Deadpool & Wolverine
Year: 2024
Rating: R
Length: 128 minutes / 2.13 hours
Ever since the early success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) proved how Marvel could successfully adapt their comics to the big screen, there was always this itch that couldn’t be scratched. This was because certain properties like X-Men and Spider-Man were “trapped” at other studios like 20th Century Fox and Sony, respectively. Through mergers and other agreements, some of these franchises came back under the Marvel umbrella (via Disney), allowing Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) to scratch that crossover itch—finally.
While this isn’t the first time that 20th Century characters have appeared in a mainline MCU entry (with WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) having those distinctions), Deadpool & Wolverine felt like the proper send-off for these 20th Century characters. After all, it’s likely we wouldn’t even have an MCU if it weren’t for the superhero films like X-Men (2000) that came before Iron Man (2008). In a way, Deadpool & Wolverine was to 20th Century superhero films what Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) was to the Sony Spider-Man films—a recognition of the past and a passing of the torch to the future.
Even if Deadpool & Wolverine only felt tangentially related to the MCU (via the Time Variance Authority (TVA) explored in the Loki TV show), the primary draw here is the interaction between the titular leads. Both Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman were meant to play their respective characters. Finally having them together on the same screen was a fun way to fully take advantage of that R rating that previous Deadpool and Wolverine movies have enjoyed. And even if it felt odd that some of the previous characters from these movies were missing from the big farewell, this film was a great conclusion to decades of these iconic characters.
A farewell and passing of the torch for superhero films, I give Deadpool & Wolverine 4.0 stars out of 5.
