Director Shawn Levy reunites with fellow Canadian star Ryan Reynolds for a third time, after their two critically applauded collaborations (one of them being a box office smash) in Free Guy (2021) and The Adam Project (2022). Having previous roots with X-Men icon Hugh Jackman — 2011’s Real Steel, Levy seemed like the perfect ingredient to lure the famous best friends together to once again portray Marvel’s most iconic rapidly-healing-duo.
Deadpool & Wolverine marks Jackman’s first portrayal of Logan AKA Wolverine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (having a total of 10 film appearances over a quarter century). This film succeeds based on Reynolds’ guiding influence as a writer and producer — meaning that he knows exactly when to let Deadpool take a backseat to Jackman’s tortured soul mutant.
Reynolds and Levy give Jackman three incredible moments in the film that bring out the emotion and empathy in the audience. This is very much needed to counterbalance the absurdity of the “Dogpool” and some of Marvel’s most graphic fight scenes to date (one of which utilizes a well-known Wolverine’s corpse). The film succeeds in many ways, with a very satisfying conclusion that’s aptly interwoven with a Madonna song, Jackman’s astounding abs, and a heartfelt montage from the previous Deadpool films.
However, the script is meandering and lacks the ingenuity and narrative complexity that marks the high caliber Fox Marvel entries… films like X-Men 2, X-Men First Class, X-Men Days of Future Past, and even the original Deadpool have better plotting, escalating tension, and meaningful stakes.
By the time Cassandra Nova (The Crown‘s Emma Corrin) escapes the Void and decides to destroy all universes, it seems like a last minute stab to make the third act viable. Nova recruits an army of Deadpool variants to defend her, which little makes sense, but allows Jackman’s Wolverine to “mask up” and unleash the berserk fury that he’s known for in the comics (only X-Men 2 delivers the kind of mayhem that we deserve from Wolverine on screen). In the end, it seems that all fans needed was Jackman to don the yellow suit and mask to make this film a monumental success… the rest is gravy.
The film opens with a call back to Deadpool 2 and Josh Brolin’s Cable, who had a broken time travel device that Wade Wilson AKA Deadpool takes to fix past mistakes (everything from X-Men Origins to Reynolds taking the script for DC’s Green Lantern). Somehow, the device also allows Wade to travel to the “Sacred Timeline” of Earth 616 for a quick cameo from Jon Favreau’s Happy Hogan.
The scene is mostly crafted for jokes and originally made room for a Robert Downey Jr. cameo, but the throughline for the film established is that Wade shouldn’t be an Avengers because “he need to be,” but because people “need him.”
Wade works a dull car salesman job alongside his best friend Peter (Rob Delaney) and we find the former superhero heading home to a surprise birthday party, where all his friends are gathered. This included his ex-girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) on Earth 10005, which is news to the audience post Deadpool 2. Vanessa is now dating someone else, and it’s an obvious screenwriting ploy to have Vanessa and Wade apart, only for her to come back around to Wade as a romantic interest in the film’s finale.
Regardless, the birthday party is interrupted by the Time Variance Authority (TVA) and Wade is brought to an annex facility of the TVA — a sort of off the books (and unapproved) operation run by Paradox (Succession‘s Matthew Macfadyen). Wade jokes — as he breaks the fourth — about finally joining the MCU as we see a wall of TVA monitors showcasing the various Avengers across the sacred timeline.
One monitor give the audience a clear shot of Chris Evans’ Captain America which Wade salutes and mentions. This is one of the script’s few ingenious ploys, as this on screen reminder of Cap perfectly tricks us into thinking Evans is portraying Cap when he appears five minutes from now… who he actually place is the Fantastic Four’s Human Touch from his early 2000s Fox Marvel days.
Back in the present moment, Wade learns that his universe is slowly dying off after losing its “anchor being.” That being was the Wolverine featured in 2017’s Logan, when Wolverine dies protecting X-23 aka Laura (Dafne Keene).
Paradox, in an apparent attempt to “Fast-Track” his rise in the TVA’s ranks, explains to Wade that he will use a “Time Ripper” device to accelerate the deletion of this particular timeline branch (AKA Wade’s world will be no more less than 48 hours). Wade, refusing to accept the world ending ramifications for his friends, steals a time pad type device and jumps across multi-verses to see a variety of Hugh Jackman (and one bulky Henry Cavill) portray various Wolverines.
After a myriad of abuse from multiple Wolverines, Wade returns to the TVA with a drunken Logan variant which is supposedly the “Worst Wolverine.” This idea of the “Worst Wolverine” came from a lengthy voicemail that Jackman sent Reynolds and Levy quite early in the development process. The backstory for the “Worst Wolverine” works incredibly well in the script as an emotional arc, and it’s amplified by Jackman’s particularly strong performance.
Paradox tells Wade that an anchor being cannot be replaced and it’s at this moment that Wade deciphers or perhaps “sniffs out” to borrow from Wolverine’s vernacular, that Paradox is running this timeline pruning mission as an unsanctioned operation.
Paradox quickly uses a TVA Stick to prune Wade, sending him to the Void and the Worst Wolverine is also pruned within seconds. The two strangers are reunited beside the crumbled “20th Century Fox” logo and now exposition is required for the those unaware of the Void.
Marvel’s expansion into Television can be a hindrance for its feature films as developments on Disney+ are not known to the standard moviegoer. In this case, Wade/Deadpool has to tell the audience that the angry purple cloud monster that consumes people, Alioth, was introduced in an episode of Loki‘s Disney+ series.
Wolverine and Wade meet up with Chris Evans’ Human Torch and they are quickly captured and taken to a a slain Giant Man’s corpse. This massive skeleton in a superhero suit is the home base of the Void’s telepathic and psychokinetic ruler — Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin).
Nova’s backstory is that she is a twin of Charles Xavier in the womb. She’s never met an Xavier in the Void, and so she has no true understanding of her brother. This is a key element to the film’s second act when Wolverine takes a risk in saving her and telling her about Charles as a caring soul…. but that’s still quite a ways from this present moment.
Nova kills the Human Torch and sends Wolverine sailing through the soil as punishment for trying to kill her. Alioth interrupts their introductions as it comes to feed on Nova’s minions, allowing for Wolverine and Wade can escape to an old Sentinel’s foot.
Logan and Wade meet a Deadpool variant named “Nicepool” who directs them towards a resistance group that work against Nova. There’s a lengthy scene with Dogpool, the ugly Dog version of Deadpool that recurs throughout the film.
On the drive to find the resistance, Wade’s slip of the tongue makes Logan realizes that Wade is bluffing about the TVA being able to fix his timeline. This is a stinging betrayal as the sole reason for partnering with Wade was to escape this barren wasteland and bring back all the dead X-Men.
The revelation triggers the van to stop mid journey and Jackman delivers a stirring monologue in the accent of the usually terse character. Having seen the film multiple times, Jackman nails this moment with such gravitas that your throat might tighten. Wade doesn’t take kindly to the insults that hit so close to home and they have their emotional battle which appears to take at least 12 hours.
The mutants battle until they’re exhausted and unconscious in the van, allowing a stranger to drive them to the resistance’s hideout. There, they find all sorts of Fox Marvel characters, such as Elektra (Jennifer Garner), Blade (Wesley Snipes), the first on screen of Channing Tatum’s Gambit, and X-23/Laura. Wolverine is at a low point and could care less about what happens, but Wade rallies the previously pruned heroes to make a stand against Nova at her home base.
The ragtag team plan to steal Juggernaut’s helmet and shove onto Nova’s head, preventing Nova from accessing her powers. They go into battle in the beat up van that recurs as a joke in the film, and Wolverine unsurprisingly pops out of the trunk to join his new friends in battle.
With Nova distracted and “fingering” Wolverine’s mind, Wade is able to put Juggernaut’s helmet on her head. They demand a way out of the Void, and Nova refuses to oblige the request with insane giggles.
Suddenly, Pyro shows up and shoots Nova per orders from Paradox at the moment when she can’t heal herself with her mutant powers.
Nova is all set to die, but Logan convinces Wade to remove the helmet to give her the ability to save herself and accept the consequences if she chooses to kill them. Wolverine invokes his lessons from Charles Xavier and tells Nova that Xavier would do whatever he could to help her if he knew she existed.
Nova, now freed from the helmet, heals herself and she seems to take his words to heart. She conveniently pulls out a Dr. Strange hand amulet and makes circles in the air to opens a portal to Wade’s Earth.
Logan and Wade jump through it as Nova turns her attention to Pyro. Once he explains the betrayal by Paradox, Nova plans to hunt down Paradox and destroy everything outside the void…. without any clear motivation or logic as to why that’s fair or wise or helpful.
This leads to the aforementioned battle of Deadpool variants versus our Wade and Wolverine (in full mask). Nova is able to access the Time Ripper and starts tearing down the current universe, only a suicide mission can stop her — connecting the wires of matter and anti-matter below the Time Ripper to trigger its overload.
Wade is seemingly willing to let Logan sacrifice himself to save his world, but Wade makes a self-sacrificing swap to spare this Wolverine and sacrifice himself at the last moment. This isbecause Wade’s friends “need him” and that’s why he has to be the hero they need — the full circle plot moment thanks to Happy Hogan’s speech in the first act.
Unfortunately, Wade can’t reach the two sets of wires needed to connect and then overload the Time Ripper. This is where Jackman’s Worst Wolverine redeems himself, locking arms with Wade as they both scream in pain to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” with full choir. The energy blast blows off Wolverine’s costume mid torso, revealing incredible abs (and drawing a look of awe from Deadpool). It’s the one last humerus beat in the story before the montage kicks in and we feel a swell of emotion for these two characters seemingly at the of their lives.
The two succeed in blowing up the Time Ripper which kills Nova and causes a ton of damage to the secret subway station base of Paradox. The TVA higher ups arrive to arrest Paradox (led by Hunter B 15) and it’s revealed that Wade and Wolverine survived by their joint healing powers splitting the damage from the machine.
Hunter B 15 who congratulates Wade and Logan, stating that their actions have somehow stopped the Earth-10005 timeline from deteriorating and this Logan is a new anchor being. Wade asks Hunter B 15 to save the resistance group from the Void and also reverse the history of Logan’s timeline where all the X-Men were killed.
Hunter B 15 explains that the latter is not possible because Logan’s history is what led to him being a hero in this very moment, and Logan seems at peace with this fact. Logan remains in Wade’s timeline and is reunited with Laura/X-23 in the finale dinner party.
Wade and Vanessa seemingly reunite on a path to dating again. The film closes with an appropriately sentimental look at 20 years of the Fox Marvel films with behind the scenes footage accompanied by Greenday’s “Good Riddance.”
The audience gets plenty of what they want, allowing most viewers to overlook the lacking narrative complexity in exchange for the numerous comedic lines and laugh-out-loud moments, a barrage of cameos, and two actors bringing everything they have to two beloved characters. Though second best in the trilogy of Deadpool films, it will be number one in the hearts of many and undoubtedly the highest grossing entry in the Deadpool saga to date.
Letter Grade: B