Already the talk is that the latest Deadpool instalment can save the ailing Marvel cinematic universe. It has certainly been a while since I’ve walked away smiling from a superhero film. But if Batman from The Dark Knight in 2008 could be adopted by conservatives in an election year as a masked metaphor in support of George W Bush and the “war on terror”, Deadpool & Wolverine in 2024 stands as an antidote to the misery of Trumpism.
Stick with me. This is a mad ride and carries a spoiler.
Like politics, the storytelling in Marvel movies has broken in recent years – literally splintered into a gazillion bizarre threads of a “multiverse”.
In some of these many worlds, red means go, up means down. Logic is impossible. Any character can be killed off, only to be plucked from another timeline to make a triumphant return. Alternative facts are the rule.
In this film, Deadpool pokes fun at this post-truth world. He winks knowingly at previous flops in which Marvel has over-reached. It’s pop culture, not politics, with a coarse humour that exposes absurdity.
Whereas the superhero movies of 2016 delivered an emphasis on relationship breakdowns, the title and theme of this movie, Deadpool AND Wolverine, imply finding a way together.
Wolverine is himself a resurrected hero. In one world he is dead, as he was left in 2017’s Logan, with the inspiring legacy of ultimate self sacrifice. In this movie, Deadpool literally digs up Wolverine’s skeletal remains to beat his enemies. Talk about an image to portray the modern abuses of history.
Then Wolverine is brought back to life, drawn from a parallel universe. This version of Wolverine went missing at a time of dire need. He sees the chance to undo the mistakes of the past, to wave a magic wand of redemption. Only suffering and bitter experience, he is reminded at the end, give him the strength of character to do what is needed.
I saw a story of politics. That easy fixes are not the answer and testing times have a value in and of themselves. Of course I’m projecting. Deadpool is not Donald any more than Wolverine is Kamala. But together the arc of these characters struck me as a collective experience of the past few years.
Deadpool is the ultimate gaslighter; his lies have deadly consequences. Wolverine is a grumpy nostalgic who regards Deadpool as the worst person he’s met in more than 200 years. They fight. They punch and stab and shoot one another in the most absurd ways. But their superpower is that neither can die. They are stuck together. Only by cooperating can they win.
Whereas the superhero movies of 2016 delivered Captain America: Civil War and Batman v Superman, with an emphasis on relationship breakdowns (note the year of release, when Trump prevailed over Hillary Clinton), the title and theme of this movie, Deadpool AND Wolverine, imply finding a way together.
The film is interspersed with cameo appearances and feel-good moments that serve as a reminder of happier times, not as answers to suggest the ultimate dominance of one side over the other. They are more a sentimental fix to the universe, harking back to a time when people laughed more along with the ride.
