Me & Deadpool & Wolverine & Doctor Doom & The Future Of The MCU
On the latest entry to, and the uncertain future of, the Marvel Cinematic Universe
There is something you need to know about me.
I am an unabashed fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
There, I’ve said it now.
I’ve been following the MCU since the release of Iron Man in 2008 - a time when I was also consuming Marvel comics fairly heavily as well. I can’t remember exactly but I am pretty sure I’ve seen every film in the series within a week of release, and I would guess the majority on either opening day or the day after.
My favourite film in the series is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I prefer Infinity War to Endgame, but only just. I like the ones people hate: The Marvels is a 7/10 for me. And I giggle like a child when there is any kind of fan service, from big moments like Captain America wielding Mjolnir to small, film-geek moments like Donald Glover playing the uncle of Miles Morales.
I’ll also admit to having watched almost all of the non-MCU Marvel movies. I’d call X2: X-Men United and Spider-Man 2 a pair of my favourite superhero films. The original Fantastic Four movies were good clean fun. The Blade movies were good bloody fun. Even the Venom movies have been fine. The only one I haven’t seen yet is Madame Web, from earlier this year. I’m sure I’ll find a silver lining.
My point is, I’m a fan.
The latest instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Deadpool & Wolverine and it is a film which is a) trying to unify the MCU and the non-MCU Marvel films made by 20th Century Fox, and b) made for people like me.
(Spoilers for the film follow.)
While Disney holds the rights to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 20th Century Fox is the studio that held the rights to a number of big name characters: the X-Men films, the two Deadpool movies, and a number of would be franchises from the past three decades: the Blade films, the Fantastic Four films, Daredevil and Elektra, the Punisher movies and shows, the Ghost Rider movies, and a number of spin-offs from all of those films (including all the Wolverine solo films).
And then Disney bought 20th Century Fox a few years ago, and the rights to use all those characters, as well as all of their non-MCU films, reverted to Marvel.
Deadpool & Wolverine answers the question of what to do with all of these films that don’t fit the Marvel Cinematic Universe while trying to save a few bits and pieces that they might want to use later: clip their timelines and send them to the Void, first seen (as Deadpool exclaims) in Loki’s first season on Disney+.
The film finds Deadpool (played again by the always entertaining Ryan Reynolds) being recruited by the nefarious Mr Paradox (Succession’s Matthew McFadyen), a high ranking member of the Time Variance Authority, to join the Sacred Timeline, aka Earth 616, aka the Marvel Cinematic Universe, since his home universe/timeline (Earth 10005) is going to be destroyed due to the death of its anchor being, the Wolverine, at the end of the 2018 film Logan.
The big draw of the film, of course, is the return of Hugh Jackman - a man who swore off the character of Logan after that 2018 movie, but returns to bring the character into the main Marvel Studios continuity. It’s worth noting that Sir Patrick Stewart also swore off playing Charles Xavier after playing the role in Logan, then showed up in the Doctor Strange sequel.
The movie brings the weight of the MCU’s Multiverse to bear. The Multiverse is a concept that has been running through their latest phase of films and shows, including Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness, Loki, What If …, and Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. Deadpool scours the Multiverse to find a replacement Logan for his universe, only to find that Mr Paradox has no intention of letting him save his universe and banishes them both to the Void.
There, the pair team up with 20th Century Fox outcasts to get back to Earth 10005 and stop Mr Paradox. The Void, it turns out, is populated with characters from the 20th Century Fox slate of Marvel films: Deadpool and Wolverine encounter the Fantastic Four’s Johnny Storm (played again by Chris Evans, who had the role prior to playing Captain America) and a Deadpool variant named Nicepool (played by a clean cut Ryan Reynolds), and eventually team up with Elektra (played once again by Jennifer Garner), Blade (Wesley Snipes), Laura/X-23 (Dafne Keen) and Gambit - the latter especially notable as he’s played by Channing Tatum who famously tried to get a Gambit film made, to no avail; this is the only onscreen appearance of the character in live-action.
They fight numerous X-villains: Pyro (from X2/X-Men 3: The Last Stand), Azazel (from X-Men: First Class), Toad (from X-Men), Juggernaut (from X-Men 3/Deadpool 2) and Sabretooth (X-Men), led by Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), the previously unseen (and presumably expendable) sister of Charles Xavier.
I won’t say any more about it1 as - if you’re not a superhero film fan - that is about three paragraphs of gibberish. But the film ends by saving Deadpool’s universe, complete with both Logan/Wolverine and Laura/X-23 safe and sound, and on the radar of the TVA. A 20th Century Fox tribute plays over the credits, backed by Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)”.
The ending very much leaves the door open for Deadpool, Wolverine and X-23 to show up in future MCU movies (as well as the other characters from the Deadpool universe), while explaining why none of the other Fox characters do, and gives a little bit of a hint as to what we might expect going forward.
And then Comic-Con happened.
So, Deadpool & Wolverine opened late last week, and then on Sunday (NZ time), just three days later, Marvel Studios held a panel at San Diego Comic-Con and made a handful of fairly big announcements.
Following a drone display on Saturday, they debuted a first look trailer for the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, now subtitled First Steps, which doubled down on the 50s aesthetic and featured a look at Galactus.
The Russo Brothers - the duo responsible for four MCU films including Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame - are returning to direct Avengers 5, now called Avengers: Doomsday (for a May 2026 release), and Avengers: Secret Wars (for a May 2027 release).
The cast of upcoming films Fantastic Four and Thunderbolts will appear in the two new Avengers movies.2
Avengers: Doomsday will feature the Fantastic Four’s famed foe Doctor Doom (aka Victor Von Doom) as the villain, presumably following a tease in the Fantastic Four movie itself. Oh, and Doctor Doom will be played by Robert Downey Jr, who starred as Tony Stark/Iron Man in like 10 movies.
So what does all this mean?
Honestly, my opinion (read: speculation) changed after the Comic-Con announcements - especially the casting of Downey Jr.
If you’re making the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’re probably looking at the middling success of the Multiverse Saga so far and thinking about how to wrap it up and do something different as quickly as possible. I would guess that Avengers: Secret Wars will be the final instalment of Phase 6, and something new will start with Phase 7.
We’ve had a few X-Men teases now - aside from Deadpool & Wolverine, we had Beast show up at the end of The Marvels, and the cartoon series X-Men ‘97.
Doctor Doom and Secret Wars are very specific elements to introduce though.
I don’t think that Robert Downey Jr is playing Victor Von Doom, per se. I think he is playing the Fantastic Four universe variant of Tony Stark, who takes the mantle of Doctor Doom as a mirror of Iron Man (there is comic precedent). I wouldn’t be surprised if Stark is in Fantastic Four: First Steps in quite a big role.
I also think Avengers: Doomsday will end with the large scale universe incursion that kicks off Jonathan Hickman’s 2015 retelling of Secret Wars, and will be reframed as the doing of Doctor Doom. Its a large-scale villainous plot that can be undone in the next movie - essentially combining all of the existing universes we’ve seen into one universe. This possibly means the multiverse madness will get worse before it gets better.
Lastly, I think Avengers: Secret Wars will restore the Sacred Timeline and everyone in that timeline will be featured going forward. It would be the end of ‘variants’. It would be the end of the remaining Fox characters; I could see Wolverine sacrificing himself here to kill Doom. And it could be used to introduce new characters; the comic book famously moved Miles Morales/Spider-Man to the main Marvel Comics continuity.
Beyond that, who knows. My personal guess would be that Phase 7 and beyond becomes The Mutant Saga, and we don’t see any of the existing Marvel Cinematic Universe characters for a few years. Hell, there is enough X-Men characters and content to populate three phases by itself. I’d be tempted to do that: end Phase 7 with an X-Men team-up movie, end Phase 8 with an X-Men sequel, and end The Mutant Saga with an Avengers vs X-Men movie.
I just realised I’ve written almost 2000 words about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the latest film, and the implications of a casting announcement. That is probably enough geeking out for one day.
If you enjoyed the first couple of Deadpool movies, and like a bit of meta-humour, Deadpool & Wolverine might be for you.
Have you seen it already - and what did you reckon? And what do you think of Robert Downey Jr being cast in another high-profile role in the MCU?
Thanks for reading this geekness! See you tomorrow!
Cheers, Chris
If you want my opinion on the film? I bloody loved it. But I was always going to love it. Deadpool is my favourite comics character, I loved the previous Deadpool films, and I think this one topped both. It is extremely funny - but that humour is largely based on fandom of these films and being involved in the fan community (like when Blade says “there will only be one Blade” and Deadpool stares at the camera, or when Gambit bemoans that he might have been born in the Void). Seeing Wolverine back was exciting; seeing him in the yellow suit was even better. The fight scene between Wolverine and Deadpool in the Honda Odyssey is maybe the highlight. And I loved the tribute over the credits. Not Top 10 MCU for me, but definitely in the teens.
Its sheer speculation as to what this means at this stage, as we have no confirmation who will be in either movie. We know Fantastic Four will feature Mr Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and The Thing. We know Thunderbolts will feature Bucky Barnes (aka The Winter Soldier), Yelena Belova, Taskmaster and Red Guardian (all introduced in Black Widow), US Agent (introduced in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier), Ghost (from Ant-Man & The Wasp) and new character Sentry. No word on other Phase 4-5 characters like Sam Wilson/Captain America, Shang Chi, Hulk, Captain Marvel, Thor, Ant-Man or Wasp, Moon Knight, Ms Marvel, the Hawkeyes, the Guardians Of The Galaxy, Adam Warlock, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and Wong, Black Panther, Ironheart, Scarlet Witch, Vision, various X-Men … but we’ll see.
Just reading an article in NY Mag and a paragraph stuck out for me:
"Taken at its word, the rest of the story (which unfolds six years later) is set in 2024 but opens with Deadpool desecrating Wolverine’s shallow grave from the end of Logan. Wolverine’s corpse has since decomposed, leaving only his adamantium skeleton, so it has been at least a few weeks, if not a few years, since the end of that film. However, Logan is, according to its dialogue, very explicitly set in a dystopian 2029. What gives?"
https://www.vulture.com/article/the-big-ol-timeline-retcon-of-deadpool-and-wolverine.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Vulture%20-%20July%2026,%202024&utm_term=Subscription%20List%20-%20Vulture%20(1%20Year)
I couldn't have written 25% of this without the help of Wikipedia and I do this for a portion of my living.