Deadpool & Wolverine threw down the gauntlet in its very first trailers when Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) outright declares himself to be “Marvel Jesus.” The joke went viral in a way that Raynolds and director Shawn Levy never expected, as it landed right in the middle of a major media storm surrounding Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe – a storm that made Deadpool & Wolverine look like a safe harbor for the franchise to anchor in. Now the film has achieved record-breaking box office returns and sparked renewed hype for the MCU, making Reynolds’ Deadpool truly seem like he is Marvel Jesus.
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Ironically enough, the team behind Deadpool 3 never intended to poke fun at the MCU or kick the franchise when it was down – in fact, they had no idea what state the franchise would be in when they shot the film.
“What I will say is that – definitely what I do know because we’ve spoken about this – we wrote that line long before there was such a loud conversation about superhero fatigue. And I think that was before [Ant-Man and the Wasp] Quantumania came out; before The Marvels came out. So the fact that it ended up fitting into this narrative and this cultural moment? That was coincidental.”
But this idea of Wade being given an opportunity to level up into the bigs, and the kind of delusional confidence that Wade would have in declaring himself a messiah that just made us laugh and felt very ‘Wade Wilson.’ And so that was early – that was an early one [the joke].”
Deadpool & Wolverine is right up there with The Boys Season 4 in terms of being almost eerily prescient with matching its humor and insights to the twists and turns of the current days and times we’re living through. While Levy says the joke was more about Deadpool’s arc in the film, we know that the Deadpool franchise’s signature is the meta humor that works on multiple levels at once. So it’s fair to still believe that when Deadpool 3 was in production (2022) they were still taking aim at the diminishing quality of the MCU… and the situation just never improved for the two years it took the movie to reach theaters. Ouch.
Levy also revealed that another now-famous line from Deadpool & Wolverine also has more meaning than fans think: that Kevin Feige cocaine joke!
Deadpool & Wolverine Cast & Synopsis FAQs
In Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) will change the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). The film also stars Matthew Macfadyen as Paradox, and Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova, with the return of Deadpool alums Morena Baccarin as Vanessa Carlysle, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Stefan Kapičić as Piotr Rasputin/Colossus, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Rob Delaney as Peter, and Lewis Tan as Shatterstar. Aaron Stanford is returning as Pyro from the X-Men film series, with Jennifer Garner rumored to return as Elektra Natchios.
Kevin Feige, Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy and Lauren Shuler Donner produce with Louis D’Esposito, Wendy Jacobson, Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, George Dewey and Simon Kinberg serving as executive producers. Deadpool & Wolverine is written by Ryan Reynolds & Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Zeb Wells & Shawn Levy.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now in theaters.
