Deadpool and Wolverine

The third chapter in the Merc with a Mouth’s live-action movie series may be far from perfect, but for a nerd like me, it was a near-perfect experience seeing it in theaters, and one I can’t recommend highly enough.

Set six years after the events of Deadpool 2, Deadpool and Wolverine follows Wade Wilson aka Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) as he tries to overcome his most difficult challenge yet — becoming a serious Avengers-level hero. Struggling as a washed-up mercenary-turned-car salesman, Wade is soon kidnapped by the TVA, or the Time Variance Authority, an organization that claims his universe is next on the chopping block all thanks to its “anchor being,” Logan aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), dying — a tragic fate seen in the climax of the 2017 film Logan. Wanting to save his universe and the friends and family he’s gotten close to over the years, and thus, prove himself as a hero, Wade takes it upon himself to scour the multiverse to find a replacement anchor being, with his universe’s fate falling to a Wolverine variant who failed his world and is none too keen on helping another. Traveling across “the Void,” or where all dying realties dump their trash, it’s up to Deadpool and Wolverine to put aside their differences and find a way to save both their realities, something that’s far easier said than done.

Stuffed with even more fourth-wall-breaking references, raunchy R-rated humor, and bloody superhero action than the last two Deadpool films combined, Deadpool and Wolverine is a mindless piece of popcorn entertainment that excels when leaning into its blockbuster sensibilities as it pokes fun at the sheer convoluted nature of the live-action film universe it’s trying to become a part of. Bolstered by the dysfunctional relationship between Reynold’s endearingly annoying Deadpool and the good-as-ever Hugh Jackman as an alternate reality’s Wolverine, it’d be easy to distill Deadpool and Wolverine down to its wild cameos, CGI-heavy action, and hit-or-miss script, something that feels warranted at times but ultimately does a disservice to the entire point of a movie like this. Whether it be the finale’s goosebump-inducing rendition of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer,” the satisfaction of seeing Hugh Jackman in a comic-accurate Wolverine costume, or any number of the nerd references and in-jokes sprinkled throughout, Deadpool and Wolverine was made for fans by fans and in the end, was a far more enjoyable watch because of it.

But I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t fudging Deadpool and Wolverine’s score a bit based on its entertainment factor alone, as the film’s quality falls somewhere between Deadpool and Deadpool 2, with this third entry eeking out a slight win over the other two based on my personal preference alone. And while Deadpool and Wolverine succeeds as a movie that’s just plain fun to watch, it may take repeated viewings to catch the details of what the story and its characters are actually trying to accomplish, with the script’s fast-flying jokes and meta references getting lost in the background alongside every new explosive set piece and cameo — all of which act as further distractions for a movie that wouldn’t work as well without the audience’s previous knowledge of two decades worth of Marvel content — a valid issue that fortunately didn’t affect my viewing in the slightest.

That being said, there was something about this one that had me go back to the theater three times to see it, with my feelings about the quality of the movie never changing and my enjoyment of seeing two iconic comic characters team up on the big screen never diminishing either. It’s unclear when Deadpool and Wolverine will be seen next in the MCU now that they’re officially part of its sprawling live-action multiverse but with Avengers: Secret Wars only a few years away, Deadpool and Wolverine fans won’t have to wonder for very long, and I, for one, couldn’t be more excited to see where Wade and Logan end up next.