Deadpool and Wolverine thoughts

I was really snooty about Deadpool. The MCU superhero formula of just-snarky-enough humour was going great guns, so why should I worry about what lesser studios were doing? All that potty-mouthed fourth wall breaking seemed kinda adolescent and, well, desperate.

At some point this year, post Disney-Fox merger and with the MCU in crisis mode, I conceded that maybe I'd been a key driver in my daughter's obsession with poos and farts, and I should probably give Ryan a chance. I watched the first one: Reynolds and his collaborators do nothing by halves, positively wallowing in their ironic depravity. But it also had a proper story arc with surprisingly high emotional stakes. It is, shock horror, a very good film.

Kevin Feige presumably intended Deadpool and Wolverine to be a disposable palate-cleanser, but with popular opinion turning against the MCU it's become more like a last-chance saloon for Kev, Disney and even superhero flicks in general. Can it stop the rot? (Spoiler: yes.)

**** MANY, MANY MORE SPOILERS BELOW ****

The Wolverine thing

Logan is of course canonically dead, croaking at the end of 2017's er, Logan. Hugh Jackman's return is more fuel for the multiverse naysayers, who assert that nothing post-Endgame truly matters because dead characters can just be replaced by variants. Marvel have specifically laid out rules to mitigate this in Multiverse of Madness, but the concern remains - as voiced by Marina Hyde in a recent Rest is Entertainment episode (note to Marina: I take your view that these movies' success says something negative about society as a personal attack. Most of them are great. Would you rather have Michael fucking Bay?)

D&W's approach here, as with most things, is to have its cake and eat it. The first scene has Deadpool merrily desecrating "our" Wolverine's grave (this is a different universe to the non-Fox MCU movies, remember). And yet, once the movie's new Logan character is introduced, he's given a proper redemption arc and plenty of emotional beats. YMMV on how deep his and Deadpool's stories are (this Wolverine fucked up by getting the other X-Men killed and then went on an indiscriminate Hawkeye-during-the-Blip-style rampage, but ends the film as a hero), but they work to anchor the movie in amongst all the cussing and bloodshed.

Jackman seems to be having a ball, and nothing here messes with any ongoing MCU threads. It's a hugely satisfying return. Surely he'll be back for Secret Wars.

"Fan service"

This has always been an odd term. Congratulations, you've created and nurtured a super-popular IP filled with beloved characters but you're not supposed to crowbar too many of them into your new material, because reasons. I get that it pisses critics off. But the audience reactions to the Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire reveals in No Way Home, not to mention John Krasinski and Patrick Stewart's brief cameos in Multiverse of Madness, are some of the best I've seen in any cinema.

Naturally, D&W does not give a fuck about all this, packing in as many familiar faces as possible with irony as its safety net. The Chris Evans gag had been spoiled for me, but it's a good one nonetheless. Better still was Jennifer Garner's Elektra and her Daredevil reaction, which was *chef's kiss*. I also popped for Wesley Snipes (especially the "only one Blade" line) and Channing Tatum's Gambit with his indecipherable accent. When cameos work, they really work.

More impressive still was the behind the scenes footage from all the old Fox comic book movies, acting as a touching eulogy to what's been left behind. Beneath all the knowing snark, Reynolds really cares about the character and the material, as did at least some of the folks involved with those other films (the earlier ones anyway). And it shows.

The wider MCU

Reynolds's numerous meta-digs about the multiverse and the state of the franchise ("You've entered at a low point," he tells Logan) show that Feige is at least aware of what's wrong. Hollywood strikes and Jonathan Majors' legal troubles have been blessings in disguise, giving Kev time for schedule changes and rewrites and an easy out for the underwhelming Kang character(s). But since he can't right this juggernaut with a quick handbrake turn, the best he can do is tone the space-hoppy stuff down. Captain America 4 and Thunderbolts aren't carrying great expectations, but at least they're earthbound. Fantastic 4 can be set in the multiverse without being about it. Then, although there'll inevitably be some inter-dimensional shenanigans in the next two Avengers movies, the main focus will be on the returning RDJ as Doctor Doom - a smart, if desperate move. 

Is it a winning strategy? Who knows. But D&W has made, to use a technical term, shitloads of money. If things get really desperate, Feige could do worse than simply getting all the old Fox gang back together.