Deadpool Starts War with Disney, Reynolds Keeps His Word

After watching Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), fans will remember two things: how it was the reunion of several Marvel icons and how the House of Mouse will soon be out for blood.

A heart made with Deadpool and Wolverine's hands — Credit: Marvel Studios

As soon as that trailer dropped, Ryan Reynolds made it transparently clear that while Deadpool may or may not be joining the MCU under Disney’s distribution, Deadpool would not be pulling back any punches just because he’s now officially on their payroll. Saying that he kept every promise he made just a few months ago would be a grand and glorious understatement.

The new Deadpool film is violent, gross, and gratuitous, and it takes more than a few digs at Hugh Jackman, 20th Century Fox, and The Walt Disney Company in spades. At the same time, it is exactly what the fanbase has desired ever since Reynolds slipped on the tight red spandex.

WARNING: Spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine beyond this point!

Deadpool Attacks Disney, Studio Was Asking For It

Credit: Inside the Magic

While we could spend a whole lot of time explaining the film’s ins and outs, Ryan Reynolds himself prepared fans for what they could expect months ago when the official trailer hit screens everywhere. The video also offered a QR code, which took fans to Reynold’s official page, where he made the statement below.

“This film is as paper-thin as a sequel to Battlefield Earth. We’re mostly going to beat each other senseless, make enemies with Disney, tell a few dick jokes, make a few jokes at my expense, make a lot of jokes at Hugh’s expense, and completely sidestep Marvel’s mandated after-credits sequence, which if you haven’t figured it out yet, is always just a commercial for another movie which will invariably end with a commercial for another movie. So sit back, relax, let us lower your IQ, and raise your heart rate while we travel to a vapid Dreamland, a place where grown men and grown women walk around in tights and act like it’s not a giant cultural cry for help. This is cinema.”

Having just come out of a showing of the movie, this writer can personally vouch for the actor’s claims. Yes, it does everything Reynold’s disclaimer says and more, but the “enemies with Disney” comment rings true more than many expect.

While the movie’s jokes about not being able to use cocaine under Disney were already made in the trailers, it was just a small taste of how Deadpool not only pokes fun at Marvel Studios’ parent company but calls the company out on its shortcomings regarding the recent condition of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Burning Down the Mouse

Deadpool in full costume stands in an elevator, holding up an index finger as if making a point or waiting for someone to listen, with a wood-paneled background and elevator buttons on the side. — Credit: Marvel Studios

Although the film softens the blow by wrapping its criticism up in a fun and ridiculous timeline-hopping adventure with Deadpool and Wolverine, the Merc with the Mouth takes no prisoners when making jokes at Disney’s expense.

Not only does the film blatantly reference Disney’s retcon of the 20th Century Fox Marvel films by literally making them into a ruined junkyard, but it also calls out the studio’s battle with superhero fatigue and fear of being canceled by “the woke mob” (per Deadpool).

Pair that with several vulgar remarks involving Pinocchio’s nose and certain NSFW positions, and that essentially epitomizes the tone of Deadpool’s anti-Disney humor. However, a glance at the post-post-credits scene reveals how they could get away with making all these statements under Disney’s banner.

Credit: Disney

Viewers who stay till the absolute end are treated to the phrase “Distributed by The Walt Disney Company,” symbolizing that every F-bomb, sex joke, lewd gesture, bucket of gore, violent dismemberment, and filthy joke at the studio’s expense was signed, sealed, and delivered by none other than Disney. In short, they have no one to blame but themselves.

In a twisted way, Deadpool & Wolverine is Disney and Marvel’s way of saying they recognize where they’ve been in the wrong. By giving the fans what they’ve been asking for for years, they’ve extended an olive branch that will undoubtedly become one of the biggest hits of the summer.

Have you seen the new Deadpool movie? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!