Traveling Out to the Void

The latest Marvel Cinematic UniverseWhen it first began in 2008 with a little film called Iron Man no one suspected the empire that would follow. Superhero movies in the past, especially those not featuring either Batman or Superman, were usually terrible. And yet, Iron Man would lead to a long series of successful films, launching the most successful cinema brand in history: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. film, Deadpool & Wolverine, is absolutely one you should go into without any spoilers. It’s a comedy-action film, with a strong emphasis on comedy, and part of what makes comedy work best are the surprises. The less said about the story, the characters, the jokes, and the material the better for viewers of the film. If you haven’t gone and seen the movie already, and you plan to, go watch it before you read this because, from this point forward, we will be discussing the intricacies of the story and characters and all spoilers will be on the table. Consider yourself warned.

Deadpool

The first thing we should discuss is that while this is a Deadpool movie, I wouldn’t say that Mr. Pool has the strongest arc in this film. He’s the agent of chaos, the guy that causes all the inciting incidents that keeps the story moving forward. I would liken his part to that of Ferris Bueller in his film, the title character that gets most of the focus, but by the end of the film we end up, more or less, right back where we started.

Wade is, for all intents and purposes, a complete character at this point. We’ve seen him go from assassin with a heart of gold to mutant to mutant assassin with a heart of gold trying to get back with his girl in the first film, to, well… actually kind of the same in the second film as well. And now, in this third movie, we more or less get that same arc again. This film opens with Wade trying to join the Avengers, and getting rejected. This is, presumably, after he’s already been rejected from the X-MenLaunched in 1963 and written by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the X-Men featured heroes distinctly different from those featured in the pages of DC Comics. Mutants who didn't ask for their powers (and very often didn't want them), these heroes, who constantly fought against humans who didn't want "muties" around, served as metaphors for oppression and racism. Their powerful stories would form this group into one of the most recognizable superhero teams in comics (and a successful series of movies as well). back in his home universe, and after X-Force has been (rather forcibly) disbanded (by almost all the members dying). He’s feeling lost, like he’s not qualified to be a hero, and this causes him to push away his girl, Vanessa. Then he spends the rest of the movie working to win her back.

And, well, that’s it. Wade is a great character, and Ryan Reynolds plays the shit out of him (everyone says this is the character Reynolds was born to play, and I would one hundred percent agree with that), but as far as this movie is concerned, the whole goal it so get Wade back where he was at the end of the first and second movies so that he can be with Vanessa while doing some vaguely superhero shit. They keep him effectively running in place because, to do anything more would actually force him to become someone not like, well, himself. He has to be the mutant assassin with the heart of gold and if he ever discovers he can be more than that than Wade wouldn’t really be Wade at that point.

Wolverine

Against Wade, Hugh Jackman’s Mr. Claws has all the story he needs. His character is not the one we saw in previous X-Men films but a variant, one who saw his entire team get killed while he was off getting drunk, and it broke him. He’s the only living X-Man left, and his entire world views him as a failure. The job of the story, for Logan, is to rebuild him and make him into the hero we more or less know from the previous films (just not dead, like the last Wolverine). You could also view this as a regression, in a way, because all we’re doing is taking a version of a character we know and getting them back to where we expect them to be.

The trick here, though, is that because he’s a variant we actually accept him as a new character. We realize that he was never as heroic as the Logan we saw in the previous films, not the guy who could stand up and be part of a team, so he has to earn that over the course of the film. Plus, then he has an emotional journey to go on as well, as he fights his personal demons and comes out stronger and better. It’s a story arc that works in the context of the film, and it allows Jackman to play a new version of the character without violating the whole arc that his previous iteration of Logan went through (which was clearly important to the actor).

Plus, Jackman is so good in the role. There’s no doubt that Hug is an amazing actor, not just from his work in the X-Men films but everything else he’s done as well. There’s a reason that, despite Jackman being neither short, nor hairy, nor smelly, nor Canadian, most viewers in the audience have come to accept him as the version of Wolverine. Although, for the pedantic viewers out in the audience, the film does even lampshade his height and hairiness in a great variant cameo that is so hilariously done. Jackman owns this screen, in every version of the character.

The Cameos

There are a ton of cameos in this film, from the early scenes featuring all the returning characters from the Deadpool films (most of whom don’t show up for very long) to an appearance from Happy Hogan, and a few known TVA agents later in the film. But the key cameos we really need to talk about are all the returning actors from the non-MCU, non-X-Men films that the creative team elected to include, and also why they’re here. I love the fact they’re all included, even if at times the film does feel a touch overstuffed.

For starters, Chris Evans returns to the MCU here, but not as Captain AmericaCreated by Simon and Kirby in 1941, Captain America was a super soldier created to fight Germany and the evil HYDRA. Then he was lost in the ice, only to be found and reborn decades later as the great symbol of the USA.. Instead he gets to play Johnny Storm, a character he hasn’t gotten to play since 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. While those two Fox Fantastic Four movies were awful, I actually think Evans was the best part of them. He had a snarky, smarmy quality that actually used to be in a lot of his earlier performances (like in Not Another Teen Movie), but has since been downplayed since he took on the role of Cap. Johnny’s appearance here is a bait and switch as we’re meant to think he’s Cap, but then he reveals who he is and, well, it’s such a great cameo. He doesn’t stick around for long (since Wade gets him killed) but this is a moment that will stand as one of the great cameos from this film.

We also get a number of returning X-Men villains, some of whom are played by their original stars. Aaron Stanford returns as Pyro (after appearing in two of the original three X-Men films) and Sabertooth’s original performer, Tyler Mane, finally gets to don the makeup again, taking on the role since leaving it after the very first movie. Other characters, like Juggernaut, Lady Deathstrike, Blob, and Toad appear as well, although not played by their original actors. I do wonder why the original actors weren’t brought back and, if the original actors didn’t want to show up again, why other villains weren’t used in their place where original actors could be brought in. It felt just a little weird.

But then we get to the big ones. About halfway into the film Wade and Logan meet up with a group of other heroes, played by actors from their original films. These were Elektra (Jennifer Garner), Blade (Wesley Snipes), X-23 (Dafnee Keen), and Gambit (Channing Tatum). It was really great to see Blade and Elektra back, helping to acknowledge the other superhero franchises that were started by Fox and New Line Cinema. Tatum’s Gambit was a fun, interesting choice since technically he never got a film, although one was in development for a long, long time.

The highlight for me was Keen’s X-23, though. She was a great character in Logan, and I was legitimately sad that we didn’t get to see her in future films after that. Any chance to have X-23 back is a good thing, and I welcome it.

The Future

The biggest thought I had, upon leaving the theater, was just what this film meant for the future of the franchise. I expect we’ll get another Deadpool movie or two, as much because Reynolds loves this character and fights tooth and nail to get him films, as because in its first week of release the film has already made over half a billion dollars. There is no way Disney leaves that kind of money on the table; they will make more movies for the Merc with a Mouth so long as Reynolds is still on board.

The future of Wolverine is murkier. While this version of the character now exists, and they could try to lure Jackman back with more money to continue his adventures, I have my doubts that they will. For starters, Jackman did this just because he’s friends with Reynolds and they both desperately wanted to do one crossover film. I don’t think his plan to retire the character and let someone else play the role eventually has changed. At some point new X-Men films will get made, with a new cast of actors, and presumably Wolverine will be recast as well. This was Jackman’s swan song, one last chance to play the character before officially passing the torch.

But one way they could pass the torch would be to let Keen come on for future X-23 movies to continue her own franchise. She survives to the end of this film, as we see in the closing shots, and she is a character people like. I could see Disney saying, “well, if we’re making a cast of fresh, young mutants, why not put X-23 in the team?” I think that’s a better way to carry on this legacy while not having to trot Jackman out again and again as he gets older and older despite his character supposedly being immortal. Jackman is 55, and while he still looks good, one day he will look too old to play Logan. Time is coming quick.

But then, we do have to say the same for Reynolds, too. He’s 47 at this point. While he gets covered in makeup and gets to wear a suit, so he doesn’t have to show his age as much in these films, sooner or later he will have to hang up the red suit. At some point he’ll be too old for the role, so Disney is going to have to get these films going quick if they want to capitalize on it. Otherwise, this may be one of the last times we see Wade again.

At least we got this fun, crazy film out of it. Deadpool & Wolverine, while not perfect, is great fun. Disney, I’m sure, was worried about releasing an R-rated film in one of their biggest franchises (the MCU), despite Deadpool already proving to be a massive hit series. I’m sure this has eased their minds now. And hey, even if Reynolds does have to hang up the suit eventually, at least this proves people will show up for R-rated MCU films. Maybe this makes getting that long in production Blade film out the door. We can only hope.