Review of Deadpool & Wolverine: Shawn Levy’s trilogy ensures that its main character is not taken over by Marvel. Indeed, a lot of jokes make fun of the MCU.
Review of the movie Deadpool & Wolverine: In the first scene of Shawn Levy’s buddy superhero film, Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson practically breaks the fourth wall when he tells Fox that he’s off to Disneyland and headbutts the camera into crevices after being given an Avengers-style world-saving mission. That is precisely what the third installment of Deadpool involves: Deadpool going into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is akin to Alice in Wonderland but with Deadpool’s trademark superpowers.
Deadpool in Disneyland
This tumultuous union of Deadpool and the MCU endures because, contrary to what many had feared, Deadpool is being incorporated into the MCU, not Disneyficing Deadpool. It’s rare to see an R-rated Marvel movie. Gore, abuses, and adult imagery are introduced into the MCU by Ryan Reynolds and Levy (Free Guy and The Adam Project), who take the concept to the to level. But they succeed in doing so by remaining true to the humor that defines Deadpool. Tons upon tons of humor. Nobody is spared, either. Not even Marvel.
Deadpool and Wolverine are to Marvel what Greta Gerwig’s Barbie was to Mattel, in that sense. The gags aimed at the studio executives are known to them. Deadpool leverages the recent backlash to the MCU’s Phases 4 and 5 as material for his scathing humor. One common critique of Marvel’s decision to bring Hugh Jackman back as Wolverine is that it has become a running joke. Deadpool believes it would be difficult to turn down a large sum of Marvel money and projects, and Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios, will now bet big on Hugh as Wolverine until he is ninety years old.
Wolverine is likewise welcomed to the MCU by him, but he notes that he joined “at a low point.” He expresses our frustration when he declares that he is tired of all the time variation and multiversal jargon as an army of Deadpool variations appears from another dimension. Not that there isn’t any of it; in fact, there is a ton of it in this film. Since it appears that the MCU can no longer create high stakes without referencing various timelines, That may suggest that the stakes are cosmic, but it also negates the whole point of setting stakes since nothing is really in danger because everything is changeable.
I would say that Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of Wolverine in Avengers: Endgame in 2017 had the most unforgettable farewell, surpassing even Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Iron Man. Logan by James Mangold was a fitting farewell song for a unique character, although Wolverine’s return in the Deadpool 3 sequel has diminished the song’s significance. However, it helps that the Deadpool franchise doesn’t take itself too seriously. In addition to all the Hugh Jackman sellout jokes, another character butts in, “Mangold tried,” as a character who is being destroyed by Wolverine asks for it to stop.
The humor is not limited to Disney films (Dogpool is called Mary Poppins) or the MCU; it also touches on films from rival studios Warner Bros. and DC. The Time Variance Authority dumps the rejected into a dimension called The Void, which has an appearance reminiscent of a Mad Max film. Just as a joke about Batman appears when Deadpool says that Wolverine’s iconic yellow mask makes him look like “Batman but who can move his neck,” so does a joke about Furiosa. Ryan doesn’t hold back either, making a corny allusion to 2009’s The Proposal and a shout-out to actor-wife Blake Lively. My favorite, though, is when he remarks, “Paul Rudd has finally aged,” as he examines the tattered, huge Ant-Man head.
The viewer can overlook Marvel’s borderline irritating fixation with timeline hopping, excessive use of visual effects, and cameo bombardment in some way thanks to the ironic humor. Fortunately, cameos don’t become a spectator sport here because most of them are associated with intriguing MCU backstories. A forgotten Fox character who rose to fame as a Marvel legend, an actor playing a mutant he was supposed to play in the past but never got there, and even a retired DC actor cast as a Wolverine variant is among the Fox characters that are getting back together to form an Avengers-like team. Although Marvel could have overdone the appearances, the film is unmistakably an homage to 20th-century Fox, which it acquired in 2019. Stay till the closing credits for a trip down memory lane to the thrilling superhero narrative of the Fantastic Four and X-Men eras.
