How much you are going to enjoy MCU’s latest buddy super-merc adventure, Deadpool and Wolverine, depends upon your willingness to be nostalgia-baited by Sony and Fox’s Marvel movies, tolerance for Deadpool’s overused meta and occasionally stale in your face humor, and, of course, if you are a fan of Hugh Jackman’s iconic take on Logan. The Marvel Cinematic Universe had struggled big time throughout its fourth phase and the first half of its fifth as well, despite having no competition from rivalling fronts—and no, it’s not superhero fatigue that has leached into the interconnected universe; it’s simply lacking a sense of ingenuity and honest effort in producing comic-book movies. As a result, MCU has veered once again to a good old fan service-oriented formulaic solution in the form of Deadpool and Wolverine, bringing together the iconic antiheroes to very literally and figuratively save the MCU multiverse—and it has given a much-needed breather to the cinematic franchise as well.
For what it’s worth, Deadpool and Wolverine did what DCEU’s The Flash was expected to do but failed miserably at―to honor the legacy of the bygone era’s cinematic ventures. What remains to be seen is, after following the same pattern of fan service over and over again, how long does it take for the creative minds of MCU to realize that, after a point, the cookie cutter gets broken as well?
Spoilers Ahead
Why Did Deadpool Team Up With Wolverine?
The movie opens with a meta comedic scene, poking fun at comic-book movie nerds who feared the legacy of Hugh Jackman’s portrayal, which received a befitting closure in Logan with the character’s heroic sacrifice, would get maligned. Right off the bat, Deadpool is seen exhuming the Adamantium corpse of Wolverine to brutally kill a bunch of TVA Minutemen who had arrived to take him with them. Butchering Minutemen left and right and dancing to get his groove on all the while, the merc with a mouth sets the tone of the movie in a fashion that is very typical to the character. However, to convey the motive of his actions, a trip down memory lane is needed.
Back in 2018, when Deadpool, aka Wade Wilson, the super-mercenary, was using Cable’s time-traveling mechanism to fix major issues in his (and actor Ryan Reynolds’) life, he had also made a visit to Earth-616, the prime universe of the MCU, and applied to be recruited to the Avengers by approaching Happy Hogan. Wade was going through a midlife crisis, as his purposeless, eccentric, nonsensical attitude had driven a wedge in his relationship with his girlfriend, Vanessa, and he believed joining the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes might give him a chance to prove his worth to her. However, while acknowledging Wade’s heart is in the right place, Happy rebuffed his request by mentioning it was selfish on his part to choose to do the right thing after being motivated by personal gain. As the focus shifts to the present day, Vanessa is revealed to have broken up with Wade, who has quit his masked mercenary routine and is trying to make a living as a car salesman. However, Wade’s friends—Blind Al, the X-Force members, and Vanessa—are on good terms with him still, and as they surprise him by celebrating his birthday, Wade considers himself the luckiest man alive.
However, things go awry when a bunch of Minutemen from TVA abduct Wade and bring him to Agent Paradox, an eccentric operative of the timeline overseeing agency who is in charge of checking on Earth-10005, the universe Wade belongs to. Instead of grilling Wade for all the temporal transgressions he has committed, Paradox offers Wade a chance to prove his worth by giving him a place among the venerated heroes of Earth-616, the sacred timeline of MCU, as directed by his superiors for reasons still unknown. Overjoyed at getting a chance to finally turn his life around, Wade suits up in a new costume—only to learn that the reason to bring him was to keep him from returning to his universe, which is destined to get destroyed as its Anchor Being (the single most significant character of a particular timeline), who is none other than Wolverine from Logan, has died.
The decay of the timeline would have culminated in a few thousand years in the future, but Paradox has decided to act on his own by accelerating the destruction using a Time Ripper, unbeknownst to his superiors. In a desperate attempt to stop that from happening, Deadpool steals Paradox’s Tempad to move back in time to find there is no bringing his universe’s Wolverine back from the dead, which connects with the opening scene of the movie. This prompts Wade to venture to multiple universes in search of a suitable replacement Wolverine, and after getting kicked out by a number of Wolverine variants, he finally stumbles upon an alcoholic, depressed version of Wolverine who has seemingly lost his edge—and brings him to Paradox for him to institute him as the new Anchor Being. However, he learns that not only is replacing an Anchor Being with their variants impossible, but also that he has brought with him possibly the worst version of Wolverine, who is a disgrace in his own universe. Deadpool and Wolverine are both pruned by the Minutemen and get sent to the Void, a metaphysical dumpster where unwanted variants, who don’t fit in the cosmic plan of the multiverse and the sacred timeline, are sent. This is also a thematic representation of the discarded universes and world-building of the live-action Marvel movies of the bygone era, before the Disney takeover.
Who is Cassandra Nova?
In the wasteland of the Void, enraged Wolverine picks a fight with Deadpool for dragging him to his mess, and after a round of hacking, stabbing, and slashing, Deadpool manages to calm him down by mentioning that the TVA can fix whatever went wrong in his universe—which had led Wolverine to become the most despised character in his world in the first place. The duo are joined by the Human Torch, aka Johnny Storm (Fantastic Four movies), who warns the duo about the oncoming Mad Max-inspired motorcade of baddies consisting of a number of mutant villains from previous X-Men movies. After Wolverine kills his archrival Sabretooth, a member of the group of villains, their leader Pyro abducts all three of them and brings them to the ruler of the Void, Cassandra Nova. It is revealed that Cassandra, an extremely powerful mutant with far-reaching psychic abilities, is the twin sister of her universe’s version of Charles Xavier, and the cruel, sadistic ruler takes great pleasure in literally poking through the minds of her victims. Cassandra flays Johnny Storm to death after being triggered by Wade’s rant on him and peeps through Wade’s brains to gaze at his deepest insecurities and regrets. In their effort to take on Cassandra, Logan and Wade miserably fail, and she reveals that she has established an agreement with the TVA to hand over discarded denizens of the Void to Alioth, the variant devouring multiversal guardian entity—in exchange for her absolute control over the wasteland. As she summons Alioth to take Wade and Logan as well, the duo somehow manages to escape.
In a less hostile environment, Wade and Logan meet a much more balanced variant of Deadpool known as Nicepool, who directs the duo to the borderlands, where they will be able to join with a resistance force against Cassandra. Knowing the only way to return to their respective universes is through her, Wade and Logan journey to the borderlands. Wade reveals how, in his universe, Wolverine was the most revered hero and the Anchor Being, whose self-sacrifice to save his daughter figure/clone, X-23, aka Laura’s soul, became the stuff of legends. Logan remains tight-lipped about whatever happened back in his universe that needs to be fixed, but soon realizes that Wade has lied to him about the TVA helping them. Logan lashes out and goes on a truth bomb rant by calling out Wade for his duplicitous nature, deeming him a failure and poking at his insecurities, which results in another hack, stab, slash session between the duo until they eventually pass out. An unknown presence takes the duo to the borderlands.
They wake up in the lair of the Others (so dubbed by Wade), the resistance force Nicepool had mentioned, which consists of variants of Blade, Elektra, Gambit, and X-23 (who brought the duo to the lair), and Johnny Storm was a member of the team as well. The group had lost a number of survivors to Cassandra and the present members have spent so much time in Void that they have nearly forgotten the lives they had in their respective worlds. Wade tries to motivate the Others to take the battle to Cassandra, and even if they perish, it will be a glorious end at least. Logan is unwilling to entertain Wade’s nonsense any longer and keeps himself busy in his drunkenness.
X-23, aka Laura, tries to approach Logan and opens up about her relationship with her universe’s version of Wolverine. A conversation with Laura allows Logan to finally let his guard down as he reveals that his negligence to his former team, the X-Men, led to their demise at the hands of the humans. The guilt of letting down his comrades has torn him apart ever since, leading to his ever-depressed self at present. Laura requests him to stand by their side in the battle against Cassandra and her lackeys, but Logan seems unwilling still.
How Did Cassandra Learn About the Time Ripper?
However, as the Others and Deadpool travel to Cassandra’s lair and engage in a fierce battle with her lackeys, Logan is seen present among them as he has seemingly gone through a change of heart. While Laura, Gambit, Elektra, and Blade take care of mutant villains, Wade and Logan try to subdue Cassandra, only to get miserably beaten, and Cassandra starts peeping through Logan’s memories. From her prying gaze into Logan’s past, Cassandra reveals that, losing his mutant brethren, a vengeful Wolverine had taken the lives of many humans and even had the blood of innocents staining his claws. Cassandra tries to use Logan’s guilt to subjugate him, but by this time, Wade forces Juggernaut’s helmet on her head, which nullifies her psychic capabilities instantly.
Pyro, who had made a secret deal with Paradox to take over the throne of the Void, turns his back on Cassandra and fatally shoots her. Without her psychic abilities, there is no way for Cassandra to heal herself, but if Wade and Logan show mercy and allow her to take off the helmet, she can kill them instantly as well. Logan decides to honor the ideals of his old friend Charles Xavier, the late leader of X-Men, by showing Cassandra mercy and allowing her a chance to heal by removing her helmet. As a gesture of gratitude, Cassandra allows the duo to return to Wade’s universe by using a sling ring obtained from some variant of Dr. Strange she had killed. Cassandra gets all riled up about the treachery and forces Pyro to reveal his deal with Paradox, and with a vengeful mind she travels to Earth-10005 as well. At the TVA outpost, Cassandra pries into Paradox’s brain to learn all about the Time Ripper, and in order to exact her vengeance, she decides to use the device to render the multiverse into a Void by destroying all the universes.
Did Cassandra Finally Break the Multiverse?
On the other hand, Hunter B-15, the present overseer of TVA operations, learns about the unauthorized activation of the Time Ripper. After returning to his world, Wade discovers that Cassandra has brought an army of numerous variants of Deadpool to deter any obstruction, and along with Logan, he engages in a prolonged battle with his multiversal doppelgangers. In the meantime, Nicepool is used as a scapegoat by Wade, not that it had any relevance to the overall narrative. Killing a horde of unkillable psychos turns out to be near impossible, until Peter, Deadpool’s X-Force colleague and dear friend, makes a timely appearance, which inexplicably stops the fight—due to the sole reason that every variant of Deadpool cherishes a variant of Peter in their lives (Spider-Man reference avoiding Sony’s legal troubles).
As Wade and Logan reach the TVA outpost, they learn about Cassandra’s nefarious plans from Paradox, who reveals the only way to avert the upcoming catastrophe is to sabotage the Time Ripper. But in doing so, Wade and Logan will be erased from history forever, as the cosmic repercussions don’t take their accelerated healing factors into account. Nevertheless, the antihero duo decides to work together to sabotage the Time Ripper and, with an act of self-sacrifice, manages to save the multiverse in the process. Cassandra gets obliterated from existence; Logan and Wade miraculously survive the ordeal. Hunter B-15 learns about everything that happened behind her back and takes Paradox into custody, and to honor their act of courage, she spares Earth-10005 from destruction. Upon Wade’s request, B-15 decides to send the others back to their respective universes as well, but refuses to alter Wolverine’s past, as the tragedy he has experienced has culminated in this moment in history.
As Deadpool and Wolverine ends, Wade is revealed to have invited Logan and Laura to stay with him in his universe, has adopted Nicepool’s canine companion, Dogpool, and rekindled his relationship with Vanessa once again—now that he has finally proven himself to her after saving the multiverse.
