[Nerdspresso] Deadpool & Wolverine: Cinematic Jumper Cables

Once upon a time, we didn’t have a lot of superhero movies. There was 1978’s Superman, 1989’s Batman, 1998’s Blade and then some really bad low-budget Marvel movies starring Dolph Lundgren but the good stuff was sparse. Hollywood worried that people wouldn’t take the genre seriously. Studios thought the movies should divorce themselves from the comic-book trappings and just be action flicks with leather-clad heroes. For many years, comic book nerds wandered through a cinematic wasteland devoid of superheroes.

And then came the new millennium and everything changed. Okay, there were those Batman sequels in the late nineties, but do we really want to remember George Clooney and his bat nipples? In 2000, 20th Century Fox released X-Men – a dark tale about mutant superheroes fighting bad guys and bigotry, based on the iconic Marvel comic. It’s success led to a number of sequels and paved the way for Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire’s Spiderman, followed by Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale’s Batman and then the MCU launched with Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man. The rest, you can say, is all over your streaming queue.

Now you can’t turn on your Roku without being overwhelmed by an armada of superheroes. Some are awesome and some are Morbius and Madame Web, but there’s no denying superheroes are now a major food group in our cinematic diet. But it was a slow evolution. In those early days of the 21st century, Hollywood was still just dipping toes in the swimming pool. For example, X-Men was decent, but the studios still played it safe. 

Everyone wore black leather instead of their original costumes. Apparently because black leather is cool. Just ask Keanu in The Matrix. It took almost a decade and a few more hits before filmmakers would fully embrace their inner comic nerd. But one thing was true from that very first X-flick: Hugh Jackman as Wolverine was hardcore! It’s now been over two decades and 10 movies but Jackman still rocks as Logan, the mutant warrior with the super strong skeleton, healing powers, and big freaking claws.

Wolverine debuted in the pages of The Incredible Hulk comic back in 1974. He was a foe of the big green guy but then soon found his way into the pages of the X-Men comic. He started getting popular around 1977 thanks to the genius of writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne. I discovered Wolvie when he got his own title in 1982, written by Claremont and drawn by the legendary Frank Miller (who got major props about four years later when he made Batman cool again in The Dark Knight Returns).

Up until then, my comic book tastes were pretty tame. I was reading about Spiderman, Superman, and Batman (but he wasn’t gritty yet). Wolverine was fascinating. He was a good guy, but he wasn’t a GOOD guy. Heroic, but not noble. Violent, but not remorseful. Wolverine has been a fan favorite for decades so it was no surprise that he would be in that first movie. So Wolvie made the lineup, but no one had heard about the guy playing him. Who was Hugh Jackman?

The big stars of that flick were Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan and even they weren’t marquee names. Stewart had Jean-Luc Picard going for him and McKellan was pretty much known for Shakespeare. Halle Berry was in it, but the biggest movie she had done at that time was Boomerang with Eddie Murphy. Everyone in the cast was pretty B-list, which turned out to work in their favor. There was no movie star baggage to distract the audience.

Jackman came on screen in that first X-flick and made me forget 20 years of Wolverine in the comics. From that moment on, he was Wolverine. Jackman now owns that character in the public consciousness. You’d think after almost a quarter century playing Wolverine, we’d be sick of this guy, but Jackman’s still riveting.

And now he’s back in the new blockbuster, Deadpool & Wolverine. Sharing the screen with Ryan Reynolds as the foul-mouthed and lethal Deadpool, Jackman continues to kick ass and take names. This movie is a raucous and raunchy party. Watching it is like hanging out with your old college buddies at a rockin’ dive bar except you’re also wearing spandex and beating people up. If you’re one of the three people on the planet who hasn’t seen this movie yet, do yourself a favor and go see it now. Go ahead. I’ll wait. 

Two hours and seven minutes later…Welcome back! So did you love it? I thought so.

Deadpool & Wolverine is a superhero movie for people who don’t like superhero movies. It’s hilarious with non-stop action and so many over-the-top moments that you’ll probably spill your popcorn before the end of the first act. This flick has the verve and the attitude that’s been missing from most of the Marvel movies since Endgame wrapped in 2019. It jams jumper cables down the pants of the MCU and turns on the juice.

That’s not to say that this flick isn’t also legit for comic-book fans. It’s packed with enough cameos and Easter eggs to satisfy even the most jaded connoisseur. If you have followed the adventures of these heroes on page or screen, you’ll enjoy this one just like you did the previous Deadpool and Wolverine movies. Wolvie’s appeal is rooted in the fact that he’s just a prime badass. Then there’s Deadpool. He’s not your typical superhero. He’s fully aware that he’s in a comic book so his running commentary skewers the genre’s conventions while he’s delivering the pain.

Deadpool made his first appearance in an issue of The New Mutants, an X-Men spin-off, in 1991. This fast-talking mercenary heavily armed with a stash of weapons and an irreverent sense of humor started out as a villain, but he was popular from the beginning. Deadpool soon evolved into an antihero in the pages of multiple Marvel comics before getting his own book in 1997. Fans soon learned that he was a graduate of the shadow government program called Weapon X, which also imbued Wolverine with his secret powers. Both characters share miraculous healing powers and incredible strength.

The character first crossed cinematic paths with Jackman’s Wolverine in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In that flick, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), Deadpool’s alter ego, is cronies with Logan in a covert military squad before they both undergo nefarious tinkering as part of Weapon X. They meet again in the big finale, going mano a mano on top of an abandoned nuclear reactor. What’s weird here is that the Deadpool in this flick is nothing like the character in his later films. There’s no costume, no jokes, no fourth wall breaking. He doesn’t even have a mouth!

It’s like no one involved with X-Men Origins: Wolverine had even read the comic book! Of course, we all know that at least one person there was a diehard fan. Ryan Reynolds championed the character and produced a more accurate depiction of the “Merc with a Mouth” in 2016. This flick was a monster hit and was truly faithful, right down to the red tights, salty language, and ultra violence. The Deadpool movies are not for the squeamish, but somehow the humor makes all the viscera part of the punchline.

It wouldn’t be the same if heads didn’t roll. And I mean that literally. The outrageous is part of the appeal. You go into a Deadpool movie expecting raunchy humor, bad language, guns, guts and gore. The bottled insanity of these flicks is what differentiates them from every other superhero flick. It’s like when Quentin Tarantino made westerns. You know the trappings of the genre but then a limb gets chopped off.

Deadpool & Wolverine is the official introduction of both characters into the MCU since they were stars previously of pre-MCU productions by 20th Century Fox. This auspicious debut as an official Marvel movie is also somewhat of a swansong for the Fox versions. Our heroes are charged with saving the multiverse from some baddies bent on destruction. They tiptoe from one reality to the next, encountering characters and situations that lead to multiple eye-popping cameos and inside jokes. That goo on the floor near your seat is probably oozing from the ears of every fanboy in the audience. They are going to lose their frigging minds.

In all his movies, Deadpool winks at the camera, breaking down the fourth wall like Ferris Bueller in tights. The in-jokes and meta references, the side-eye during the action scenes, are what make Deadpool stand out. His movies are both parodies and homages at the same time. That clever approach injects the whole genre with a wacky energy. Deadpool & Wolverine is no exception. And like its predecessors, this flick goes full-tilt boogie. Make no mistake, Deadpool & Wolverine earns its R rating.

If you’re bringing the kids, prepare yourself. This ain’t your grandma’s X-Men. The profanity exhibited here is a special kind of gutter poetry that pairs well with all the wanton violence. The outrageous fight choreography accompanied by the bubble-gum pop on the soundtrack transforms these scenes into a garish (but macho) ballet. And in the center of this bloody hurricane are Reynolds and Jackman having the time of their lives.

Their gleeful abandon permeates this entire production. It radiates from the screen and makes you smile. Deadpool & Wolverine wants you to be a participant in the action rather than a passive viewer. Don’t think about plot or continuity with the other Marvel movies. Just embrace the crazy that this movie is serving up. Let it wash over you like you’re in one of those wave machines at a water park. Just know that the pool will be full of blood and the lifeguards wear spandex and have sharp claws and big guns. But trust me, it’ll be a good time.

Surf’s up!