I’m not a big fan of four-letter words and dirty jokes and small dogs, but “Deadpool & Wolverine” makes them flippantly fun with references for the young and old. This is within and yet outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is definitely not for kids, but will bring out the kid in adults.

If you recall, in the last Wolverine film, Wolverine died, but in the MCU is anyone really dead dead? You’ll already know from the trailers that the Time Variance Authority (TVA) is involved, some of the transport involves those sparkling circles between places and world and there’s an ugly little dog in a Deadpool costume involved. 

Here’s a quick review of the previous Deadpool films.

Deadpool (2016)

This is the origin story of Deadpool who was a dishonorably discharged from the Canadian special forces, but uses his skills to works as a freelance mercenary. He meets Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), a prostitute, and falls in love. They become engaged, but Wade is diagnosed with a terminal cancer so he breaks up with her. In desperation, Wade agrees to an experimental treatment at a lab run by Ajax (Ed Skrein) and Angel Dust (Gina Carano), but the serum, which is supposed to awaken any latent magical mutant  genes in Wade’s body, cause him to be disfigured with scars all over his body. Wade was left for dead by Ajax, but his cancer has been cured unbeknownst to Ajax. Wade now has regenerate healing powers.

Ajax will kidnaps Vanessa and Wade as Deadpool rescues her.  During this film, X-Men Colossus (voice by Stefan Kapičić  and body double Andre Tricoteux ) with his trainee Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) try to convince Deadpool to join the X-Men and become a better hero. 

The film also introduces Wade’s friends: Blind Al (Leslie Uggams) as Deadpool’s blind roommate and taxi driver Dopinder (Karan Soni).

Deadpool 2

Two years after the last film, Deadpool is fighting organized crime. One of his targets kills Vanessa. Colossus takes Wade to the X-Mansion where Wade recovers and joins the X-Men because Vanessa would have wanted him to do so. Deadpool realizes that a young mutant, Russell Collins (Julian Dennison) is being abused by the staff at the orphanage owned by the Essex Corporation. In the future Russell will become a serial killer. A cybernetic soldier from the future Cable (Josh Brolin), comes to this time period to kill Russell in order to prevent the death of his family. 

In the mid-credits scene, Deadpool traveled backwards in time to “Wolverine” and kills the Wade Wilson/Deadpool/Weapon XI version of the character from the 2009 “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” as retroactive continuity erasure.  Wade also save Vanessa and X-Force member Peter (Rob Delaney), but kills alternate version of himself and Ryan Reynold (after reading the script for “Green Lantern”).  

This film introduces Negasonic Teenage Warhead’s girlfriend Yukio (Shioli Kutsuna). 

Both Deadpool and Deadpool 2 were produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox. 

Deadpool & Wolverine

The beginning credits take place during a battle between TVA agents and Wade who has dug up the grave of Wolverine/Logan only to find bones, but bones that can be used as weapons. Those bones make useful props for credit props. Then the action flashes back to how we got there. 

Six years after the events of “Deadpool 2” (2018), Wade Wilson has retired from his work as a mercenary Deadpool but his very good friend car salesman Peter Wisdom (Robert Delaney) keeps the Deadpool suit in his locker, hoping Wade will change his mind because Wade isn’t be the best car salesman. He’s often making inappropriate comments, even when in the back seat with two minors as the prospective buyer parents test drive. 

Wade Wilson tried to join the Avengers, but he doesn’t interview well with Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). We’re in Earth-616 which is our reality, but with countries like Wakanda, Latvia and Genosha and organizations like SHIELD and Hydra. Wade needs to be part of the Avengers or even the X-Men because he feels that Vanessa wants him to be something more. Happy tells Wade that isn’t what an Avenger is. “They do the job because people need them.”

During a birthday celebration, Wade is attempts to seem happy, surrounded by friends (Peter, Blind Al, Dopinder, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Colossus, Yukio, Peter Wisdom), but his birthday celebration is interrupted when TVA agents come to take him. TVA agent, Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen), wants to speed up the death of Earth-10005 by using a machine that will kill timelines, the Time Ripper. No more delicate and prudent pruning as we saw in the TV series “Loki.” 

From Mr. Paradox, we learn timelines will wither and die when an anchor-being dies. Deadpool isn’t the anchor, but Wolverine is and his death threatens the existence of Wade’s friends. Mr. Paradox wants to hire Deadpool and sends him to the TVA tailor whom Deadpool characterizes as a “predator” in a sexual way. Deadpool refuses to play Paradox’s game, but now must run from the TVA while searching for a Wolverine who can help save the timeline that his friends are on. You’ve probably guessed, we’ll meet a few Wolverines and some of them will even be played by Jackman. 

Eventually Deadpool and Wolverine will end up in the Void, facing a mutant with telekinetic and telepathic powers, Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), the twin sister of Charles Xavier (played at various times in previous films by Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy and Harry Lloyd). Charles Xavier was mutant activist and founder of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters.  He wanted to protect the young mutants and encourage altruism, but that’s not Cassandra’s goal. People either serve her or are served to the all-consuming monster of the Void. 

Of course, while Deadpool and Wolverine are in the Void, they’ll meet a lot of people and variants (including a Dogpool) and that’s an opportunity for many cameos or the actors to play a variation of their characters and even a few character reprisals. I don’t want to spoil your fun, but I’ll leave you some hints. 

Things you might need to know to prepare for the film:

• Ryan Reynolds was born in Vancouver, Canada.
• Director Shawn Levy was also born in Canada (Montreal) although with a BA from Yale and an MFA from USC. 
• Ryan Reynolds portrayed Wade Wilson/Deadpool/Weapon XI in the 2009 “X-Man Origins: Wolverine,” the fourth installment of the X-Men film series and the first installment of the Wolverine trilogy. 
• Wade Wilson was in the Canadian Special Forces.
• Hugh Jackman appeared in the 2005 “Fantastic Four” film as Wolverine. That version of the Fantastic Four had a sequel in 2007, “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” before the 2015 reboot. All four were 20th Century Fox films. With the failure of the 2015 film, the sequel was cancelled, but another reboot is scheduled for release on 25 July 2025 as the first film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase Six. 
• Hugh Jackman starred in the 2022 Broadway revival of the Meredith Willson’s 1957 Tony Award-winning musical, “The Music Man.”  Both he and his co-star, Sutton Foster, were nominated for Tony Awards. Jackman has a 2004 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical (“The Boy from Oz) and Sutton Foster has two, one for the 2002 “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and another for the 2011 “Anything Goes.” Both Jackman and Foster are touring “The Music Man” for one-day performances across the nation (Hugh Jackman Tour 2024/2025). If you look at the schedule which has Jackman and Foster performing in California on Sunday, the “Deadpool & Wolverine” panel scheduling at SDCC makes sense. 
• “Loki” Season 1, Episode 5 is called “Journey into Mystery.” Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has been “pruned” and sent to the Void at the end of time. Nothing has returned from there, but obviously someone will because there were Seasons 2 and 3. In the Void, Loki variants warn Loki about a huge cloud-like creature known as Alioth. Alioth destroys everything in the Void. Loki and the variants, meet a second Loki group and they fight. Loki comes across Sylvie (Sophia DiMartino) and TVA agent Mobius (Owen Wilson), following the sacrifice of Classic Loki (Richard E. Grant), are able to enchant Alioth by working together and Alioth shows them the path to the citadel beyond the Void. This is the penultimate episode of the series. In the last episode, Sylvie will send Loki back to the TVA headquarters and kills He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), causing a multiverse of alternate timelines. At TVA headquarters, no one recognizes Loki because now this timeline has changed.  
• “Old Yeller” is a 1956 children’s novel (by Fred Gipson” that won a Newbery Honor in 1957 and Walt Disney released a film adaptation starring Tommy Kirk as the teenage son Travis and Fess Parker as his father. The titular character is a stray dog that Travis comes to love and saves both Travis and his brother but on one such occasion, the dog is bit by a rabid wolf and, in turn, comes down with rabies (hydrophobia). At the time, there was no rabies vaccinations. Travis is forced to kill Old Yeller when the dog does indeed begin showing signs of rabies. 
• “Daredevil” was a 2003 superhero film that starred Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer by day and a masked vigilante superhero named Daredevil. Jennifer Garner played his love interest Elektra Natchios. 
• Ryan Reynolds was in the 2004 film “Blade: Trinity” which starred Wesley Snipes out of New Line. Cinema. Blade/Eric Brooks is a Marvel superhero hero that inherited superhuman abilities because his mother was bitten by a vampire while giving birth to him. 
• March 14, 2018 is the date when Stephen Hawking (8 January 1942-14 March 2018) died in the real world. 
• Earth-10005 had a timeline that was overwritten because Wolverine was sent back to the 1970s to prevent the Sentinel program. 
• Production of the Honda Odyssey was discontinued in 2021 after Honda’s Sayama plant was closed. 

 “Deadpool & Wolverine” is possibly the best outcome of the 20th Century Fox acquisition by Disney (March 2019). Think of it as a superhero bickering buddy movie, super sized for the MCU.  It is the first MCU film that has an R rating. Director Shawn Levy who is also credited as a writer along with Reynolds, Rhett Reese (“Zombieland,” “Deadpool” and “Deadpool 2”), Paul Wernick (“Zombieland,” “Deadpool” and “Deadpool 2”) and Zeb Wells, know his material and Reynolds.  Levy directed the 2021 “Free Guy” and the 2022 “Adam Project,” both of starred Ryan Reynolds. While the film is entertaining and both my husband and I enjoyed this witty and wild mature meta madness, I’ve been enjoying Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman making the PR rounds. The film premiered on 22 July 2024 in New York City (David H. Koch Theater) and will be released in the US on 26 July 2024. It is part of the MCU Phase Five. Review based on IMAX press screening.