Deadpool & Wolverine (R)
Break Room of Geeks; Disney Wiki; IMDb; Marvel; MCU Wiki; Rotten Tomatoes; TV Tropes; Wikipedia; X-Men Movies Wiki
streaming sites: Amazon; Disney+; Google Play; Movies Anywhere; Vudu; YouTube
Caution: Maximum spoilers!
This is a continuation of the Deadpool movies, following Deadpool 2. It starts out on Earth-10005, the universe of FOX's X-Men movies, before moving to Earth-616, from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Quick, non-spoiler review: Deadpool teams up with a reluctant Wolverine to save his universe, and it's fucking awesome. Now, on to the spoilerific review.
It begins in 2024, with Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) digging up Wolverine's grave (following the events of Logan), believing his regenerative power would have saved him. Instead, all he finds is a skeleton. Then a group of Minutemen from the Time Variance Authority (TVA), which had been introduced in the series Loki, show up to take Deadpool back to their headquarters, but he fights them off. The story then flashes back to 2018, with Wade Wilson being interviewed by Happy Hogan, hoping to become an Avenger, to give his life some meaning. But Happy rejects him. (Apparently he used Cable's time travel device from the second Deadpool movie to get to Earth-616, but I find it hard to believe the device could allow travel between universes. But I'll accept as a convenient plot device.) So, he returns home and gives up on being Deadpool, and gets a regular job as a car salesman, working with Peter Wisdom, who had been introduced in "Deadpool 2".
At Wade's birthday party in 2024, we learn that he and Vanessa had broken up, but are still friends. At one point during the party, the Minutemen show up and take him to their headquarters, where he meets an agent named Paradox, who wants to recruit him, and provides him with a new Deadpool suit and weapons. He learns that since his world lost its "anchor being", Logan, the universe is deteriorating, and will eventually disappear. Paradox wants to use an unauthorized device called a "Time Ripper" to accelerate the demise of Earth-10005, which would mean the death of all of Wade's friends. So that's when he steals a TemPad and goes back to his universe to dig up Wolverine, as seen in the first scene. When that plan fails, he visits a bunch of different universes, looking for a Wolverine variant to bring back to his universe, to stop it from being destroyed. He finally finds one (Hugh Jackman) who is sick of being alive and just spends his time getting drunk, because of things that had happened in his past (which I won't spoil).
Deadpool brings this alternate Wolverine to the TVA, but Paradox says an anchor being can't be replaced. Wade wants to report Paradox to his superiors, so the agent sends him and Wolverine to the "Void" (as seen in "Loki"). They meet someone who Deadpool at first assumes is Captain America, because he's played by Chris Evans, but who turns out to be Johnny Storm (from Fantastic Four). The three of them are captured by a Mad Max-style gang, and taken to their leader, Cassandra Nova. She is the twin sister of Charles Xavier, and has telepathic and telekinetic powers that make her pretty much unbeatable. She quickly kills Johnny, but Deadpool and Wolverine manage to escape. They meet a Deadpool variant called Nicepool (also played by Ryan Reynolds), who has a pet dog named Mary Puppins, with whom Deadpool immediately bonds. Nicepool lends Deadpool and Wolverine his car and points them in the direction of a resistance group, but along the way they get in a major fight. When they're both unconscious following the battle, someone comes along and drives their car the rest of the way to resistance headquarters.
Upon waking up, they learn that there are only four resistance members left, the rest having been previously killed by Cassandra. They include Elektra (Jennifer Garner), Blade (Wesley Snipes), Gambit (Channing Tatum), and X-23/Laura (Dafne Keen), who had been introduced in "Logan". Deadpool convinces them to attack Cassandra and her gang with him and Wolverine (who initially wants no part of this plan). Cassandra has a way for them to get back to the TVA, and I don't want to go into detail about the battle, but ultimately Cassandra opens a magical portal for Deadpool and Wolverine, who must try to thwart Paradox's plan. Instead of going directly to the TVA, they go to Earth-10005, where they face off against an army of variant Deadpools. And I don't want to say how that ends, but they do eventually get to the location of the Time Ripper, which Cassandra is planning to use to destroy every universe, leaving only the Void. They manage to stop her, saving the multiverse (including Earth-10005). Paradox is arrested by Hunter B-15 of the TVA (who had been introduced in "Loki"). Deadpool convinces her to let the resistance fighters leave the Void, and Logan and Laura stay in Wade's world. Oh, and Deadpool gets to keep Mary Puppins.
Whew. I have said a lot, but I've also left out a lot of details. I found the movie absolutely hilarious, as usual for Deadpool films. There were a number of things that didn't make sense to me, but I didn't really care. I was able to just roll with everything. It's nice that they didn't undo the dramatic end of the movie "Logan" by bringing him back to life, but were still able to keep Hugh Jackman playing a variant of the character. It was great seeing some familiar characters from other Marvel movies (including Gambit, who was supposed to get a movie but never did). Yeah, I can't even think of all I should say about this movie. It was just pure fanservice (not the sexy kind, but every other kind), and I loved that. It falls just barely short of making my list of favorite movies. The movie is just... so... cool. I can't even tell you. The pairing of Deadpool and Wolverine was perfect, both when they were getting along and when (for most of the movie) they weren't. Seeing two such different personalities clash, and also two characters with regenerative powers, so they could go all-out in battle without actually killing each other, was just *chef's kiss*. And seeing the main Deadpool interact with other Deadpools (especially Nicepool) was also great. I was really dubious that they could make this movie make any kind of sense, and believably integrate it into the MCU, but they did. Even when it didn't make sense, it kind of made sense. I was also worried about bringing back Laura when she was seven years older than in "Logan", despite this being set five years before that movie, but with the TVA, all things are possible. I didn't for one second think I wouldn't end up loving the movie, but to end up having no complaints was certainly unexpected. Kudos to everyone involved.
There are also some nice behind the scenes clips from older Marvel movies (I think), as well as a great post-credits scene.
Phase One: Iron Man * The Incredible Hulk * Iron Man 2 * Thor * Captain America * The Avengers
Phase Two: Iron Man 3 * Thor: The Dark World * Captain America: The Winter Soldier * Guardians of the Galaxy * Avengers: Age of Ultron * Ant-Man
Phase Three: Captain America: Civil War * Doctor Strange * Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 * Spider-Man: Homecoming * Thor: Ragnarok *
Black Panther * Avengers: Infinity War * Ant-Man and the Wasp * Captain Marvel * Avengers: Endgame * Spider-Man: Far from Home
Phase Four: Black Widow * Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings * Eternals * Spider-Man: No Way Home *
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness * Thor: Love and Thunder * Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Phase Five: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania * Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 * The Marvels * Deadpool & Wolverine
short films: Marvel One-Shots
TV: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. * Agent Carter * Inhumans * Cloak & Dagger
Netflix: Daredevil * Jessica Jones * Luke Cage * Iron Fist * The Defenders * The Punisher
Hulu: Runaways * Helstrom
Disney+ (P4): WandaVision * The Falcon and the Winter Soldier * Loki * What If...? * Hawkeye * Moon Knight * Ms. Marvel * I Am Groot *
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law * Werewolf by Night * Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Disney+ (P5): Secret Invasion * Loki s2 * Echo * Agatha All Along