Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
★★★½ — Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
Deadpool & Wolverine arrives as something of a landmark moment for Marvel Studios, marking the first R-rated entry in the main MCU canon and the long-awaited on-screen pairing of two characters previously kept in separate corners of the Fox-era Marvel universe. Ryan Reynolds had been shepherding a third Deadpool film since the second instalment in 2018, but Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019 complicated and ultimately transformed the project, folding it into the broader MCU framework. Director Shawn Levy, a frequent Reynolds collaborator (Free Guy, The Adam Project), stepped in to handle what became a production shaped heavily by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. Hugh Jackman, who had announced his retirement from the Wolverine role back in 2017, returned here, making this his ninth appearance in the part across over two decades of Fox Marvel films.
Let’s get one thing straight: this film isn’t cinema. It’s a two-hour-long victory lap wrapped in spandex, CGI, and enough meta jokes to make even Deadpool blush. Deadpool & Wolverine is pure, unapologetic fan service, a chaotic, self-aware mash-up of nostalgia, multiverse madness, and fourth-wall breaks so frequent they border on performance art. And I kind of enjoyed it. Ryan Reynolds leans harder than ever into the shtick (the quips, the product placement, the relentless winks at the camera) but he’s clearly having the time of his life, and that energy is contagious. Hugh Jackman, returning as Logan, matches him step for step, bringing gruff charm and genuine physical presence to a role he’s earned the right to revisit on his own terms. Their odd-couple dynamic (one a foul-mouthed chaos agent, the other a reluctant, world-weary warrior) works better than it has any right to, carrying the film through its thinnest moments. The spectacle is undeniable. The multiverse framework lets Marvel throw everything at the screen. Alternate versions of familiar characters, deep-cut references, animated cameos, and more mid-credits scenes than you can keep track of. It’s a nostalgia buffet, and if you’ve spent the last 15 years watching these films, you’ll get a kick out of spotting the Easter eggs. But for all its fun, it feels… pointless. The stakes are laughably low, another collapsing multiverse, another evil organisation with a generic plan. The emotional core is buried under jokes, and the deeper questions about legacy, identity, and closure only get lip service. With so many versions of Earth, timelines, and characters floating around, nothing feels real or lasting. It’s all just noise before the next reboot. Still, as a popcorn movie (dumb, flashy, occasionally funny send-up of the whole MCU machine) it works. It doesn’t mean much, but it moves fast and doesn’t pretend to be profound. Nostalgia sells. And sometimes, that’s enough.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2024 | Watched: 2025-08-10
Where to watch (UK)
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK
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