'Deadpool & Wolverine' Is a Fun Meta-Joke/Cameo Delivery System for Hardcore Fans
You'll probably know immediately whether that's something you're into.
There’s a well-known scene in Bryan Singer’s original X-Men film where Wolverine suits up with the X-Men for the first time and ridicules their uniforms.
Wolverine: Do you actually go outside in these things?
Cyclops: What would you prefer? Yellow spandex?
It’s a knowing reference to the fact that Wolverine’s outfit from the comics was distinctly yellow and skin tight, with large black flaps for each side of his face. It’s arguably one of the most iconic character designs in comic book history, but when X-Men was released in 2000, the world was not ready for superheroes to really let their authentic freak flags fly. So instead of, say, Rogue being able to fly and have super strength like in the comics, she only retained her ability to absorb other people’s powers in the film. And instead of yellow spandex, we got black leather suits.
A lot has changed since 2000. The MCU has shown that audiences will turn out in droves for movies that are much, much weirder than X-Men was in 2000. For an unprecedented run, Marvel could do no wrong; an MCU film that involved galactic, interplanetary stakes generating almost $400 million was considered a disappointment just a few years ago! The idea that you’d now need to sand off the edges of something like yellow spandex is now so outlandish that even the recent animated series X-Men ‘97 ridiculed the notion.
Deadpool & Wolverine is for the people who have been following superhero films since the days of X-Men and who remember the yellow spandex line and what it meant. It’s for the geeks who paid to watch all those pre-Iron Man superhero films in the theater before they were guaranteed box office successes. It’s for the people who endured trashy, frequently-terrible attempts at bringing obscure comic book characters into the mainstream. It’s a biting love letter to all the films that brought us to the point we are today.
That description might make the film sound insufferable and possibly incomprehensible for people who don’t really give a shit about any of this. And to be clear, I think it will be for those people! But for certain folks who have followed the ups and downs of this industry for literal decades and who have seen our hopes realized and dashed too many times to count, well, this movie was made for us.
So what’s the movie about? Er, well, it’s probably better to think of Deadpool & Wolverine less as a movie and more a meta-joke and cameo delivery system. The plot is threadbare and barely comprehensible. As the movie kicks off, Deadpool is enjoying a quiet life as a civilian when he’s abruptly captured by the Time Variance Authority (an institution introduced in the Disney+ series Loki) and is recruited for some kind of mission, whose details I won’t (can’t?) elaborate on. As the stakes ratchet up, Deadpool finds a way to team up with an unwilling Wolverine (this time decked out in that yellow spandex) and the two go on a journey that will put their heroism and humanity to the test, etc. etc.
My expectations for the storytelling in any given Deadpool movie aren’t particularly high and I’d say they were met here. Ryan Reynolds’ performance as the titular, motor-mouthed, fourth-wall-breaking misanthrope is amusing enough but it’s obviously for people with specific tastes and it’s not particularly conducive to a weighty, emotional journey — it’s hard to take anything too seriously when the protagonist doesn’t. But given that caveat, I still got a bunch of hearty laughs out of Reynolds’ banter and meta-references to real-world MCU dynamics. And while his relationship with Wolverine isn’t exactly heartwarming, it does grow on you as the movie continues.
Ah Wolverine. Hugh Jackman returns to play the character that was the beating heart of the X-Men franchise and that helped to define his career. The movie opens by explicitly asking the question, “How do we do this without dishonoring Logan?” After all, James Mangold’s 2017 film is regarded by most as a beautiful and moving send-off for the character. After seeing Deadpool & Wolverine, I don’t know that the juice was quite worth the squeeze — nothing here makes this a more fitting or satisfying swan song. But to its credit, this movie does its best to give this version of Wolverine a solid arc and to provide Jackman some opportunities to flex his considerable acting muscles (not to mention his considerable arm muscles). The filmmakers behind Deadpool & Wolverine clearly love the character and they do their best to honor him. Whether that’s enough of a reason to bring Jackman out of retirement is something you’ll have to decide for yourself.
But the thing that’s going to get a lot of people talking are the cameos, none of which I will reveal here. I understand that cameos are not high art and they appeal to a part of people’s lizard brain that likes to point and say “I RECOGNIZE THAT!” But some of the stuff they were able to achieve here (and keep secret, out of any trailers) is legitimately impressive from a production standpoint. These aren’t just recognizable actors randomly stopping by; they are actually playing characters that only hardcore fans will recognize and understand the context of. There were moments in the theater where I shrieked with surprise and cackled with glee. This movie understood that we’ve been on a journey with many of these comic book character over the years, that sometimes those journeys were awful and ended like dogshit, and that maybe it’s possible to write a newer and more hopeful ending. I appreciated that.
The Deadpool movies have generally been fun, empty cinematic calories, stuff that feels good while you’re watching it but doesn’t leave any residual trace afterwards. Deadpool & Wolverine offers more of the same, but damn it sure was fun for a couple hours to see Hugh Jackman (and [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]) play a hero again, huh?
What do you need to watch
The list of films you need to watch in order to fully comprehend all the jokes in this movie is too long to be useful. But I’ll suggest that if you’re going to get the maximum enjoyment out of this film, you should have the following fresh in your mind:
Deadpool 2
Loki Season 1
Logan
(Not that you should watch them specifically for this movie, but any superhero films that came out before 2010 would probably be helpful to your understanding)
Other Stuff David Chen Has Made
[PAID ONLY] Over on my personal Patreon, I recorded a special politics-only podcast where I chatted with @joyonapping about all the wild events that have happened over the course of the past month. Listen here.
On Decoding TV, we covered the season finale of The Acolyte, a show that has some of the best action scenes of any Star Wars show/film, and some of the worst character development. I was also thrilled to be joined by
from Episodic Medium to discuss this year’s weird Emmy nominations. Check it out below.
On A Cast of Kings, we continue to recap/review each episode of House of the Dragon. This week, we discussed how not to train your dragon.
On The Filmcast, we reviewed Twisters. I thought it was fun but in many ways a downgrade from the original film.
I was into Picard Season 3, so I'd imagine I'll very much be into Deadpool & Wolverine as well.
Just home from a midnight screening. It’s the most enjoyable MCU film since Infinity War. Has some great action scenes in it, but it’s basically the same three jokes repeated throughout the whole film, which felt super lazy at times and by the end I stopped caring about the film.