A welcome, albeit flawed, return to form for the MCU.
Starring | Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and Emma Corrin |
Director | Shawn Levy |
Production Company | Marvel Studios |
Released | 07.26.24 |
Spoilers Ahead
Outside of a rather fanatical enclave of fans, not many people are all that excited for the Marvel Cinematic Universe these days. With constant reshoots, poorly written stories, superfluous programming, and a reckless disregard for comic book canon, the MCU has been on the receiving end of more box office flops of late than at any point in its existence. When it was revealed that Deadpool & Wolverine would herald the arrival of mutants into the MCU, with both Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman reprising their roles as the nominal heroes no less, many fans dared to hope that Marvel Studios would finally be turning things around. And now that the film is in theaters, I think it’s fair to say that this is indeed a return to form, but not necessarily the savior Marvel is hoping it to be.
Deadpool & Wolverine sees Wade pulled from his sleepy, non-mercenary life by the Time Variance Authority (TVA). The TVA will be familiar to fans who have been keeping up with Disney+’s Loki series, but honestly, as someone who only watched the first season of that show, I think even with zero background knowledge the average fan will be able to understand the gist of the organization’s mission. In brief, they guard the multiversal timeline by pruning problematic threads and neutralizing threats within them, all in order to preserve the Sacred Timeline. What’s the Sacred Timeline? Basically, the MCU as fans know it from TV and the movies.
Deadpool’s timeline, which is the Fox branch of Marvel, is going to disappear following the death of Wolverine (in the classic Logan), who is an Anchor Being, someone that is of such importance that his absence will cause an entire reality to eventually whither and die. Deadpool is asked by Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) of the TVA to come join the Sacred Timeline and, on his way out, help to quicken the destruction of the Fox universe. Deadpool, naturally, isn’t interested in leaving his loved ones to die and decides that instead of hastening his timeline’s destruction, he’ll go pluck a Wolverine, any Wolverine, from another reality and bring the hero back to his own, which he thinks will stop its destruction.
The setup is simple enough, but like the rest of the movie, it’s rather light on details. The story provides just enough to get things going but isn’t very concerned with dotting all the Is and crossing all the Ts. The result is that the plot feels sleight, forsaking coherence in some places in order to wedge in cameos (more on that later) and get the action from one scene to the next. It’s not bad by any stretch, but with so much hype surrounding this film, it would have been nice if it felt like the story mattered more than it ultimately seems to. But we’ll get there. For now, let’s talk about everything else in the middle.
After Deadpool gets away from the TVA, he goes looking for a Wolverine to drag back. The ensuing search is great, with numerous appearances by classic iterations of Wolverine, including Age of Apocalypse, Patch, and even a comics-accurate depiction of the character at 5”3’, which is hilarious. There’s one other cameo mixed in there that I won’t spoil, but let’s just say it’s a beloved actor who I wouldn’t mind seeing get the Wolverine gig fulltime in the future. Eventually, Wade stumbles on a down and out Logan who doesn’t give a damn about anything, drinking his life away. Once Wade and Logan get back to the TVA, Paradox boots both heroes to the Void, a place where deleted and discarded aspects of timelines converge into an enormous wasteland.
The Void is where the pace starts to pick up. Wade and Logan do not get along, particularly given this Wolverine harbors a dark past and no interest in Deadpool’s quest. Deadpool wants to save his friends, but all of Wolverine’s are dead. After the two fight, Wade convinces Logan to join him because the TVA will help fix whatever went wrong in Wolverine’s past. Wade of course doesn’t actually know if this will happen, but it doesn’t stop him from saying it to get Logan onboard with his mission. Wade’s ploy works and the two eventually wind up before Cassandra Nova, the film’s villain.
Nova is notably younger than in the comics, which, like the depiction of Agatha Harkness in the MCU, marks two times that the films are deviating away from an older female character. It’s a shame given there’s certainly no abundance of old women in superhero movies, but actress Emma Corrin nonetheless does a great job portraying Charles Xavier’s evil sister. She’s apparently known nothing of life beyond the confines of the Void and she revels in feeding victims to the creature Alioth, a beast that hungers eternally within the realm. Once again, sadly, the shallow nature of the film starts to creep into view, as Nova’s motivations aren’t very notable beyond her simply being inherently evil. She’s a genuine threat, at least, but there isn’t much to Cassandra, which feels like such a waste, especially as she seems to be the usual one-and-done villain superhero movies foolishly insist on.
Once Wade and Logan escape from Nova, the pair head to the Borderlands looking for a way out of the Void. The two fight again, and like the previous battle it’s simultaneously brutal, funny, gross, and enthralling. These are two invincible combatants who can do the most horrible, violent things to each other and never die. This film certainly earns its R rating, as it features copious amounts of gratuitous gore, sexual humor, and cursing throughout. This second fight manages to top the first with some maniacal attacks carried out by both characters, who eventually are exhausted, pass out, and get taken away by a mysterious figure.
While I don’t object to adult content in a superhero film, I think the problem here is that this is being billed as where mutants and the X-Men get introduced to the MCU. The movie is going to make buckets of cash, but how many younger viewers won’t get to experience this exciting development because of the rating? Not that it stopped some halfwits in my theater from bringing a couple of eight-year-olds to watch it, so maybe that won’t matter in the end. Still, while fans (myself included) hoped Deadpool wouldn’t lose his edge in the MCU, it might have been wiser to separate the character’s R-rated antics from the presumably PG-13 world the X-Men will occupy. It’s a small gripe, but if this movie is supposed to be the new foundation for the MCU, it could become a bigger problem later.
Once the two awaken, the cameos kick into overdrive. I’ve struggled with how to describe who shows up because on one hand, I’d like to preserve some of the surprise, but on the other, it’s hard not to talk about these characters since they play such a pivotal role in the story. There are four total; I’ll refrain from naming three of them but will say that the trio will put a huge smile on longtime Marvel movie fans’ faces. Working together, this makeshift team plans to assail Nova’s stronghold and force her to get Wade and Logan back to their timelines.
The last member of this squad I feel like I have to name, and that’s Dafne Keen’s Laura Kinney, AKA X-23. Reprising her role from Logan, Keen is an older, more mature version of the character here. Unfortunately, we don’t get to experience much of her. She shares one key scene with Logan where he explains why he sees himself as a failure (more on that in a bit) and the two bond, despite not actually having ever known each other. It’s a touching moment, but as I’ve said before, it’s marred by being superficial. There’s an entire movie’s-worth of story potential pairing these two characters again, but instead it’s a tacked-on scene that comes and goes in an instant.
Worse, Logan’s big, dark past is… he was busy getting drunk while his fellow X-Men were slaughtered. And that’s it. Contrast that with the comic arc Old Man Logan, where Wolverine is fooled into killing his fellow X-Men, only to find out too late, leaving him emotionally despondent and overcome with guilt. I’m not saying Logan shouldn’t feel guilty here, but he’s portrayed as “the worst Wolverine ever” throughout the film. This reason for Logan’s self-loathing is so banal that I couldn’t really buy into this Wolverine being the worthless loser the character believes himself to be.
The siege on Nova is a big old battle between her crew (which includes some X-Men movie cameos) and the quartet of heroes plus Logan and Wade. It’s excellent seeing the returning heroes fighting all together, in particular one who has never been on the silver screen before. Getting to see their powers in action was something years in the making and as a Marvel nerd, I was really pleased by the portrayal. X-23 gets to cut loose herself, which was another highlight. By the climax of the fight, Wolverine and Deadpool get Nova to send them back home and the final, big cameo ensues.
This set of guests was less appealing to me. I’ve never been interested in the so-called Deadpool Corp., so seeing them in action really didn’t mean much. However, they were entertaining for the purpose they serve in the story, and the final fight between them, Logan, and Wade is fantastic. Sadly, the way the battle ends, with the Deadpools bewilderingly stymied by the appearance of Wade’s pal Peter, fell flat. Like so many other aspects of the film, it felt like a moment that only happened because the story needed to move on, and the writers couldn’t think of a cleverer way to end the conflict.
While the corps was at war, Nova has taken Paradox down into the subway where his secret TVA headquarters and time splitter device are located. Ultimately, Wade and Logan are prepared to sacrifice themselves to end the conflict and save everyone, and in a nice moment it comes to be that neither hero can get the job done alone. By the close of the film Wolverine is now living with Deadpool and Blind Al, and credits wrap. There’s a montage that I won’t spoil that tugged at the heartstrings as well as a post-credits scene that is funny but doesn’t set up anything for the future of the MCU.
As I walked out of the theater, I knew that I enjoyed the movie, but what I couldn’t wrap my head around is how Deadpool & Wolverine is the introduction of mutants into the MCU that it’s billed as. From what I can tell, Wade and Logan are back in the Fox timeline. All of Deadpool’s friends are alive, and Wade even asks the TVA director if she can spare some of the heroes who helped fight Nova. Which means if these characters do show up again, how are they going to interact with the MCU without yet another dimension-hopping bit of setup? Unless I’m missing something, it felt like this story doesn’t end up mattering.
As for the MCU itself, is it “saved” by Deadpool & Wolverine? I don’t think so. It would be nice if it does, but at the end of the day the story doesn’t seem to actually impact the larger universe of heroes. It also doesn’t make the upcoming slate of films look any more appealing. To fix the MCU is going to take multiple films with multiple shifts in ideology and storytelling. Something that is possible, but fans won’t see for many years to come. So, fingers crossed that Deadpool & Wolverine is a turning point, but if it’s not, it was at least a proper sendoff for the Fox MCU and an overall entertaining, albeit flawed, adventure.
Verdict: 7/10
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