By Marcellus Day, Stentorian Staff Writer
“He’s right behind me, isn’t he?” I say as the guy who I knocked out is right behind me. Comedy gold; I won the Oscar for that one. If you’ve been tuning into the recent movies to come out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) lately, you are no stranger to moments such as the one above.
It’s no secret that the MCU has been on a decline in terms of quality ever since they started toying with the multiverse and making sure that no decision actually has any weight because everything can be undone. So, to see another Deadpool movie come out was really refreshing. Finally, something that can be compelling but not take itself too seriously; y’know how long I’ve been waitin’ for this? I saw it in theaters opening weekend, although I was unfortunately not able to snag one of the gorgeous limited-edition popcorn buckets. It’s safe to say that while I was not disappointed, Deadpool is not Marvel Jesus.
Deadpool and Wolverine, aka Deadpool 3, is an action comedy starring Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. The movie follows Deadpool after the events of Deadpool 2 and in the plot conflict of saving his timeline as he knows it. To do so, he must find Wolverine, and after an iconic dance scene with Logan’s bones (seriously, search “Deadpool Intro Bye Bye Bye” on YouTube; I promise it is worth your time), he hops dimensions to find another Wolverine. Through a series of well-placed cameos who will make a name for themselves and a captivating emotional scene to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer”–one that I have watched too many times–they ultimately save his universe. Vague description, I know, but I’m dedicated to giving no spoilers.
Overall, the movie was fun and lighthearted. I recommend seeing it if you need a good laugh and are into Deadpool’s humor or if you want to get the hidden references throughout this article to a card-slinging Cajun.
However, overall it was the same movie we have been seeing from the MCU, but this time with more provocative jokes. It ran through the “Oh no, my timeline, gotta go save it. Look at all these wacky hijinks and weird characters made possible by the multiverse. Oops, we spent so much time with wacky hijinks we forgot to make a complex villain, but that doesn’t matter because our hero just saved the day through the power of human connection.” Which is something we’ve seen a thousand times now.
While Deadpool and Wolverine is definitely better than most of the stuff that we’ve seen come from this era of Marvel, I don’t think it single-handedly saved the MCU. But who knows, with movies like Blade and The Fantastic Four: First Steps scheduled for 2025, this may be the start of something new.