When Marvel makes a movie that’s just pure fun and heart, it feels like all’s well in the world again, doesn’t it? Deadpool & Wolverine is precisely that.
It’s just a really enjoyable time at the movies, full of meta jokes at the expense of everyone in the trademark Ryan Reynolds tenor, meta nods, insane cameos, and a ripped AF Hugh Jackman as Logan.
Deadpool 3 spoilers ahead!
The story though … is a bit loopy, NGL. As one of the most bizarre movies I saw last year was called, do not expect too much from the end of the world. Especially when it’s the MCU, because every movie is the end of the world, and somehow the world just always gets saved. And sure it might seem at first that there are repercussions—like in Wade’s case, his girlfriend Vanessa’s (Morena Baccarin) broken up with him—and the ending is bittersweet, but then the next movie swings by, and by some new trick or plot device, the “bitter” ending gets remedied.
Take Logan, for example, a film that ripped our hearts with grief-laced adamantium claws as we watched Wolverine laid to rest. It felt like the end of the world for X-Men fans. And turns out, as Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) from the Time Variance Authority in Deadpool 3 explains, it literally was the end for a particular timeline in which Wolverine was an “anchor being”—a person so critical to their timeline that their absence just f**ks things up for the whole universe, in this case, Deadpool’s Earth-10005.
But thanks to the TVA tech we know from Marvel’s Loki as a TemPad, it was rather easy for Wade Wilson to just steal one, and hop through multiple timelines to find a Wolverine that was alive (but dead inside). So he could seek his help to save the ones he loves (all of 9 people), before Paradox uses a device called a Time Ripper to “mercy kill” his timeline without the permission of his superiors.
Just Deadpool’s luck that he finds the worst Logan who couldn’t save the X-Men in his timeline. Wade has to lie (or make an educated wish) to him so Logan would agree for the team-up all comic book fans would hungrily salivate over. And thus, together, Deadpool and a rather reluctant Wolverine, attempt to thwart Paradox, get pruned, and up in The Void, which is kind of like the island of lost dreams (saw a copy of Secret Wars in the first scene there!).
There they encounter lots of superhero cameos, including Deadpool variants like Dogpool, Alioth (that hungry trans-temporal entity that gobbles you up in The Void) and a new, rather handsy villain, Cassandra Nova (a deliciously diabolical Emma Corrin), which comic book fans will recognise as the twin sister of Charles Xavier from the X-Men. She rules over all things The Void (Mad Max style), thanks to a deal she made with the TVA.
Time’s a-ticking, and #Poolverine must defeat Nova and get the hell out of dodge, back to their timeline to stop Paradox from ripping time. And they do so, with a little help from their friends, a motley crew of superheroes that leads resistance against Nova.
What happens at the end of Deadpool & Wolverine?
After getting Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) killed at the hands of Nova, our dynamic duo manage to escape her lair and Alioth. A Deadpool variant directs Deadpool and Wolverine to the Void’s borderlands to find the resistance. Or shall we say, the resistance—comprising Elektra (Jennifer Garner), Eric Brooks aka Blade (Wesley Snipes), Remy LeBeau aka Gambit (Channing Tatum), and Laura aka X-23 (Dafne Keen)—finds them. They agree to help Deadpool against Nova, as a last hurrah to get some closure (a nice meta joke there about giving closure to their franchises, which might be getting rebooted). Wolverine initially declines, but after a fireside heart-to-heart with X-23, he joins them.
While the others fight Nova’s ragtag henchmen, Logan lets Nova dig into his mind to distract her, while Wade places Juggernaut’s helmet on her head to inhibit her powers. Suddenly, the mutant Pyro (Aaron Standford), Nova’s henchman who is secretly on Paradox’s payroll, arrives and shoots her under orders from Paradox. Wolverine convinces Deadpool to remove the helmet and let Nova heal while giving her a spiel about her brother, and she in turn, uses a the ring of a Doctor Strange variant to open a portal to their timeline.
On Earth-10005, it is showtime. Paradox has the Time Ripper ready to go. But as Deadpool and Wolverine arrive, so does Cassandra Nova right behind them, angry at Paradox’s betrayal and planning to end the Multiverse, so only The Void remains. Her new henchmen are an army of Deadpool variants from The Void, including Lady Deadpool (Blake Lively), Cowboy Deadpool (Matthew McConnaughey), Headpool (Nathan Fillion), Kidpool (Inez Reynolds), and Babypool (Olin Reynolds). Deadpool and Wolverine have to fight them, before they can get to Nova and stop her.
A terrified Paradox tells our heroes that the only way to stop the Time Ripper is to break its power flow, which is fuelled by matter and anti-matter. But whoever attempts this would die permanently, no backsies. After much emotional debate, Deadpool manages to trick Wolverine into letting him make the big sacrifice because he finally gets to be a part of something big.
But then Wolverine joins him, and good thing too, because Pool was almost going to fail. Now, they both survive because when two people with their healing powers combine their strength, they can survive conducting all the energy. The only people who don’t survive are us fans, after a gander at Hugh Jackman’s gleaming, ripped torso!
Nova’s vaporised, Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku; remember her from Loki?) arrests Paradox, and upon a request from Wade, their superhero friends from The Void are returned to their respective timelines, while Logan gets to stay on in Wade’s. Oh, and Deadpool & Wolverine go eat some well-deserved shawarma, because what if Deadpool can’t be an Avenger? He can still parody all their coolest scenes!
Time for that bittersweet ending. Unfortunately for Logan, B-15 can’t quite change his past, because as she beautifully reasons, his past is what made him who he is now—an anchor being who helped save Wade’s timeline. So there’s no going back for Wolverine, who decides to finally retire, don some plaid, and hang out with Wade and friends, which includes Laura too. Logan encourages Wade to get back together with Vanessa, and it’s a sweet family photo moment.
Wait for that post-credits scene in Deadpool & Wolverine!
There isn’t a mid-credits scene for this one, but we get something better. As the credits roll, a video montage of BTS clips from the X-Men movies and of Reynolds talking about wanting to be Deadpool plays on the side, as a sort of emotional farewell. Set to Green Day’s “Good Riddance,” it truly is the perfect end to the film, which is a whacky, hilarious, and heartfelt love letter to not just the MCU and its fans, but some major pop culture phenomena over the years as well, set to nostalgic banger tracks!
But there is a post-credits scene, and it is a goofy one that makes up for all the years that Chris Evans had to mind his “language” as Captain America. Deadpool is back at the TVA and plays a video recording as proof of Evans as Johnny Storm bad-mouthing Nova, the thing that Deadpool narc-ed on to Nova and got him killed!
Published: Jul 25, 2024 04:41 pm