Deadpool and Wolverine is a Failed Attempt to Salvage the MCU's Decline

Making fun of yourself just isn't the way to right the ship

I’m not going to sugarcoat a fact that informs this review: I don’t like Deadpool as a character. This is mostly because the type of humor that he presents in both the films and comics…the fourth-wall-breaking, irreverent mockery of absolutely everything…is not the sort of humor with which I resonate. That said, I intentionally approached this movie with an open mind about what it could bring to the MCU as the only big-screen adventure for the rest of the year. I was hopeful that it could turn out to be a worthwhile film, even though my expectation was firmly that it would be bad.

I can say without hesitation that Deadpool and Wolverine proved wrong my expectation of being bad. It was, in fact, terrible.

The push back to that statement is already palpable, through the screen from future readers even as I write this. So let me work (hard) to find some common ground here. I very much appreciated the inside jokes and visual references to previous MCU films. Captain America’s shield from Iron Man 2 in Happy Hogan’s office was a nice touch, as were the long list of cameos. I was pleasantly surprised to see Jennifer Garner’s return as Electra, and I wonder, honestly, how many current MCU fans have even seen Blade to appreciate Wesley Snipes’ appearance? So yes, I found myself smiling at some to see some of these characters again, but only momentarily, because we’ve seen this surprise before: The Beast in the Marvels, Professor X in Multiverse of Madness. The trick really only gets a standing ovation once, and then it feels recycled. This fact gets to a huge part of Marvel’s issue lately: the multiverse is an excuse to re-write canon at will, to selectively cherry-pick from some previous series and films while leaving the rest in other timelines. Even to a seasoned fan such as myself, who grew up reading the comics, it’s beginning to get confusing, and so much more so, I imagine, for the casual fan. There’s just too much going on here.

These cameos also ultimately disappoint, because they really exist only as fodder for the humor of the film, which is more of the self-deprecating, “wow, look at how crazy we’ve gotten” joke train that comprised the disaster that was She-Hulk. Someone really should tell Feige that we get it, you realize you went for quantity at the expense of quality, and, while a joke or two in recognition of this elicits a good laugh, going overboard with Marvel making fun of itself just isn’t a good look. It’s honestly a bit embarrassing. Give it a rest, already, and get on with the comedy of the film, because that’s what the audience is there for.

My issue with the central through-line of the movie is that it’s built on comedy that’s sacrilegious and irreverent, intentionally caustic and offensive to a large group of people. This is the easiest type of humor. It takes no effort to write, and it’s the cheapest option to reach for to get some laughs. This sort of humor, and it’s recurrence throughout the film, shows the weakness of the writers because it’s in no way clever or compelling. The real Deadpool humor lies in the string of profanity-laced insults that Deadpool (apparently quoting the Human Torch) releases like a strafing attack at Cassandra Nova, the villain of the film. That was obvious in the showing that I attended, because that’s when the laughter really began.

Speaking of Cassandra Nova, if there’s a bright point in this movie, it’s the performance of Emma Corrin. I’m glad to be seeing mutants gradually introduced to the MCU, and Nova is a terrifying, Omega-level mutant who is portrayed with chilling effectiveness here. The easiest way to torpedo a superhero film is to give it a weak (or weakened) villain. Thankfully, Deadpool and Wolverine at least avoids that trap, as Corrin is masterful in her performance (and allows the movie to torpedo itself in a multitude of other ways). The villain, at least, is not to blame for the film’s failure, although I do wish that we had saved Nova for a real movie, where she could have been developed as something other than just a devastatingly powerful being who is introduced and meets her demise within two hours.

There were two inconsistencies in Deadpool and Wolverine with which I have serious geek knowledge issues. The first happens early, when Deadpool is using Wolverine’s adamantium-laced skeleton to (graphically) take out a troupe of TVA agents. In doing so, he removes different bones and portions of the skeleton to weaponize them, and the fact that they are laced with adamantium makes them lethal in their effectiveness, because they are unbreakable. Except that’s the issue that makes this entire premise implausible. Because the bones are unbreakable, Deadpool could never have broken them apart or separated them from the rest of the skeleton. Without departing from decades of world-building in the comics, this scene could simply not happen as depicted, and thus we’re less than five minutes into the movie before it radically departs from the consistency that has been a hallmark of the MCU since it’s launch.

The second inconsistency…rather, I’ll call it an issue…is with Channing Tatum’s Gambit. Gambit is historically one of my all-time favorite characters in the X-Men, and I’ve always wanted to see him done well on the big screen. At least this time they captured the costume and the accent. However, in two scenes that I recall, Gambit charges playing cards or other objects, leaves other combatants holding them or in possession of them for several seconds, after which they explode. This is a fun effect, but not Gambit’s power. He converts potential energy to kinetic energy, so the objects that he charges blow on impact. There is no “setting a timer” ability that’s ever been shown in the comics, and it’s inconsistent with the nature of his power.

I don’t want to take away from the intention of this movie, because I think that it was actually a noble one. The point seems to have been a humorous sendoff and love letter of sorts to the cinematic foundation of modern superhero films, on the shoulders of which the MCU has been able to stand. The poignant score to the out-takes reel in the mid-credits scene shows us this much. We can also acknowledge that this is the end of any Fox ownership over Marvel properties (driven home by Fox’s logo on the desolate landscape in the background of an early scene), and that is cause for reflection.

There’s one line in this movie that’s actually worthwhile. When the Logan that fights alongside Deadpool enters the TVA, Deadpool tells him, “Welcome to the MCU. You’re entering at kind of a low point.” At least there’s some self-awareness here, and this line brought a legitimate laugh from me. Deadpool and Wolverine is, in fact, appearing at a very low point for the MCU.

Unfortunately, it does nothing to improve that situation.