The last time we saw Deadpool, the motormouthed anti-superhero, it was an entire pandemic and presidency ago. It’s been six years since the “merc with a mouth” was on the big screen in “Deadpool 2” in 2018, and since then, there have been corporate mergers and acquisitions that left star Ryan Reynolds’ signature character adrift with questions about his future. What was Disney, of all studios, going to do with this hyperviolent rascal who only works blue? Short of washing his mouth out with soap, Marvel head boss Kevin Feige has instead crowned the crimson crank the official clown prince of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — but only under strict supervision.
That’s right, Deadpool has gotten himself a babysitter, another refugee from Disney’s absorption of 20th Century Fox: the clawed one himself, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). The two have been paired up for “Deadpool & Wolverine,” a crossover event that’s also a sort of Viking funeral and salute to the 20th Century Fox Marvel era. Reynolds has brought along his “Free Guy” and “The Adam Project” director Shawn Levy for this one, with “Deadpool 2” director David Leitch moving on to other projects .
Reynolds and Levy have teamed up with franchise writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, as well as “Robot Chicken” veteran Zeb Wells, to pen the screenplay. It’s a unique script, composed almost exclusively of quips, references, fourth-wall breaking, celebrity gossip, Hollywood inside baseball, jabs.
