Deadwolf? Poolverine?

As mentioned previously, Ms. Spenser was asking why I wasn't getting the good DVDs from the library. Does Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) count?

It starts with Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) begging Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) for membership in the Avengerss. He wants to prove to his girl that he has made something of himself. It does't go well.

He winds up as a badly scarred used car salesman, working for Peter (Rob Delaney), from X-Force. He's pretty bummed about how his life has turned out, although a surprise birthday party his friends throw him helps - friends including Peter, Blind Al, Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead and her kawaii girlfriend, etc. But a sparkly circle appears and he is whisked off to the Temporal Variance Agency.

Fortunately, we watched the Loki show, and we understood this bit. 

Agent Matthew MacFadyen wants to enlist Deadpool into the sacred timeline - although not as "Marvel Jesus" as he assumes. He explains that Deadpool's timeline is going to evaporate, because the anchor, Logan, is dead. There's a bit more exposition, but Deadpool figures he can just bring Wolverine back to the timeline, so he steals a timeline switcher gizmo, and takes off.

First, he finds out that Logan really is dead, and has a massive fight against a TVA squad using his unobtainium bones. Then he goes hunting timelines for a living Wolverine. He finds the comics accurate short Logan and a bunch more, and finally a drunk Logan (Hugh Jackman) in bar. This Logan is in disgrace because he failed to save tbe X-Men of this world. 

When he gets this Wolverine back to the TVA, MacFadyen explains that you can't just replace an anchor like that. And Wolverine figures out that MacFadyen is up to something shady, so MacFadyen sends them to the Void, a timeline outside time.

There they meet a number of "orphaned" superheroes, starting with Chris Evans as, of course, Johnny Storm. They also meet the evil ruler of the Void, Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), a nice looking bald lady who is Charles Xavier's twin sister. She can manipulate reality, and likes to run her fingers through your brain. And she has a whole bunch of evil mutants to hang with.

Our heroes find some other helpers: X-32 (Dafne Keene, grown up a bit), Blade (Wesley Snipes, still cool as hell), Elektra (Jennifer Garner), and Tatum Channing as Gambit - at last. Too bad no one can understand his accent. 

Strangely, this is all very reminiscent of Quantumania. Strangely not because it would mean Marvel is plagiarizing itself - it does that all the time. Strangely because that movie bombed, and because it sets up the now-cancelled Kang story arc. In fact, that was a lot of what Loki was about. I'm guessing mid-stream rewrites.

This isn't my favorite Deadpool movie - Reynolds' schtick is getting a little old. Also, I think we can all agree that Marvel is leaning too hard on the multiverse. But I did like the whole "Island of Misfit Superheroes" thing. Like in Multiverse of Madness and the Illuminati, we get to see some beloved or at least dimly remembered characters, played by the actors that fans have been longing for (like Gambit) or not (Johnny Storm). I suppose that means this is the last we'll see of them.