It’s become a running joke that Marvel movies require homework. For some, this is more true than others, but, ultimately, I think you get out what you put in. The more background knowledge you bring into a viewing, the more you will understand and appreciate the connections and jokes and significance. Deadpool & Wolverine is no different. If you have never seen a Marvel movie or even a superhero movie for that matter, I think you could see this movie and still find it fun, funny, and entertaining. But the more you know, the more you get. And there are layers upon layers upon layers here for those willing to dive deep.

I am, at my very core, a giant nerd. So I take homework as a challenge. While I have seen all of the 33 MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) movies preceding this one as well as the 10 seasons of television, I am not as well-versed on the Marvel properties outside of the MCU umbrella. Prior to 2019, the X-Men (including Wolverine and Deadpool) along with multiple other Marvel Comics characters were owned by 20th Century Fox and were therefore not legally allowed to appear or even be referenced in any MCU movies as these are produced by Disney. But after a deal that sold the character rights to Disney, Marvel has begun to figure out how to fold them into the MCU, with Deadpool & Wolverine being the first full entry and films like The Fantastic Four: First Steps currently in production. However, Fox had a lucrative run with these characters under their banner, really starting back in 2000 with X-Men, which featured the first appearance of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Since my Marvel journey began well into Disney’s MCU series, the Fox X-Men films were never really on my radar, the character of Wolverine included. As for Deadpool, I saw the original Deadpool film when it came out in 2016 but 2018’s sequel passed me by. All of that is to say, to be fully caught up, I had my work cut out for me.

I debated for a while whether or not I wanted to put in the time and effort of doing all that homework for Deadpool & Wolverine. I should have realized a lot earlier that I can only be me and of course I was going to do the homework. But no, it took me until Monday July 22 to decide I was going to embark on this journey when I already had tickets to see Deadpool & Wolverine on Thursday July 25 at 5:30pm. So what did I do? I watched all major movie appearances of the characters Deadpool and Wolverine in 4 days. 8 movies in 4 days. Should anyone else be interested in this comprehensive study as well, the list of films is as follows (in chronological order of release date): X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Origins, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Deadpool, Logan, and Deadpool 2 (note: Wolverine does also show up in X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Apocalypse but I skipped these films because the appearances are just brief cameos). Am I insane? Yes, we knew that already. Was it worth it? For me and my enjoyment of Deadpool & Wolverine, I think so. I’m glad I did it, even though it took watching part of Deadpool 2 on my phone with no sound and the captions on while I was stuck at a work event that ran long only hours before I was supposed to be at the theater on Thursday to accomplish it. But I am nothing if not dedicated to my craft.

And even with all that prep, I still didn’t understand every single joke and reference in the film. Part of Deadpool’s shtick is his fourth wall-breaking and meta commentary. He jokes about the state of the MCU, Fox’s selling off of these characters, Disney’s kid-friendly reputation, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, and more. For a movie like this, it’s no longer just enough to see every movie that has come before it. Now, you also have to know the business dealings of the studios and the characters who almost had movies and the stars who almost played them and the celebrity gossip and personal lives of the actors in the films. The syllabus for homework is expanding. So who is this movie for? Well the super-nerds will get every single reference and the layperson may not get any. But the movie has a way of still appealing to everyone, no matter where they fall on the spectrum, by making you know a joke is funny even if you don’t fully understand why. I was definitely a little confused more times than I would like to be, but I kind of respect the film for going unusually deep with its references and not stopping to explain them. Everyone can enjoy it, but this movie is really for the superfans. And that’s okay. The longer the MCU’s catalog goes on and the deeper we get into the lore, the bigger the chasm gets between the casual fan and the die-hard. It’s becoming impossible to please everybody. So the best way to make something worthwhile is to lean all the way to one side instead of trying to hang around the middle.

The plot of Deadpool & Wolverine, like the majority of recent Marvel entries, is convoluted and falls apart if you think about it too hard. This movie felt like it was being set up as the “multiverse story to end all multiverse stories”. Much of the marketing even involved saying that Deadpool was “coming to save Marvel” (from itself?). Essentially, the idea was that Deadpool would somehow bring an end to the multiverse and close this chapter of storytelling for Marvel. While multiversal stories provide worlds (literally) of opportunities to reinvent characters, travel through time, and expand the universe, they also lower the stakes. Why should we cry over a character’s death if they can be replaced with another version of themselves? Why should we care about a storyline if it can be easily undone? In the multiverse, nothing is permanent and to tell a story that has resonance and meaning, there needs to be real stakes. Marvel fans have had some fun with our ventures into the multiverse (and also some real groans) but it seemed like people were excited for Deadpool & Wolverine to put an end to this era and move on to something new. This movie does not do that. Instead, it openly mocks the multiverse while still operating inside of it, to varying success. The jokes denigrating the form of storytelling seem to communicate to the audience that the filmmakers know the problems with the conceit, but then they go on to implement it the same way every other Marvel story has before, falling into all of the same trappings they’re making fun of. Even the more purely entertainment value scenes feel pulled from other multiversal stories, like (tiny spoiler warning!) all of the Deadpools fighting each other is a mirror of all of the Spider-Mans (Spider-Men?) fighting in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. There was nothing innovative or exciting about the multiversal storytelling here. 

The filmmakers have tried to couch all of that in statements saying that while the multiverse can feel too big or detached, the movie stays grounded through its emotional stakes. I bump up against this as well. There are definitely poignant moments in the film that worked for me, mostly with the Wolverine character. But the entire plot virtually hinges on the idea that all Deadpool really wants is to matter. To the world, to the people in his small circle, and to himself. And even with my brief familiarity with the Deadpool character, I just don’t buy that. Wade Wilson (Deadpool) has never seemed like the type of person to care about anything that deep or abstract, so building the whole story around that belief creates a real house of cards. Even the motivations of side characters like Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Paradox (he’s a TVA employee who defies orders and tries to destroy the world just because?) and Emma Corrin’s Cassandra Nova (she helps Deadpool and Wolverine escape the Void for what reason? A psychopath had a change of heart?) don’t really track throughout the story (even though they are both fantastic in their roles and I just love listening to them talk. Maybe it’s the accents…). Only Wolverine seems to get a narrative with believable emotional stakes, trying to redeem himself for past failures. In my opinion, Marvel has really struggled lately to connect meaningfully in the plot department. 

Luckily in this case, the strength of the Deadpool and Wolverine buddy cop match-up is powerful enough to distract you from the weak and nonsensical story. For the most part. This movie isn’t really about the plot, it’s about the team up. That came first. We know we wanted these two together, so does it really matter what they do? Sure, I would love it if we could get all of the fun of this duo in a story that furthered the plot of the MCU as a whole, made sense, and showed a strong understanding of fully-formed characters but, sad as it is to say, I know that’s asking for too much. So until someone makes a perfect movie, I’m happy enough to settle for the absolute glee of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman bantering for 2 hours and 7 minutes. Opposites do attract and Jackman’s Wolverine makes the ideal surly, straight man to Reynolds’ vulgar, motormouth Deadpool. Knowing these guys are good friends in real life and that much of their ribbing is improvised makes it all the more fun to watch. I think your mileage with the humor of this film, like the two previous Deadpool films, depends on how you feel about Ryan Reynolds’ sense of humor. Because he is Deadpool. Deadpool is him. He is entirely inextricable from this character and has just ported over his humor and speech patterns into the person in the superhero suit. Some people find him and his comedy to be cloying. Especially in the context of a Deadpool film, I can understand that. The jokes and references and sarcasm come a mile a minute, always in a strange and unexpected sentence structure mixed with vocabulary words you don’t hear in regular conversation. It’s a lot and could get exhausting. But if Reynolds’ brand of humor is for you, Deadpool should be right up your alley. And it is for me. I thought this movie was so funny and really went there with a few jokes to a shocking degree. The selling point of the movie is and always has been the relationship between Deadpool and Wolverine. I mean, it’s right there in the title! So just know if you’re going to see this movie, that’s where the focus is. Not the plot, not the stakes, not the larger MCU. It’s these two guys being funny and entertaining while doing various things. So it’s not really a surprise that it’s a good time.

For better or worse, Deadpool & Wolverine doesn’t feel consequential to the larger MCU timeline. It mostly works as a standalone film with the only connective tissue to the Marvel Universe coming from brief appearances from smaller characters, organizations like the TVA, and references to other properties. It’s honestly more interested in the past of 20th Century Fox, where most of these characters originated on screen, than the future of the MCU, where they will now live. This is further punctuated by the mid-credits scene that features a love letter to the Fox X-Men movies, showing behind the scenes footage from those films throughout the years set to Green Day’s “Good Riddance” (It’s something unpredictable, but in the end, it’s right. I hope you had the time of your life”). It’s essentially a graduation for these characters as they move onto to their next chapter. While I respect the acknowledgement of this history and the tribute did make me a little emotional, I found it curious that the movie opted to have one foot in the past instead of one foot in the future. Marvel is still working through how to incorporate these new characters into its pre-existing world and this film is the first major jump. It feels like it would have been the perfect opportunity for a preview of what the MCU will look like moving forward in this new iteration, but they opted not to go that direction. I don’t think it necessarily takes away from the film but is just an interesting choice. 

I feel like this review unintentionally came off more negatively than my actual feelings about the movie. I had a blast seeing this. The excitement levels were astronomical and it delivered. I laughed, I smiled, I teared up, I saw some kick-ass action sequences, and my jaw dropped at some mind-blowing cameos. The surprise cameos in this film were also done so well because they weren’t just used for shock value, throwing in a high-wattage star so it’s a jolt just to see their face (e.g. Harry Styles in the end credits of The Eternals). Instead, the cameos in Deadpool & Wolverine have much deeper significance for the legacies they invoke. It’s shocking and incredible and really just so much fun. The entire movie is so much fun. Does it make sense? Not really. Does it have anything compelling to say? Not so much. But does it matter? Not to me. Every MCU movie does not need to carry the weight of the universe, the Marvel Universe. Many recent entries have really suffered under that weight. Sometimes it’s okay to just have some fun. Some absurdist, crude, chummy fun. My only real complaint about the film? The Taylor Swift cameo rumors didn’t pan out. But after this movie became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, I have a feeling there will be plenty more opportunities for her to make an appearance in the future. With or without her, though, I will be seated for more of this dynamic duo.

2024 Count: 18 seasons/specials, 42 movies