“Bryan [Singer] didn’t want to make a comic book movie, he wanted to make a real movie that just happened to have comic book characters in it….”
— X-Men screenwriter David Hayter

There’s no arguing the wild popularity of Fox’s X-Men movie franchise. But as a lifelong comic book reader and X-Men fan, I’ve spent the last 25 years lamenting the X-series wasted potential.

Debuting in 2000, Bryan Singer’s X-Men arrived at a time when Hollywood didn’t believe mainstream audiences would show up to watch larger-than-life superheroes in colourful costumes. So the studio chose to water down the film’s comic book elements because releasing a movie full of brooding action heroes in black leather was the safer choice.

In the 24 years since X-Men’s debut, nerd culture became mainstream culture. Now there’s a ravenous hunger for authentic comic book movies that embrace the look and feel of the source material. Whereas X-Men was Hollywood dipping its toe into comic book movie waters, Deadpool & Wolverine offers a Colossus-sized cannonball splash into the deep end.

Deadpool & Wolverine is a cinematic bacchanal custom-tailored for those who eat, sleep, and breathe pop culture — particularly superhero movies. If you’re not in on the joke, the film can be an obnoxious parade of lowbrow humour and comic book movie references. But if you’re down to clown with the Merc with the Mouth, Deadpool & Wolverine is the gift that keeps on giving.

This film works best if you go in blind, so I’ll give you a vague synopsis. At the end of Deadpool 2, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) steals Cable’s (Josh Brolin) time-travelling device and proceeds to jump across the multiverse, disrupting timeline after timeline. His multiversal meddling puts him on the Time Variance Authority’s (TVA) radar.

A TVA employee named Paradox (a delightfully slimy Matthew Macfadyen) recruits Deadpool to a crucial mission. Deadpool bristles against Paradox’s orders and decides to save the universe his own way. His kamikaze mission requires an unkillable hero, so he recruits a begrudging Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to his quest. Although the duo get along as well as cats and dogs, they’re forced to put their differences aside to save the universe and protect their loved ones.

I call Deadpool & Wolverine an anti-X-Men movie because it wholeheartedly embraces the comic book-y elements the Fox films hesitated to embrace. This means plenty of weird sci-fi settings, soapy melodrama, and comic book-accurate costumes.

Director Shawn Levy created a film that truly feels like a comic book come to life and it’s a joy to behold. Deadpool & Wolverine is the best entry in the trilogy and it’s not even close, checking all the right boxes for genre film lovers.

It’s a rowdy action-comedy loaded with silly sight gags and vulgar language. Reynolds’s trademark snark is on full display as he fires off quips like a verbal machine gun. The two leads have exceptional chemistry whether they’re in the heat of battle or letting their guards down for a much-needed heart-to-heart. Jackman’s stoic and prickly Wolverine makes an ideal foil to Deadpool and his motormouth.

The folks at Marvel didn’t forget to put some action in this action-comedy, and the film features a handful of memorable fight sequences. These innovative and well-choreographed setpieces deliver some of the MCU’s most gritty and visceral action. And trust me when I tell you it’s not for the squeamish. The blood-soaked carnage is vicious and gory enough to trigger Jigsaw’s gag reflex. And that’s just the film’s opening ten minutes.

Despite the potty humour, and John Wick-level body count, Deadpool & Wolverine is secretly a sweet and sentimental film. Deadpool may seem like a maniacal nihilist, but Reynolds’ version of the character has always been more of a humanist than his comic book counterpart. Beneath all the red leather and scar tissue beats a sensitive and fragile heart.

Deadpool uses humour as a defence mechanism because he’s afraid to be vulnerable. What he truly desires are meaningful connections, even though he sees himself as undeserving. And then you have Wolverine, a man who has found family and friendship in the X-Men but can’t help but find excuses to push them away. 

This film is ultimately a tale of broken people seeking purpose and connection. It’s a story about the lonely, discarded, and forgotten learning that it’s never too late to find redemption. Despite all the mistakes they’ve made and the guilt they carry, these two heroes’ true mission is to recognize they’re still worthy of love and friendship.

After Disney acquired Fox, the X-Men movie universe came to an unceremonious end. Fans deserved better than to see their beloved series close out with a one-two punch of X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants. Now, with Deadpool & Wolverine, the X-universe receives a fitting closing chapter.

Audiences can expect an action-packed and surprisingly earnest celebration of the X-Men universe, and the decades of superhero films that brought us to this moment. We’re now in an era when these iconic characters are free from the constraints of filmmakers and studio execs making “a real movie that just happened to have comic book characters in it.”

Whereas X-Men held back on the comic’s sacred iconography, Deadpool & Wolverine revels in its source material to the point of extravagance, coming across like the MCU’s take on a Baz Luhrmann flick.

Deadpool & Wolverine is a wild action-comedy and a gift to the diehards, but most notably, not too self-important to shove Hugh Jackman into a yellow and blue costume.

Deadpool & Wolverine arrives in theatres Friday, July 26.