Film Review

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) — hilarity and pathos in Marvel’s last hope

Wolverine is recovering from his injuries when he crosses paths with the loudmouth Deadpool, and they team up to defeat a common enemy.

Since Avengers: Endgame (2019), there’s been a steady decline in critical acclaim and audience interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). There’s an unending stream of candy-coloured, psychedelic set-pieces, an abundance of green-screen, and an over-reliance on formulaic gags and predictable badinage. Perhaps due to oversaturation, the superhero film has lost a tremendous amount of bite. Who can save the MCU?

Our hero is not the type one might expect. He uses colourful language liberally and with great relish, is irreverent and distasteful, and has no qualms with separating a man’s head from his shoulders. He even has no moral concerns about desecrating graves, leading his mortal co-workers on a suicide mission, or murdering his nemeses. No, he doesn’t sound especially righteous. But he’s not the hero we deserve… he’s the hero the MCU needs.