“Deadpool & Wolverine”: A Desperate (But Effective) Attempt to Revive Marvel

One of the most anticipated returns of 2024, featuring two iconic characters. Is it worth the hype, or has Marvel fooled us once more?

Summary

Years after the events of the second film, Wade Wilson is going through a bad time. His days as Deadpool are over, he and Vanessa have split, and his new job as a salesman is not going well.

But when his universe faces an existential threat, Wade must dust off his suit, and go on a mission to find the only person who can help him stop the destruction: Wolverine.

What is This Exactly?

Good question. I definitely wonder about that in the theater.

Deadpool & Wolverine is not really a regular movie. We could describe it as a two-hour parade of cameos, references, and sex jokes, all connected by the thinnest thread of plot you have ever seen. 

That being said, I must admit I had a pretty decent time watching it. Let’s break it down, one point at a time.

A Lack of Plot, With An Abundance of Cameos

For starters, the film has no story. This is funny because five people were credited with writing the script, including director Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds himself. And that was the best they could do.

The main idea is that the TVA (Time Variance Authority) has decided to get rid of Wade’s timeline because it is slowly dying. By the way, to know what the TVA is, you should have watched the two seasons of Loki. The deterioration of a timeline starts when the “anchor being” dies. And in Wade’s, that being is none other than the Wolverine, who died at the end of Logan.

So Wade has to go travel through different timelines in search of a different variant of Wolverine that wishes to help him. All this against the wishes of TVA agent Mr. Paradox, who ends up sending them to the Void, a place at the end of time where the remnants of alternate universes the TVA has discarded go to die.

Deadpool’s search for Wolverine, as well as the Void, are just excuses to bring in an insane number of cameos, which are the real fuel of the film. Those cameos are way too many, but to be fair, they are more interesting than in other projects.

However…

On the bright side, there are some cool action scenes that look great on a big screen. I liked the one where the protagonists have a fight inside a car, which was teased in the trailers. But my favorite was, no doubt, the one where they both fight an army of Deadpool variants to the sound of “Like a prayer”. The scene reminded me of that famous Oldboy fight sequence, but more cartoonish and bizarre.

Also, the music selection was incredible in general. The film would not have been the same without it.

Humor and Pop Culture References

Deadpool is famous for his inappropriate sense of humor, something that is not to everyone’s taste. If you enjoyed the character’s previous films, I dare say you’re going to have fun. However, don’t expect it to be as good as the 2016 Deadpool. That was its own thing. In this case, some jokes land, and others don’t. I do think that Deadpool & Wolverine was more entertaining than Deadpool 2, but that is my personal take.

Aside from the jokes, this new film feels like it was created for an even more niche audience than the first two. You have to be familiar with both the X-Men and Marvel franchises (including films and Disney+ shows)  to understand all the cameos and references, but also have an extensive knowledge of many situations and gossips going around in the industry. There are jokes about Kevin Faige, about the failure of the multiverse, and many more at the expense of Disney and 20th Century Fox. There is even a playful slight to DC Warner with a Henry Cavill cameo that was pretty funny. Meta-humor, as young people say. Unless you are aware of at least some of these things, the film will not make any sense to you.

The Villains

Deadpool & Wolverine introduces two new antagonists that complicate the heroes’ journey.

On one side, we have Mr. Paradox, a TVA agent who wants to climb up the ranks by destroying timeliness within the infamous multiverse. If that doesn’t make a lot of sense to you, then we are in the same boat. But when it comes to Marvel, logic left the chat a long time ago, so we’re not going to dwell on that too much.

The character in question is not particularly threatening and doesn’t do much for the story, but he is played by Matthew Macfadyen. I’ll give them a few points for bringing Mr. Darcy into this. And even though the role is not great, the guy does a good job with what he is given. His scenes made me laugh.

Then we have Cassandra Nova, Charles Xavier’s evil twin sister, who reigns all over the Void. This villain is incredibly powerful and evil, which makes her more menacing. Emma Corrin is fine in the role. The problem is that she doesn’t have very clear motivations. One minute she is happy to remain on the Void and be the queen, and three Doritos later she wants to destroy the multiverse. She never feels like a real obstacle, like a character who can have a real impact on the story.

And that is what happens when your villains are not strong: there are no stakes.

An Expected Box Office Hit

After all this waiting, it couldn’t be any other way: Deadpool & Wolverine had a successful opening, grossing $211,435,291 domestically on its first weekend, according to The Numbers.

The film has now been in theaters for almost two weeks, and counting in the international market, it has surpassed $860.000.000. Hitting $1 billion seems to be only a matter of days, which would assure the profitability of the project. Unless they made the mistake of overspending during production. It wouldn’t surprise me.

Will Deadpool & Wolverine Save Marvel?

The answer is simple: no.

It will make them a fortune, that’s for sure, but in terms of brand image, I’m afraid this won’t do much for them. Marvel is very damaged by years of poor decisions, and some harder work will be required to win their former audience back.

And as much as Disney/Marvel wants to sell this otherwise, it is common knowledge among fans that Deadpool & Wolverine is an anomaly, an exception to all rules that have few chances of being repeated. In fact, most people’s excitement for the film was only because of the actors involved. They had faith in Ryan Reynolds to do justice to the character and guard the production. Marvel could have never pulled this off on its own merit.

Maybe the question should be: Will Deadpool & Wolverine be the wake-up call Marvel desperately needs? If they want to have another success like this in the next decade, it better be.