Deadpool & Wolverine Parent Guide

It’s been six years since Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) donned his skintight red suit and killed a whole bunch of people. He’s filled the time by picking up a job as a car salesman with his buddy (and former X-force compatriot) Peter (Rob Delaney), but all he really wants is to do something meaningful. Mostly because his relationship with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) has fallen apart, and he’s determined to prove that he can be a real hero. After getting rightly turned down by the Avengers, Wilson stumbles into Paradox (Matthew MacFayden), a Temporal Variance Authority agent with big plans for the former mercenary.

According to Paradox, Wilson’s timeline in the multiverse is a dead end. Every timeline has an “anchor being”, and in this one, it was Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). Since he died, this timeline is going to destroy itself. Paradox can’t save it, and just wants to kill it off immediately rather than watch is slowly decay. Wilson has other plans, though. If this universe needs a Wolverine, then by golly, he’s going to get one. After some multiverse hopping, he turns up with a falling-down drunk, broken Wolverine with a past full of failure and a future full of empty bottles. It’s not going to be easy to get him back into world-saving shape, but Deadpool knows Wolverine has what it takes. That is, if they can figure out how to work together.

Despite continually dragging it out like a cat with some small critter they’ve killed, Marvel hasn’t quite been able to make their multiverse storylines land. Mediocre reviews and box-office numbers notwithstanding, this is very much a multiverse story. Thankfully, that messy and self-referential kind of story is well suited to a self-referential, fourth-wall-breaking mutant like Deadpool. With his signature rapid-fire snark, a shiny new super suit, and the buddy cop team-up he’s always dreamed of, Deadpool is in a good spot to turn things around for this premise. And it is a heck of a team up. Wolverine, with all his gruff impatience, is a perfect foil to our motor-mouthed anti-hero.

Of course, Wade Wilson doesn’t provide children’s entertainment. Over 100 f-bombs, frequent graphic violence, and non-stop sexual innuendo earn this installment its R-rating, but it does manage to avoid nudity or drug use. So the movie isn’t for everybody, but if you don’t mind the blue language then there’s a goofy, nostalgic, and surprisingly heartfelt movie in here for adult fans who can’t let go of their Marvel fixation. Deadpool & Wolverine is a diamond in the rough (very rough) of Marvel’s exhaustingly high output of mediocre CG beat-em-ups.