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All at once serving as the thirty-fourth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the fourth solo Wolverine movie, the third installment of the Deadpool trilogy and the true Grand Finale of not just the X-Men Cinematic Universe but Fox's Marvel movies in general, Deadpool & Wolverine is the long-awaited buddy movie between the two titular characters, again played by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.
Picking up six years since Deadpool 2, things haven't gone too great for the Merc with a Mouth, stuck as a small-time use car salesman after Disney bought 20th Century Fox. On what seems to be a perfectly ordinary birthday, Deadpool is approached by the Time Variance Authority, offering him a chance to join the Sacred Timeline... at the cost of watching his native timeline die. Without its anchor being (Logan), Earth-10005 is collapsing in on itself. Figuring that one Logan is just as good as another, Deadpool embarks on a quest to save his universe by finding another Wolverine.
- Actor Allusion:
- Deadpool threatens to make Logan sing Music Man, which Hugh Jackman famously starred in a Broadway revival of.
- Elektra doesn't care much about Daredevil's death, referencing their actors' messy divorce.
- Lady Deadpool is voiced by Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds' wife. Kidpool and Babypool are played by their children. In the intro, Deadpool notes that Something Else Also Rises when he watches Gossip Girl, which starred Blake Lively.
- All-Loving Hero: Logan describes Charles Xavier as this, noting that - had he known she existed - he would moved Heaven and Earth to save Cassandra and loved her regardless of what she's done.
- Armed with Canon: The X-Men Cinematic Universe was branded Earth-10005 when it started out, with several Flip-Flop of God statements making it unclear if the films post-Days of Future Past were still set on that Earth or if reality had been rewritten by Logan's time travel. This film explicitly says that that it's still taking place on Earth-10005.
- Audience Surrogate: Deadpool becomes this after a brief "This Loser Is You" opening. He voices some complaints people have had about the MCU post-Avengers: Endgame yet still enjoys it and is thrilled at seeing old heroes come back and characters adopting comic-accurate looks. And of course, his eagerness for a Wolverine/Deadpool fight.
- Author Avatar: Paradox is a less than flattering one for Marvel Chief Creative Officer Kevin Fiege. As Fiege oversees the MCU and has given some Approval of God to Logan, Paradox oversees the Sacred Timeline but admires the heroism of XCU's X-Men. But just as Fiege is eager to bring in other characters from Marvel Comics into the MCU despite some being adapted beforehand, so is Paradox eager to wipe out all the other timelines for the sake of preserving the Sacred Timeline.
- Bait and Switch:
- When Wolverine and Deadpool first end up in the Void, they're confronted by someone played by Chris Evans. Deadpool eagerly assumes it's a Captain America variant. It's the Human Torch.
- After "Cass" is mentioned, one might be forgiven for thinking it's Cassie Lang, especially since the base is formed from Giant-Man's corpse. In truth, it's Cassandra Nova, a X-Men villain. It's also briefly teased that this might be Charles Xavier but she quickly stands up from her wheelchair. Deadpool calls out how ableist that can come across as.
- Subverted when Logan is about to unleash a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Deadpool. After Deadpool flinches before he can even land a hit, Logan settles for "The Reason You Suck" Speech (see below) instead. An emotionally wounded Deadpool then instigates the fight.
- Berserk Button: Do not badmouth Canada when Deadpool is around.
- Beyond the Impossible: Somehow, Deadpool managed to make the alternate Wolverine a replacement Anchor Being for Earth-10005.
- Brick Joke: X2: X-Men United established that Prime!Logan disliked NSync. Of course, the movie plays "Bye Bye Bye" as Deadpool desecrates his corpse to fight the TVA.
- Celebrity Paradox: Deadpool makes a reference to Mad Max's Furiosa who was played in her solo movie by Anya Taylor-Joy, who also played Magik in The New Mutants. Then again, this is Deadpool.
- Central Theme: Yes, some movies were... subpar. But someone out there loves them and they were passion projects for the cast and crew. Nothing deserves to be forgotten.
- Dangerously Genre Savvy: After killing Magneto, Cassandra Nova melted down his helmet to prevent it from being used against her. But she did keep around Juggernaut's helmet that has the same properties.
- Demoted to Extra: Deadpool's side-cast only appears in the prologue and the epilogue allowing Logan to be the Deuteragonist.
- Distaff Counterpart: Lady Deadpool.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- Paradox's eagerness to wipe out the X-Men Cinematic Universe because Logan has been Killed Off for Real can easily be read as studio executives wanting to cancel/reboot a franchise because they have no faith it can survive without its Breakout Character. But he sees Deadpool as worth saving, like a studio executive who just recasts a beloved actor in a new reboot. Then it turns out he's banished other pre-MCU adaptations to the Void. Rather like how the MCU has banished those films to Canon Discontinuity in favour of its own adaptations.
- Deadpool and Logan becoming friends after their fight in the Honda Odyssey has more than a few shades of people giving into Belligerent Sexual Tension and having a good pound.
- Enemy Mine: A variant of Magneto joined forces with the other heroes stranded in the Void to fight Cassandra before he was killed.
- Foreshadowing: Deadpool constantly styles himself as "Marvel Jesus" (and later Spock). Jesus (and Spock) was forced to pull a Heroic Sacrifice to save the world, though he ended up surviving.
- Despite his surly demeanour, Logan is always outraged when he sees an injustice such as the TVA seemingly killing Deadpool or Deadpool being dumb enough to get Johnny Storm killed. Hinting that the Wolverine is still in there somewhere.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: Deadpool uses Prime!Logan's corpse skeletal corpse to beat up the TVA. It's hilarious
- Happy Ending Override: After Deadpool 2, Deadpool jumped to the MCU to try and join the Avengers. Happy said no (albeit as nicely as he could) and Deadpool fell into a depression.
- Blade, Elektra and the Fantastic Four all had their worlds pruned by the TVA. It's implied other pre-MCU Marvel films had this fate foisted upon them as well. Deadpool only just manages to save the XCU from following suit.
- How We Got Here: Continuing the tradition, the film opens this way.
- Hypocritical Humor: Deadpoool justifies the death of Johnny Storm by saying that Chris Evans was putting a drain on the budget. After learning that Cassandra killed Magneto, he rants that Disney was too cheap to hire Sir Ian McKellen to return as Magneto.
- After Eating the Eye Candy during Logan's Clothing Damage, Deadpool criticizes the TVA for doing just that.
- I Choose to Stay: After the alternate Logan serves as a suitable Anchor Being, Deadpool decides to stay on Earth-10005 rather than jumping to the MCU.
- I'm Going to Disney World: Deadpool's eager reaction to join the MCU is more or less this, telling Fox to suck it.
- In Spite of a Nail: The alternate Logan's memories use footage from the X-Men Cinematic Universe, suggesting similar enough events happened in his world.
- Inherently Funny Words: Logan offers Deadpool one last word before he unleashes a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. Wade thinks for a moment and says "Gubernatorial".
- Invincible Villain: Cassandra Nova. Even Logan's attempt at Talking the Monster to Death just gives her a chance to catch her breath and give her Healing Factor time to kick in. It takes a matter/anti-matter explosion to destroy her.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold Despite his surly demeanour, Logan is pissed that Deadpool was dumb enough to get Johnny Storm killed. And then one learns that he's dealing with massive Survivor Guilt...
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Does anyone want to watch the X-Men if Wolverine is not leading the show?
- Gambit feels he's been in the Void forever and he's the only one that Deadpool doesn't recognize, referencing how his solo movie never got made.
- Blade notes that he's the one and only, referencing the MCU's trouble with rebooting the property. He also doesn't get Deadpool's style of humour, referencing the on-set conflicts when Ryan Reynolds was part of the third film.
- Lighter and Softer: Zig-zagged. Compared to the previous two, it certainly has less gore and gratuitous violence, but the stakes are much higher and the emotional arcs are given a lot more weight.
- Man of Kryptonite: In most cases, Johnny Storm has a Story-Breaker Power. Against Pyro, someone who can absorb fire, he's useless.
- Metaphorically True: Subverted. While Deadpool notes it's not wrong to say Prime!Logan was killed by a tree, he then notes that what really did him in was just his Healing Factor finally drying up.
- Mind Rape: Cassandra can do this via sticking her fingers through your head and forcibly entering your mind. She does it to Wade, then to Logan, and then to Paradox.
- Mistaken for An Imposter: When B-15 arrives, her forces make to prune Deadpool before Peter arrives to hastily identify him as the variant native to Earth-10005.
- Mr. Fanservice: Logan's Clothing Damage that shows off his pecs and abs. Everyone is Eating the Eye Candy much to Deadpool's annoyance.
- Mythology Gag:
- Several Wolverine variants are this, such as one who is comic-accurate to Wolverine only being 5'3" and one who is in his iconic fight with the Hulk. As in Deadpool dropped in during that fight and the Hulk is behind him.
- When he brings Logan to the TVA, Deadpool is holding him in the "GET HELP!" pose while noting "On your left!" (even though Deadpool is on Paradox's right).
- In the denouement, Deadpool and Logan go and get some shawarma. Deadpool lampshades it.
- Near Villain Victory: Before Deadpool and Logan reveal that they've survived, B-15 might have bought Paradox's lies.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Cassandra managed to kill a variant of Magneto and one of Doctor Strange.
- Oddball in the Series: Despite being an entry in the MCU, the film only has one scene set in the Sacred Timeline (where Deadpool interviews with Happy to join the Avengers), its focus is entirely on characters from pre-MCU Marvel movies - to the point of it being plot relevant that none of the main heroes are native to the MCU - and it's the Fully-Absorbed Finale to the X-Men Cinematic Universe and 20th Century Fox's other Marvel adaptations.
- Other Me Annoys Me:
- Deadpool is quite annoyed by Nicepool and views the Deadpool Corps as more played out multiverse gimmicks. Though he adores Dogpool.
- Averted with Logan. After everything he's told of Prime!Logan, he comes to deeply respect his counterpart to the point of feeling he can't live up to him.
- Reality Ensues: Just because Loki and co. overthrew the TVA's corrupt leaders, that didn't magically reform the organization overnight. Some, like Paradox, still believe in the old way of doing things. Just as they were honest workers under corrupt leaders, there can be corrupt workers under honest leaders.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After Deadpool reveals that he made an educated wish, Logan reaches his Rage Breaking Point absolutely tears into him, calling him a worthless idiot who can't do anything right and it being a curse on everyone else that Deadpool can't die and give them some peace. Wade himself is briefly stunned into silence by it and Logan even seems to think he went a tad too far.
- Retcon: Logan was initially separate from the rest of the X-Men Cinematic Universe.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Deadpool stabbing a TVA agent in the mouth for insulting Canada is a straight reference to the incident where Will Smith slapped Chris Rock over a bald joke about the former's wife during the 2022 Academy Awards.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After the X-Men of his universe died, Logan went on one. It permanently soured the reputation of both mutants and the X-Men in his timeline.
- Running Gag: Deadpool desperately wanting context for why there's a future of him being cradled by Thor.
- Self-Deprecation: Deadpool voices a few critiques of the MCU, such as noting this is "a bit of a low-point" or how the Multiverse Saga hasn't been as well-received as the Infinity Saga.
- Sequel Non Entity: Cable and Weasel don't appear.
- Shout-Out: The Void has a lot of references to Mad Max. Not being content just to lampshade this, Deadpool goes so far as to play act as Furiousa holding Immortan Joe's decapitated head.
- When ready to make a Heroic Sacrifice to destroy the time machine that Cassandra wants to use to wipe out all realities, Deadpool references Spock's sacrifice in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
- Sir Swearsalot: The Stinger reveals that Johnny Storm did indeed say all those foul things about Cassandra. It's just that he and Logan are shocked that Deadpool was dumb enough to sell him out to her. His earlier swearing also serves as Five Second Foreshadowing that Chris Evans is not playing Captain America.
- Stealth Sequel: To Logan whose events kicked off this film's plot. It's also one to Loki, showing what the TVA has been up to since Loki became the God of Stories.
- Take That: Upon seeing a Wolverine variant played by Henry Cavill, Deadpool promises to treat him better than those "shitfucks down the street".
- When first banished to the Void, Deadpool passes a half-buried 20th Century Fox logo. He lampshades it.
- When asking why Logan is still wearing his X-Men suit, Deadpool pokes fun at the X-Men Cinematic Universe's initial adherence to Movie Superheroes Wear Black.
- Take That, Critics!: In a promotional QR campaign, Deadpool invokes Martin Scorsese's infamous claim that the MCU is "not cinema". Deadpool appears to be leaning into the accusation just to piss Scorsese off.
- Comic-Accurate!Wolverine is this to those who protested the taller Hugh Jackman being cast in the role. A 5'3" Wolverine may be fine on the printed page and animation, but it looks rather silly in live-action.
- This Loser Is You: Before becoming an Audience Surrogate, Deadpool starts off as this. Like the MCU's Unpleasable Fanbase post-Endgame, his complaining about Disney doesn't seem to have any real foundation to it and when offered to actually join the MCU, he changes his tune in a second, like how the Unpleasable Fanbase will suddenly begin singing the MCU's praises if they see something they like.
- Paradox as well to a degree. Him thinking the XCU can't survive without Logan is a mockery of those Loony Fans who refuse to watch a series if their favourite character is dead and/or think the X-Men brand can't survive without Wolverine.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: A matter/anti-matter explosion is enough to overpower a mutant Healing Factor. Two mutant Healing Factors on the other hand is enough to contain such an explosion.
- Tragic Keepsake: Why the alternate Logan refuses to take off his X-Men suit. It's all he has left of them.
- Truer to the Text: Implied. Unlike Peters 2 and 3, the alternate Logan knows who the Avengers are, suggesting his timeline had a full Marvel Universe rather than just the X-Men as on Earth-10005.
- The Unintelligible: Gambit's Cajun accent is so thick that Deadpool can barely understand him.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Renslayer's fate following her banishment to the Void is not touched on.
- The Worf Effect: Variants of Doctor Strange and Magneto (the latter of whom Deadpool outright regards as a Story-Breaker Power) were killed by Cassandra Nova.
- Year Outside, Hour Inside: Though it takes only a few minutes from Paradox's POV for Deadpool to find a replacement Logan, it takes Deadpool twenty years.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Whatever everyone tells Logan. It ultimately works.