Deadpool & Wolverine Should Be a Farewell to Fox’s X-Men, Not an Invitation

It’s a big moment for Marvel fans everywhere. The Merc With a Mouth is finally making the jump into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Deadpool & Wolverine, the third film in the mutant anti-hero’s solo franchise. As the only MCU movie releasing in theaters this year, the first proper crossover between the two titular main characters (no, we’re not counting Weapon XI in X-Men Origins: Wolverine) is practically guaranteed to make a big splash at the box office. Between record-breaking pre-ticket sales and the many multiversal cameos of fan-favorite characters that are expected, the movie is set to be a major shot in the arm for the MCU.

Marvel is clearly banking hard on the return of Hugh Jackman’s Logan being a big draw for audiences. Ryan Reynolds has even made a point of saying on the press tour that “no one can do it except him” in regards to Jackman portraying the character. But if Deadpool 3 uses the multiverse to bring over even more of the Fox X-Men versions of characters into the mainline MCU, they’ll be missing a huge opportunity to relaunch the X-Men series with their own interpretation. Let’s look at why, for the good of the franchise’s future, it would be far better if the return of Jackman’s Wolverine and other Fox Marvel characters was a one-time deal.

It’s no surprise that out of all the Marvel film franchises Disney inherited from 20th Century Fox, Deadpool was the one Marvel Studios decided to directly incorporate into the MCU. Not only were the first two films both critically and commercially successful, but Deadpool has always been an outlier among Marvel’s pantheon of characters. His fourth-wall breaking antics and manic personality mean Deadpool doesn’t require much of any explanation or foundational character work to get people to accept his inclusion in a given story. Fans and audiences would likely have been fine with him just popping up in the MCU even without any multiversal justification.

But a multiversal justification we are receiving with the film’s inciting incident, which, at least according to the trailers, involves Deadpool getting swept up in the machinations of the Time Variance Authority. The time-space bureaucracy from the Loki series is represented in the film by Matthew Macfayden’s Agent Paradox, who crashes Wade Wilson’s reality to recruit him for an important mission. It’s presumably through this plot device that Deadpool meets Jackman’s Wolverine and a host of other Marvel characters, with confirmed appearances from the likes of Tyler Mane’s Sabretooth and rumored cameos like Jennifer Garner’s Elektra. Given that we can see the destroyed 20th Century Fox logo in what appears to be the void at the end of time, Deadpool & Wolverine seems to be making the Disney Fox purchase and the “end” of the Fox X-Men universe into metatextual elements of its plot.

For more on why it’s time for the old X-Men to go, and for us to get a new Wolverine, watch the full video!

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