Deadpool and Wolverine (2024)

By Emily Hubbard

• 4/5 Cameras 🎥🎥🎥🎥
• Starring: Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman
• Directed by: Shawn Levy 

The merc with a mouth finally makes his MCU debut, and brings a familiar face along for the ride 

No Copyright Infringement Intended 

2024’s summer blockbuster is finally here, taking place 6 years after Deadpool 2, it has got comic book fans across the globe flocking to the cinema in droves, but is it worth the wait? We start Deadpool and Wolverine by finding Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) has given up his iconic red costume and chosen to live a more ‘ordinary’ life. Unsurprisingly, this changes when his home world is threatened, leading everyone’s favourite anti-hero to suit up once again, but this time bringing a once-thought-lost beloved character along for the ride.

This aforementioned character is, of course, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, who we last saw meeting a grisly end in 2017’s Logan. For fans of comic books, this team-up will come as no surprise, with the pair first meeting in Wolverine #88 first published in 1994. Wade Wilson and Logan have also appeared together on the silver screen once before, in the largely panned X: Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), and audiences will be glad to know that their second outing together is a vast improvement.

Despite some trepidation about this film’s inclusion in the Disney-owned MCU and the potential ‘watered-down’ effect this could have on the franchise's most memorable traits, the formula for Deadpool and Wolverine has stayed largely the same as its predecessors. The jokes stay as self-referential and crude (and only slightly grating) as ever, with only cocaine jokes being on Kevin Feige’s ‘no’ list according to Ryan Reynolds. The action scenes are still as humorously gory as before, with this being the first R-rated movie in the MCU, it doesn’t hold back. In addition, true to form, the needle drops instill a sense of nostalgia that will be stuck in your head for days after viewing the movie.

When it comes to the film’s lead character, being 3 films in you know exactly what you are getting with Ryan Reynold’s portrayal of Deadpool, with some saying that this could be starting to wear thin, and others enjoying it more with each outing. Now that Deadpool has joined the MCU, it is only fitting that the film's villains fit the standard of being nothing remarkable. Matthew Macfadyen’s Paradox, although fun, seems like simply a more exaggerated version of his popular character in Succession. Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), the film's main villain and the forgotten twin sister of Charles Xavier, is a character with a lot of potential that is sadly wasted on a film that cares more about its links to the MCU than its plot. Despite this, it’s Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of Logan/Wolverine that makes this film special. Jackman is no stranger to playing the character, but in Deadpool and Wolverine, we see a different side to the character, with him not only providing a great deal of fan service but also the emotional backbone of the film.

Deadpool and Wolverine is not a perfect film, but it was never meant to be. Filled with nostalgia and fan service (there’s some genuinely great cameos), it’s hard not to enjoy this film. With the MCU going through a bit of a ‘rough patch’ (a fact that is mentioned several times in the movie), Deadpool and Wolverine just may be the kick-up the arse that Marvel are looking for.