Deadpool 2 is finally here and while the film may only vaguely connect to the massive X-Men franchise, that's fine, because Deadpool is actually a cinematic universe all its own. In a new promo for the brand new sequel, Deadpool himself looks back on Phase One of the Deadpool Cinematic Universe, all two movies of it. Check it out.
To be fair, it has taken a decade for Deadpool to get two movies out into the world, but that's mostly due to the false start that was X-Men: Origins - Wolverine and the fact that the studio refused to greenlight a standalone movie for so long. The clip even makes reference to the leaked test footage, which went viral on the internet, leading to such a groundswell of support that Fox was forced to take another look at the project, and eventually let it happen. Deadpool says he would never have believed 10 years ago that three would be a "two movie universe" at this point, and as funny as the comment is, it's probably entirely true. 10 years ago there seemed to be little chance of a Deadpool movie actually happening, much less a sequel.
Of course, Deadpool 2 is having a bit of fun with the entire "cinematic universe" concept. It's become such a big part of comic book movies that it's exactly the sort of thing that you'd expect Deadpool to make fun of. Poking other superhero movies is a big part of the fourth wall breaking humor that both the original and sequel use to great effect.
While Deadpool 2 may be making fun of cinematic universes, we'll have to wait and see if the franchise actually spawns one. While the films are at least implied to take place within the same universe as the existing X-Men films, we know that following Deadpool 2 we're going to get an X-Force movie which will see Deadpool join a team of superheroes. Once that happens, will other members of the new team get their own spinoff movies? It's certainly not implausible. There actually could end up being a second phase of the Deadpool Universe.
Until then, however, we're forced to only have two hilarious Deadpool movies to fill out our universe. If you were a fan of the first Deadpool movie is a near certainty that you're going to love the sequel. It's actually better than the original in pretty much every conceivable way. As Ryan Reynolds points out here, they even have a moderate special effects budget this time. It's enough to make Deadpool 2 feel a little more like a traditional superhero film, without making it feel too much like the blockbusters it likes to make fun of. Deadpool 2 is in theaters now.
