Review: Deadpool & Wolverine honors Marvel's cinematic legacy while forging a hilarious, irreverent path forward

Today, Marvel's latest movie Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters. With dozens of movies and television shows under its belt, it's becoming harder and harder for Marvel Studios to create films that truly feel like nothing we've seen before...but even by the MCU's own lofty standards, Deadpool & Wolverine feels special. It's both a threequel to Ryan Reynold's fantastic Deadpool series, as well as a homecoming for Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Jackman's performance as the adamantium-clawed X-Man was one of the first iconic performances of our modern superhero movie era back in the 20th Century Fox run of X-Men films, so the impact of his return can't be understated.

I've seen Deadpool & Wolverine, and I'm pleased to report that it accomplishes all it promised and more. I expected the movie to be a good time, filled with jokes that made the most of the long-awaited team up between Reynolds and Jackman's mutants. What I didn't expect was the amount of heart the film has, both for the journey of its lead characters as well as the cinematic legacy that preceded it.

Deadpool & Wolverine won't be for everyone, but I have no doubt that it's going to make a lot of superhero fans very, very happy. It's more than just the next exceptional entry into the MCU; it's also the must-see film of the summer. SPOILER-FREE review incoming.

Deadpool & Wolverine review

One of the biggest questions I had going into Deadpool & Wolverine was how the film would bridge Deadpool's universe with the MCU. Marvel has been up to a lot of alternate world shennanigans thanks to the Multiverse, but Hugh Jackman's Wolverine died in the 2017 film Logan. How could they possibly bring him back without upending Logan's powerful ending?

Deadpool & Wolverine shows right up front that it's well-aware many fans have been wondering those exact questions, and it answers them in outrageous fashion. Reynolds has always been one of the all-time great Marvel castings as Deadpool; it's rare for an actor to feel so perfectly synonymous with their character, and this movie proves why Reynolds is just as much the perfect Deadpool as Jackman is the perfect Wolverine. These two were born to play the two antiheroes opposite one another. This doesn't feel like just another Marvel superhero movie, but a true superhero event film in the vein of The Avengers or Spider-Man: No Way Home. More than once I was struck with awe by how amazing it is that we live in a time where this movie exists at all. It's the sort of thing comic fans a few decades ago could have only dreamed of.

Let's hit some peaks and valleys. In some of the early impressions of the movie, I was surprised to hear several critics call the humor of Deadpool & Wolverine "grating." I think this could not be farther off base. Yes, the movie is crude and filled with toilet humor...but that's just Deadpool. It's completely in step with the humor from the first two Deadpool movies, except it's even more relentless and polished. By the time I left the theater, my face hurt from smiling and laughing so hard, and that's about as large a testament to the punchlines landing in this movie as I can give it. If the humor didn't land for you, I have to wonder if it's a situation of not being the target audience for the movie rather than any actual misstep on the film's part.

The way that Deadpool & Wolverine ties into the larger MCU is also a highlight. It's both a meta examination of the fact that Deadpool is quite literally entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as a compelling story which utilizes elements from Marvel's expanding stable like the Time Variance Authority (TVA), a bureaucratic office organization which governs time and space that was introduced in the Disney+ series Loki. If that sentence made your eyes water, don't worry; Deadpool & Wolverine cracks enough fourth wall-breaking jokes about the inclusion of MCU elements and Marvel's parent company Disney that it makes it all go down smooth. It's frankly amazing that the studio approved everything in the movie.

Hugh Jackman's return as Wolverine is everything

But we don't just go to Marvel movies for jokes; we go for action, for adventure, for uplifting stories aspiring to do our best in the face of overwhelming odds! Deadpool & Wolverine ticks those boxes and more. Since both Wolverine and Deadpool are basically immortal thanks to their healing factor, the action scenes in this movie are brutal and bloody in the extreme. Deadpool & Wolverine absolutely deserves its R-rating, and it makes the most of it.

I also need to shout out Jackman's return as Wolverine. We've seen several different sides of Jackman's Wolverine over the years, but nothing quite like this. It's amazing to me how Deadpool & Wolverine managed to dig into the core of who Logan is in just one movie, exploring his depths while simultaenously providing a fulfilling storyline that stands up to any other in Jackman's catalog as the character. Plus, now that Marvel is steering the ship instead of 20th Century Fox, they're able to lean into certain elements of the comic version of Wolverine in ways we've never seen on the big screen. The costuming in particular is a highlight, both for how fulfilling it was to see and for how the movie justifies it in the first place. Deadpool & Wolverine really does do right by Wolverine, one of the characters who helped launch Marvel movies into the mainstream in the first place.

That's not to say that the film doesn't have its flaws, small though I consider them. The secondary villain in the movie, Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin) is somewhat underutilized in the final act of the film, which is a shame because she's actually a pretty fantastic villain up until that point.

Between Cassandra Nova, TVA agent Paradox (Succession's Matthew Macfadyen), and a deep stable of villainous cameos, there are quite a lot of bad guys at play in Deadpool & Wolverine. But at its heart, the movie just isn't about them; it's about Wade Wilson and Logan rediscovering what it means to be a hero, and to sacrifice for something bigger than themselves. The movie totally nails that theme, but it does come with the side effect that its villains feel more like pitstops meant to help our heroes along their journey rather than towering figures in their own right.

There are also some moments where bits of cinematography start to feel a little overused. Deadpool & Wolverine loves a good slow motion shot of heroes strutting across the screen. For the most part they worked just fine, but the film's reliance on them did distract me enough that it pulled me out of the experience a little. This isn't the most visually striking movie Marvel has ever made, but at the end of the day it's hard to really hold that against it. The Deadpool films have never been high budget CGI affairs. Deadpool & Wolverine is much closer to that than its predecessors, but it's still a Deadpool movie with the same sort of visual style I've come to expect of them.

Deadpool & Wolverine is a movie that rewards longtime viewers but remains accessible

We can't talk about Deadpool & Wolverine without talking about the cameos. Yes, this film has them; it is a Marvel movie, after all. But the cameos that the movie chose surprised me. We aren't going to discuss who shows up in the movie, because this is one of those films which will be genuinely better if you don't know ahead of time. Comedy is all about surprising the audience's expectations, and Deadpool & Wolverine uses that to its advantage across the board. That's especially true of its cameos, some of which had me rolling in my seat with laughter or gasping in shock.

The thing that impressed me most about the film's various cameos and references is how much they felt like they paid off. Yes, it's obvious that the movie was an excuse to bring in a variety of actors, some whom haven't played their respective characters for years (or ever). But since Deadpool is able to be frank with the audience through its fourth wall-breaking jokes, it somehow manages to avoid making any of them cringe-worthy and instead elevates them. These cameos and references aren't just about treating the audience; they're also about honoring the history of the 20th Century Fox run of Marvel movies that got us to this point. It's not a stretch to say that without movies like the X-Men franchise and other early Marvel films, the MCU as we know it may have never had the chance to exist. Deadpool 3 knows that, and it delights in reminding the audience of the journey in ways both predictable and unexpected.

However, if your'e not a longtime viewer who's seen the early 2000s era Marvel superhero flicks, that could be a sticking point. Is Deadpool & Wolverine asking you to do homework to get the movie? My answer to that is that, yes, Deadpool & Wolverine is better if you've seen some of the earlier X-Men films and other superhero movies of that time. But it's still pretty accessible even if you haven't. For example, one cameo makes the most of a behind-the-scenes saga that is the stuff of Marvel movie legend. But the cameo itself still lands so well on screen that it's a great time even if you're not aware of all the baggage behind the gag. Deadpool & Wolverine would never force you to do homework, god no, this is Wade Wilson we're talking about. But as someone who has spent years following the film history behind Marvel's rise to prominence, Deadpool & Wolverine's deep knowledge and referential nature to that journey elevated it from a good time, to a truly important piece of filmmaking in Marvel's catalog.

Bonus: Did I say Deadpool & Wolverine was better if you did homework? Well, if you're one of those masochistic cinephiles who really can't get enough of the behind-the-scenes details, I highly recommend checking out the book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards. Published in 2023, it provides the most in-depth look at the story of Marvel Studios, including its early days while its various film partners like 20th Century Fox were trying to get the X-Men films off the ground.

Verdict

Deadpool & Wolverine is the event film of the summer, and I say that without hyperbole. It's bloody, irreverent fun that makes the most of its connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as the truckloads of cash Disney shelled out to keep Hugh Jackman in the suit as Wolverine till he's 90. This isn't just another MCU film, but the end of the 20th Century Fox chapter of Marvel movies as well as the beginning of whatever comes next for mutant characters like Deadpool, Wolverine, and the rest of the X-Men. It's outstanding.

Grade: A

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