and an eyepatch, is the alias that Wolverine uses while in Mardipoor in his first solo comic-book run.
- The blue-and-red one-armed Wolverine is an extremely faithful nod to Age of Apocalypse Wolverine, a comic-book variant who hails from a bad future ruled by Apocalypse.
- "John Byrne brown" Wolverine is a combination of his second-most iconic superhero outfit from the '90s (yellow and brown), and Wolverine's first appearance as someone sent to fight the Hulk. The Hulk's face reflected on the Wolverine's claws is a homage to The Incredible Hulk #340.
- The crucified Wolverine in a field of skulls is taken from a scene where he was tortured by the Reavers in Uncanny X-Men #251.
- The old Wolverine is a truer-to-text adaptation of Old Man Logan.
- "Cavillrine", in addition to being an actor gag, also uses one of Logan's more iconic civilian outfit (a 'wifebeater' shirt and jeans), which Hugh Jackman himself wore in some of the earlier movies.
- While obviously exaggerated for comedic purposes, 'comics-accurate Wolverine' is a reference to how Wolverine is meant to be one of the shorter members of the X-Men as opposed to Hugh Jackman's physique.
- Deadpool variants:
- Dogpool, Lady Deadpool, Kidpool and Headpool were the original members of the Deadpool Corps -- which, yes, is a thing. It's an amalgamation of multiple different Deadpools from the multiverse. Lady Deadpool is voiced by Ryan Reynolds' wife Blake Lively, while Kidpool and Babypool are played by their 2 children.
- The robotic Deadpool is Deadpool 2099, hailing from that series of future comics.
- The ronin Deadpool is The Fool, from the '5 Ronin' alternate universe set in ancient Japan.
- The Deadpool with a gas mask is Golden Age Deadpool, featured in the 2010 story of the same name.
- The cowboy Deadpool is based on The Deadpool Kid, a variant from a wild west universe and a minor member of the comics' incarnation of the Corps.
- Pyro wears an outfit based on his Ultimate comics incarnation. In the movies that he shows up in, Pyro only wore civilian clothes.
- Among the 'Mad Max' vehicles used by Cassandra's minions is the Fantasticar, albeit one that's based more on the comics than its portrayal in the Fox movies.
- The backstory of "the Worst" Wolverine is somewhat similar to the one in Old Man Logan, although the source of his angst is a bit lessened -- instead of being brainwashed into killing the other X-Men, Wolverine was instead absent when the other X-Men were killed, and in his rampage of killing their enemies, he kills a bunch of civilians instead.
- Past-Movie Continuity Nods [MCU]:
- Happy's office contains the 'Proof that Tony Stark Has A Heart' plaque from Iron Man; the martial arts stick that he and Tony played around with in Iron Man 2, the partially-unfinished Captain America shield from Iron Man 2, the Mark V suitcase suit from Iron Man 2, and a photograph of Tony Stark and Peter Parker that Tony looks at in Avengers: Endgame.
- Peter's face is, however, obscured by a toy Iron Man mask due to licensing reasons for Spider-Man. That toy Iron Man mask was worn by a kid in Iron Man 2 -- who was later retconned by some directors to be a young Peter Parker.
- Cassandra Nova's forces are based on the skull of Ant-Man in his Giant-Man form.
- Among the random stuff seen in the Void, many of them have appeared previously in Loki. New additions include a more truer-to-the-comics winged Thor helmet, the ice-cream truck from Moon Knight, Red Skull's pimped-out car from Captain America: The First Avenger, the mural of Scarlet Witch from Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and Thanos's throne from the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
- In addition to various archival footage from the movies, the scene of Deadpool and Thor uses edited footage from Thor: The Dark World, in the scene where Thor mourns over the apparent death of Loki.
- When Deadpool is confronted by the Hulk, he (mis)-quotes Loki's line "I'm a god/Marvel Jesus, you dull creature" from The Avengers, and gets punched right after saying the line just like Loki.
- As Deadpool and Wolverine jump into the TVA portal, he says "on your left", a nod to Captain America's line from Captain America: The Winter Soldier and paraphrased by Falcon in Avengers: Endgame.
- The end of the movie where Deadpool discuss Shwarma is a nod to the famous post-credits scene to The Avengers, and the surge of popularity that the movie caused to Shwarma... with Deadpool mockingly noting that 'The Avengers discovered Shwarma!'
- Past-Movie Continuity Nods [X-Men and Other Movies]:
- While they do not appear, various characters name-drop other X-Men: Professor X, Magneto, Quicksilver, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Storm and Beast all get mentioned at some point in the movie.
- Deadpool recruits Wolverine in a bar fight, a reference to how Wolverine's very first scene is in a bar in the first X-Men movie.
- Deadpool's intense performance of 'NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye" actually is a very obscure reference to a line from Wolverine where he was irritated by the song in X-Men 2.
- The song that plays in Deadpool's birthday, "Angel of the Morning", was the song in the opening credits of his first movie.
- Deadpool mockingly tells the TVA agents that 'pegging isn't new' for him. It happened to him during the sex montage in Deadpool.
- Deadpool notes that Human Torch does a "superhero landing", having lampshaded the three-point landing in Deadpool with his antagonist Angel Dust.
- Laura and Logan's quiet conversation has a callback to some of the more dramatic lines from Logan, with Laura noting that Logan is "always the wrong guy... until [he] wasn't."
- Right before the final battle, Laura pulls out the convenience store sunglasses that she famously wore in Logan as a younger child.
- The samurai Deadpool's arms grows into a 'baby arm' similar to what happened to our Deadpool in Deadpool.
- In addition to all the X-Men, parts from the Sentinel robots as they appear in X-Men: Days of Future's Past can be seen strewn around the Void, and one is used to escape Alioth.
- Blade and Deadpool briefly note that they don't like each other much -- a cheeky nod to how Wesley Snipes and Ryan Reynolds had an infamously hostile relationship during the filming of Blade: Trinity.
- Blade gives an epic rephrasing of one of his most iconic lines from the 1998 Blade movie: "some motherfuckers are trying to ice-skate uphill."
- Cassandra Nova in the comics is the evil twin sister of Professor X, who, depending on the writer, was the 'evil from birth' twin of Charles Xavier or a psychic entity called a mummudrai that infiltrated the womb of Charles' mother. Regardless of the origin, a young Charles Xavier was able to sense the evil in her since she was a baby, and used his psychic powers to force a miscarriage. Cassandra survived, however, and menaced the X-Men afterwards.
- Mr. Paradox in the comics is a minor, evil future version of TVA agent Mobius M. Mobius.
- The Ant-Man skull's mouth-roof has '24601' engraved on it, a nod to Hugh Jackman's leading role in the Les Misérables movie adaptation.
- As usual, the 'sacred timeline' is identified as Earth-616, the traditional moniker for the primary Marvel comics universe.
- Comic-book artist Rob Liefeld is referenced in the foot massage parlor that is very prominently shown in the final battle. Hilariously, Rob Liefeld is apparently known for not being the best at drawing feet.
- A picture of Stan Lee is used in an advertisement poster for 'You Friendly Neighborhood Cleaner: Stanlee Steamer', a double-reference to Spider-Man's moniker.
- The pizza place that Logan and Wade eat at is called "Feige's Famous Pizza", a reference to Kevin Feige.
- Deadpool notes that the "power in the Marvel universe is about to change forever", which is an echo to Dwayne Johnson's much-mocked attempt to hype up the Black Adam movie for the DC cinematic universe.
- Deadpool also mocks the 'whole multiverse thing' multiple times -- when the Deadpool Corps show up, and immediately after when Deadpool reacts negatively to Nicepool noting that he loves the 'post-Endgame' content. Marvel's performance and meandering during the Multiverse saga has been a huge source of frustration by the fans because the MCU has mishandled the multiverse in their many different projects.
- Nicepool also seems to be a bit of a lampoon on some of the MCU's "forced comedy" moments that it has (not unfairly) been accused of in its later years, like name-dropping random pop culture references without actually tying it into a joke.
No comments:
Post a Comment