One of Marvel’s biggest successes in quite some time,Deadpool & Wolverine, is also one of the biggest films of the summer and 2024. The unlikely buddy picture sees Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) team up with aLogan variant(Hugh Jackman) to stop the destruction of Wade’s world bythe Time Variance Authority. Along the way, they come face to face with a fiercely malevolent villain, Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), have hilarious and raunchy banter, and join forces with many long-lost Marvel characters. While it’s undeniably epic to reunite with some ofthe best Pre-MCUcharacters, it is hard to ignore a larger lingering problem that has plagued many of Marvel’s theatrical outings as of late:An over-reliance on nostalgia that sacrifices important story and thematic elements.
Deadpool & Wolverine
Wolverine joins the “merc with a mouth” in the third installment of the Deadpool film franchise.
Nostalgia Clutters ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’
One of Deadpool’s most appealing elements is hisfourth-wall-breaking antics. His over-the-top references touch nearlyevery corner of pop culture, includingthe company shake-ups that kept the character in limbo for so long.As the MCU’s most meta-character, the film took the cinematic universe’s penchant for mash-ups to the next level, bringing back many formerly retired characters from the days of 20th Century Fox. The titular characters were joined byFantastic Four’s Johnny Storm (Chris Evans),Daredevil’s Elektra (Jennifer Garner),Logan’s Laura/X-23 (Dafne Keen), Blade (Wesley Snipes), and (perhaps most surprising of all) Gambit (Channing Tatum)from the canceledX-Menspin-off.
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Box Office Numbers: How Marvel Jesus Saved the Summer
“Woo, imma bout to make a name for myself at the box office.”
While it’s incredibly exciting to see the original stars return to the roles that have faded intosuperhero movie history, it does create an incredibly filled roster in a movie that already had a lot of plot to juggle. With two powerful villains and a collapsing universe on the line, a lot more time is spent with the returning characters, as opposed to the “here and now.” Cassandra Nova specifically suffers from not getting enough screen time. From the moment she appears, she’s clearly one ofthe most malevolent MCU villainsto ever grace the screen, with abilities that would makethe Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen)squeamish. Emotionally, she has deep complexities hinted at, though audiences never get enough detail to feel for her in the same way asother MCU baddies. By the time she meets her end,it’s a shame to see her go before she’s had a real chance to shine. The same could be said about many of the highly anticipated characters that were advertised to audiences.LadyDeadpoolcreatedquite a stirwhen she was revealed to be a part of the adventure. Yet, she is just another one of the Deadpool variants and ends up being forgettable, and a little disappointing. But the debut characters weren’t the only ones who deserved better treatment.
The Fox Characters in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Deserved Better
The main reason the film brought back so many Fox characters was togive them a proper send-off. While it’s certainly a thoughtful way to bring them back for one last hurrah, it isn’t all that well planned. Garner is certainly fantastic as Elektra, but theDaredevilfilm was never all that popular with audiences (and currently holds a 43% critic rating and 35% audience scoreon Rotten Tomatoes), which hurts a lot of the sentimentality of the role. In the case of Johnny Storm,he did come from a mostly well-received classic, which makeshis bloody endingjarring. The argument could be made that this Johnny is perhaps a variant and not the same one from theFantastic Fourfilms, but without that confirmation, it makes rewatching the original movies rather bleak.
The characters do indeed get an epic battle, as Deadpool and Wolverine fight Cassandra to get back to Wade’s universe, but considering that this isn’t the final stand, it feels like a hallow farewell to the legacy players. While a nostalgia reel rolls during the credits, it’s hard to feel the level of melancholy that the filmmakers intended with such flat execution for characters that weren’t always the most beloved from the beginning. ButDeadpool & Wolverinecan’t be blamed for its nostalgia problems. After all, it’sone of the best entries from the MCU sinceAvengers: Endgame.The fault, instead, lies with the MCU as a whole.
The MCU Relies Too Much on Nostalgia
Ever since the Infinity Saga came to an end, the MCU has been less consistent critically, a falter thatDeadpool & Wolverineacknowledges. While many have expressed their discontentment with the Multiverse Saga story as a whole, the films have attempted to recover with the use of nostalgia. While it’s always fun to look back, the problem has been growing ever since the release ofSpider-Man: No Way Home. UnitingTom Holland’s Peter Parker withthose ofTobey MaguireandAndrew Garfieldgenerated a lot of great buzz from moviegoers, films and shows that followed began bulking up on the reminiscence factor, and it’s ultimately hurt the potential of those individual projects. In fact,Spider-Manitself didn’t hold up for some once they looked past the fan service, withForbes sayingthe film “gets caught up in nostalgia and fan service,” andCollider pointing out that the filmhas a direction problem with major players like Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), getting lost in the mash-up.
Thor: Love and Thunderis perhaps the worst offender, as it fails not just its villain, Gorr (Christian Bale) but its nostalgic character, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). Jane’s return as Lady Thor was an exciting way to reinvent the character, but killing her off to set up Thor’s relationship with Love (India Rose Hemsworth) makes Jane’s involvement feel like a letdown. WhileDeadpool & Wolverinedoesn’t offend in the same way that its predecessors do, it does point out that the MCU’s nostalgia problem is ongoing.
Deadpool & Wolverineis an extremely entertaining ride, but its reliance on nostalgia continues a troubling trend for the MCU. Instead of focusing on building up their struggling Multiverse Saga, the cinematic universe continues to rely on reminding moviegoers of better days. With the announcement thatRobert Downey Jr. is returning as Doom,it seems the trend will continue for some time to come.
Deadpool & Wolverineis now playing in theaters. Click below for showtimes.
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