There’s an awful lot riding on the release of Deadpool & Wolverine. This is the first and only Marvel Studios movie of 2024, arriving after a mostly underwhelming 2023 for Marvel at the box office. It’s also the first R-rated MCU movie, as well as the first to prominently feature both Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. It’s both the latest chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a continuation of Fox’s X-Men universe.
Confused? Don’t be. We’re here to break down exactly what you need to know about Deadpool & Wolverine and how it ties back to the older Deadpool and X-Men movies. After you read this, one thing’s for sure: You don’t need to be caught up on every last detail of the MCU to dive right into Wade Wilson’s latest misadventure.
The MCU’s Multiverse Saga
Deadpool & Wolverine is the 34th film in the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that’s not even counting the various Disney+ shows that have sprung up in recent years. That may seem intimidating for those who haven’t been following along since 2008’s Iron Man kicked off this sprawling universe. Fortunately, we’re pretty sure you won’t need a PhD in superhero movie continuity to enjoy Deadpool & Wolverine.
It’s enough to know that the MCU to date can be divided into two different sagas. The Infinity Saga covers everything released through 2019. It introduced the original team of Avengers and culminated in their epic final battle with Thanos in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. In the aftermath, many of those original heroes have stepped down or died, leaving a new generation to carry on in their place.
Now the MCU is in the midst of the Multiverse Saga, which has thus far been geared toward introducing new heroes like She-Hulk, Shang-Chi and Moon Knight and exploring the concept of the multiverse. The Marvel Cinematic Universe itself is just one universe among many, and there are many alternate versions of Earth with their own heroes and villains.
Where Thanos was the overarching villain of the Infinity Saga, the Multiverse Saga has focused on Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror, a time-traveling tyrant with the power to singlehandedly defeat the Avengers. Different versions of Kang have appeared in 2023’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and in both seasons of the Loki series. Quantumania ends with a tease of the Council of Kangs, suggesting the Multiverse Saga will culminate in a major showdown between the Avengers and the many Kangs of the Marvel multiverse.
However, Marvel’s Kang-related plans have grown murky in recent months in the wake of Majors’ legal battles and the lukewarm reception to Quantumania. Rumors suggest that Marvel is looking to recast Kang, and that Avengers 5 (previously titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty) may be reworked to focus on a different conflict. Kang may or may not still be the endpoint of this particular saga.
For now, none of that really matters. The important thing is that the Multiverse Saga is what allows Marvel to reintroduce characters like Deadpool and Wolverine. The MCU has yet to really introduce its own version of the X-Men (that process likely won’t begin until after Avengers: Secret Wars wraps up the Multiverse Saga). But by reaching into the multiverse, it can make use of Fox’s X-Men roster and continue the stories of Reynolds’ Wade Wilson and Jackman’s Logan.
Deadpool & Wolverine or Deadpool 3?
It may be called Deadpool & Wolverine, but this new movie looks to be, for all intents and purposes, a direct follow-up to 2016’s Deadpool and 2018’s Deadpool 2. Reynolds is still playing the Deadpool role, and most of the franchise’s recurring supporting cast are coming along for the ride. That includes Morena Baccarin’s Vanessa Carlysle, Leslie Uggams’ Blind Al, Karan Soni’s Dopinder, Brianna Hildebrand’s Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Stefan Kapičić’s Colossus, and Rob Delaney’s Peter.
Deadpool & Wolverine picks up several years after the events of Deadpool 2, which ended with Wade stealing Cable’s time-travel device and rewriting the past to save the lives of both Vanessa and Peter. Nowadays, Wade has hung up his swords and tights and settled down as a used car salesman. He lives a peaceful existence surrounded by his friends and loved ones, though the trailers imply that Wade and Vanessa are no longer a couple.
However, Wade’s past comes calling when he’s recruited by the Time Variance Authority (more on them in a bit) to help deal with a major threat to the Marvel timeline. Wade will have no choice but to suit up again and carry on the heroic legacy of Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor. Though it seems this threat is so great that he’ll need a certain six-clawed mutant hothead to join him in his quest. At long last, Deadpool and Wolverine are having a proper live-action team-up.
Which Version of Wolverine Is This?
Here’s where things get a bit tricky. X-Men movie continuity is already famously convoluted, with multiple timelines and countless contradictory character appearances. Jackman last played the Wolverine role in 2017’s Logan, which was set in the near future and ended with the iconic X-Man sacrificing his life to save his clone daughter, Dafne Keen’s Laura. How can Jackman be playing Wolverine again when his character already died?
That’s a question we assume the movie will answer. But most likely, this isn’t the same version seen in Logan. That movie’s ending probably remains intact. Jackman is presumably instead playing a variant from an alternate universe where he failed the X-Men and now drowns his sorrows in alcohol. The world may have written off this Wolverine, but Deadpool still sees potential in him.
It’s not surprising that this is the route Marvel took, considering the reverence fans and filmmakers alike hold for Logan. In fact, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige initially cautioned Jackman against returning at all. Jackman obviously changed his mind, but it seems likely that Deadpool & Wolverine will go out of its way not to undo the character’s heroic sacrifice. This is a different take on the concept of an aging, disillusioned Wolverine finding his heroic groove again. And unlike past versions of the character, this Wolverine is finally wearing the iconic blue and yellow costume.
It’s also worth pointing out that, based on the trailers, we’ll be seeing several variants of both Deadpool and Wolverine in this movie, as the film takes full advantage of the multiverse and its many alternate worlds. That’s in addition to the numerous cameos of past X-Men movie characters, some of whom have already been revealed in the various trailers.
The Time Variance Authority and The Void
The Time Variance Authority is one of the most significant elements introduced during the Multiverse Saga so far. As established in the Loki series, the TVA is tasked with policing the branching timelines of the Marvel multiverse, pruning what needs to be eliminated and ensuring the overall health of the multiverse.
Initially, however, the TVA was a more antagonistic force in the MCU. In the first season of Loki, the TVA was charged with pruning all branching timelines and ensuring the continued existence of a single “Sacred Timeline” – a.k.a. the universe that pretty much all your favorite MCU movies have been set in up until that point. This plan was orchestrated by a Kang variant known as He Who Remains. Having seen the damage wrought when his other selves declared war on one another, He Who Remains secretly worked to eliminate the multiverse and prevent that war from occurring. In his mind, better to have one universe and one Kang than risk existence itself.
For better or worse, that’s no longer the case. He Who Remains is dead, the multiverse has been restored, and the TVA no longer fights to maintain a single Sacred Timeline. The organization has a more benevolent mandate thanks to Loki’s heroic actions. Deadpool & Wolverine sees TVA Agent Paradox (Matthew Macfayden) recruit Wade Wilson to help stop a threat to the multiverse. Why he needs Deadpool rather than a more traditional superhero remains to be seen, but it may have something to do with the fact that Wade Wilson can break the fourth wall and knows he’s inside a movie.
You might be wondering what happens to people and timelines that are pruned by the TVA. That was a big plot point in Loki, and it’s going to be equally important in Deadpool & Wolverine. Pruned people and objects are banished to a realm known as The Void. The Void is a giant wasteland where the relics of dead timelines are left to either rot or be consumed by a giant monster called Alioth. As seen in Loki: Season 1, several versions of Loki himself became trapped in The Void.
In Deadpool & Wolverine, it seems we’ll discover that many more heroes and villains have found themselves marooned in The Void. The two heroes will encounter a ragtag group of villains led by Professor Xavier’s twin sister Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin). It could be that the entire Fox X-Men universe has been pruned from the multiverse and consigned to the literal dust heap of existence. This is one of many ways in which the very self-aware Deadpool & Wolverine will acknowledge the inner workings of Marvel Studios and the fact that the Fox-verse has been supplanted by the MCU.
Ultimately, Deadpool & Wolverine is about these two heroes’ quest to fulfill their mission from the TVA and overcome the obstacles posed by Cassandra Nova and her team. We wouldn’t be surprised if Cassandra herself turns out to be the architect of this Wolverine’s misery. This version of Logan couldn’t save his fellow X-Men, but he might just save the entire multiverse instead. You have to love a good redemption story.
For more on Deadpool, Wolverine, and the state of the MCU, brush up on every Marvel movie and show in development and learn why Marvel needs a new Wolverine.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
