Credit: Marvel StudiosThe Avengers are out, and Deadpool is in at Marvel Studios.
“Marvel Jesus”
Deadpool & Wolverine is the only Marvel Cinematic Universe feature film hitting theaters in 2024, and that’s a pretty big deal. Marvel Studios has not limited itself to a single theatrical release since 2012, when The Avengers turned the popular comic book series into a world-dominating, unbeatable franchise.
The first Avengers movie was as much a statement of purpose as it was a single film, which says a lot about this upcoming Ryan Reynolds/Hugh Jackman joint.
Both narratively and metatextually, Deadpool & Wolverine is being positioned as the savior of the MCU or, as Wade Wilson (Reynolds) put it in the first full-length trailer for the movie, “Marvel Jesus.” In the story of the film, Deadpool and Logan (a returning Jackman) are tasked by the Time Variance Authority with defending the Multiverse from Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), potentially saving and/or altering the entire Multiverse as they do so.
In the real world, Marvel Studios hopes that the film will break its recent losing streak at the box office and put it back at the top of the charts, much as Inside Out 2 is currently doing for its sister-in-Disney, Pixar Animation Studios.
Disney CEO Bob Iger has strictly limited the number of films and Disney+ streaming series coming out of the MCU for the foreseeable future, which means that pressure on any individual film to pull the franchise out of its spiral is that much greater.
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Deadpool & Wolverine is, in a very real sense, replaced The Avengers as the new event movie of the MCU, and director/co-writer Shawn Levy is making it very clear that he is looking toward the future, not the past of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Levy told Total Film:
“We came up with ‘Marvel Jesus’ two years ago. People love to get on bandwagons whether they’re positive, but frankly even more when they’re negative.”
“We had no idea it would be this unique moment where people are asking what the MCU means anymore. Can it surprise us? Can it break molds in ways that we don’t expect? We certainly hope that this movie is an answer to those questions. What Kevin Feige has built with the MCU is historic as far as a string of successes.”
Shawn Levy goes on to describe his new movie as being unlike anything in the MCU prior, which is exactly what someone doing the press rounds for an upcoming blockbuster would say.
But it is clear that Marvel is actively trying to move away from the legacy of the Avengers, especially since it has already lost Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) to the evil forces of expired franchise contracts.
‘Deadpool 4’: “Usually I Have to Lie”
The turmoil surrounding Avengers 5, the movie previously announced as The Kang Dynasty, also strongly indicates the reduced status of the Avengers within the MCU.
The arrest and criminal conviction of Jonathan Majors, the rising star cast as the post-Thanos Big Bad of the franchise, threw plans for the upcoming film into chaos, to the point that the villain and title of the next entry in one of the biggest film series of all time is apparently up for grabs.
With no clear plan for the Avengers series to move forward into whatever Secret Wars has turned into, Deadpool & Wolverine is a major lifeline for the MCU, particularly as it promises to bring the X-Men into the Sacred Timeline. The other sure thing that Marvel currently has on its roster is Spider-Man, which is almost certainly why Shawn Levy is hinting at a Deadpool 4 team-up between Peter Parker and the character.
Levy recently teased a meeting between the two characters, saying, “The thing about Deadpool is I think he makes everything more interesting because of his audacity. But, boy, I’d sure love to see Deadpool and Spidey. That’s a movie I’d love to make. I feel like Tom Holland would run circles around everyone else.”
Related: Ryan Reynolds Admits He’s Surprised Disney Made a ‘Deadpool’ Movie, Says It’s “Vapid”
Although Deadpool & Wolverine won’t be in theaters until next month, Levy is already putting out signals that he has ideas for Deadpool 4 and wants to direct it. When directly questioned about the possibility that he would helm a fourth Merc with a Mouth movie, he told Deadline:
“Usually, I have to lie. I’m waiting for the questions when I have to lie and pretend I don’t know the answer, but this one I can sincerely say I don’t know. But I can, in the same breath, say, ‘Man, this thing has been the hardest, most all-consuming thing I’ve ever done. But it’s also been the most creatively gratifying.'”
“Because with Deadpool, there’s no rules. It is, in its very DNA, built on tonal audacity. So, for a filmmaker, what a delight. And to do it with my best friend Ryan, my other buddy Hugh, the three of us who have known each other now for a very long time, it was just a blast.”
“Because if you work with friends, you don’t mind making an ass of yourself. And if you’re working on something that’s comedic, you better be willing to fall on your face.”
Aside from the impressive admission that people working for Marvel Studios have to lie directly about the status of projects they are working on, it seems apparent that Shawn Levy wants to keep working with Ryan Reynolds and have him fight with and/or say weird things to Spider-Man in a future Deadpool 4.
If Deadpool & Wolverine makes anything like the amount of money it is being projected to, there is a very good chance of it happening. And, if it does, that’s one more milestone putting the Avengers in the rearview mirror.
Deadpool & Wolverine will premiere in theaters on July 26.
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