Deadpool & Wolverine

“The queer-coded material in Deadpool & Wolverine is played for laughs and comes off as homophobic.”

Title: Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
Director: Shawn Levy 👨🏼🇨🇦
Writers: Screenplay by Ryan Reynolds 👨🏼🇨🇦, Rhett Reese 👨🏼🇺🇸, Paul Wernick 👨🏼🇨🇦, Zeb Wells 👨🏼🇺🇸, and Shawn Levy 👨🏼🇨🇦

Reviewed by Gavin 👨🏼🇬🇧🌈♿

—MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD—

Technical: 2/5

It was only a matter of time before fourth-wall-breaking superhero Deadpool would join the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019 only accelerated that prospect. The idea of Fox’s X-Men joining other Marvel superheroes in the MCU was exciting, it was unclear how Ryan Reynolds’ raunchy Deadpool would fit into the more family-friendly heroes at Disney. The result: Deadpool & Wolverine—the third Deadpool installment—shakes things up as the MCU’s first R-rated movie, but it’s burdened with a tonne of issues.

Like other recent MCU projects, this is a multiverse story. There’s a lot of techno-babble about timelines and variants, but the long story short is that the titular heroes work together to save Deadpool’s universe. The story is serviceable but audiences not too familiar with both Disney and Fox Marvel films might find some plots difficult to follow.

Fans will most likely just be here to watch Deadpool and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) in action together, and in that regard, the set pieces are hit or miss. The opening sequence, where Deadpool brutally takes down adversaries using Wolverine’s adamantium corpse, hints at some creative direction. But the over-reliance on CG blood and lack of stakes makes the sequence feel weightless in every sense. Other scenes—a fight contained in and around a car, or a tracking one-shot capturing a large-scale brawl—are fantastic on paper, but fall victim to the same issues. It’s all style over substance.

Deadpool & Wolverine especially won’t convert any viewers who are already sceptical of the franchise. Deadpool’s arc follows how badly he wants to join the Avengers, and the film places the super team, and the MCU by proxy, up on a pedestal. In addition, the “Merc with a Mouth” uses his famously meta comments for the most annoying brand of comedy here: calling out terrible cliches but then enacting that very thing. The characters moan about exposition, and then the film dumps loads of exposition; a character calls out “gratuitous cameos” before a tonne of cameos are introduced; Deadpool painstakingly tries to convince the audience that they’re not ruining Wolverine’s legacy after Jackman’s supposed final appearance in Logan (2017), yet having Wolverine simply be in this film says otherwise. It’s neither clever, nor funny, and the same can be said about the entire movie.

Gender: 2/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? NOPE

With men directing and writing a film about two men, it’s unsurprising, if disappointing, that women and nonbinary folk have little to do in Deadpool & Wolverine. They exist only as trophies to be won, or as mere support to the leading men. Deadpool’s ex-girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) has the most screen time, but in contrast to her previous Deadpool forays, there’s no sense of her character or background. Instead, she’s simply the object of Deadpool’s desire.

Two of the many glorified cameos are Elektra (Jennifer Garner) and Laura (Dafne Keen), both women who end up fighting alongside the leads. Laura does get a narratively meaningful scene with Wolverine late in the runtime, but it’s all in service of Wolverine’s character arc. Finally, villain Cassandra Nova is played by queer and nonbinary actor Emma Corrin, who gives a fun performance but is hemmed in by the shallow role.

Race: 2/5

The filmmakers and leading actors are all white, with characters of colour relegated to supporting roles. Wesley Snipes, a Black American, makes a momentous return as Blade—the Marvel vampire hunter’s last movie, Blade: Trinity (2004), came out over 20 years ago—only to show his face and take part in a single action sequence. Similarly, Blind Al (portrayed by Black American Leslie Uggams) gets a few short scenes to crack jokes that aren’t very funny. Everything that Blade and Blind Al do is in response to, or for, the white leads.

Opening and closing scenes do involve a diverse group of characters from Deadpool’s previous outings. That includes Shatterstar (British-Chinese Lewis Tan), Yukio (Japanese Australian Shioli Kutsuna), and Dopinder (Indian American Karan Soni). But with minimal screen time, they barely leave their mark as distinctive characters, especially for those who haven’t seen the other Deadpool movies.

Deduction for LGBTQ: -1.00

Deadpool himself is pansexual, at least in the comics. In the film adaptations, his sexuality hasn’t been directly addressed, and he’s exclusively been in heteronormative relationships. That’s fine, but the bigger issue is how the film and its marketing treats queerness as a big joke.

Most of the promo posters focus on Deadpool trying to be intimate with Wolverine: suggestively stroking Wolverine’s claws, dancing with him, or stroking his face and open mouth. Clearly not sexy or sensual, the material is played for laughs and comes off as homophobic.

That homophobia is present in the movie too. Most of the queer-coded characters have a single characteristic: They’re sexually attracted to Deadpool. Seemingly written as queer for the sole purpose of generating laughs, these characters have no other qualities or features. A fight scene between Deadpool and Wolverine is shot and directed like a sex scene, again forcing the unfunny joke that the leading men are being intimate with each other.

It’s so disappointing that the filmmakers had the opportunity to explore pansexuality in a massive superhero movie, but instead, choose to make tired gay jokes in an attempt to elicit cheap laughs.

Mediaversity Grade: F 1.67/5

Deadpool fans deserve better than this. The filmmakers had a diverse cast of actors and characters to explore, but not content with keeping these people on the sidelines, the writers and director take one step further and use them as the butts of offensive jokes. Coming on the heels of much better projects like The Marvels (2023) and Disney+ series Ms. Marvel, Deadpool & Wolverine—alongside the deeply misguided Madame Web (2024)—are a huge step backwards for Marvel films.

Like Deadpool & Wolverine? Try these other R-rated and MA-rated superhero stories.

Grade: FLiJanuary 4, 2025