When it comes to Shawn Levy’s Deadpool and Wolverine, it appears that all types of material is on the table for the benefit of a joke. Ryan Reynolds has used the Deadpool series to poke fun at his career, his talents, his marriage to Blake Lively (there’s a terrific Gossip Girl joke in the opening moments of Deadpool and Wolverine), and so much more. I admire Reynolds for taking a no-holds-barred approach to comedy in the Deadpool movies, and for embracing the R-rating that allows his collaborators to fully push the envelope. You are not going to get jokes like these in too many other upcoming Marvel movies.
At the same time, I also applaud Reynolds for knowing when not to step over the line.
The latest Marvel movie Deadpool and Wolverine recently started streaming for those who have a Disney+ subscription, and it allowed me the opportunity to go back and really pay closer attention to some of my favorite scenes in the film. The cameos continued to be very amusing, and I loved the comic-book influences found in the montage of multiverse Wolverines. It was only when I got to the tracking shot sequence through the Deadpool Corps near the end of the film that I realized there is a line that Reynolds won’t cross in the name of a joke. And I admire it.
By now, you no doubt know that Reynolds’ wife, Blake Lively, played Lady Deadpool in this sequence (maybe the worst kept secret in recent MCU history). What you might not have realized is that the couple’s daughter, Inez, is the one playing Kidpool in the movie. You know, the one who tells Deadpool:
Hey! When I want your opinion, I’ll take Wolverine’s dick out of your mouth.
Amazing. Shortly after, the Deadpool Corps turns Nicepool (also Reynolds) into Swiss cheese and decimates his head. Which in turn leads Deadpool Prime and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) on an extended, and bloody, run that leads to countless Deadpool variants getting sliced, diced, shot, stabbed, and mutilated in all manner.
Do you know who isn’t part of the slaughter? Kidpool. Go back and watch the Deadpool Corps fight sequence again. You will see Kidpool in the ensemble before and after the fight. And naturally, Babypool doesn’t fight. But it seems like Reynolds and Lively determined that seeing their little daughter as part of that scrum would be too intense… even though the Deadpools don’t TECHNICALLY die, and they quickly regenerate.
And you know what? I can’t blame them. Some lines don’t need to be crossed. Even by a Marvel character who already joked about killing off baby Hitler.
Maximum effort!
Listen, don’t ask Ryan Reynolds about a possible Deadpool 4 just yet. He’s still recovering from the emotional and physical toil of making this most recent movie. We do, however, expect to see both Deadpool and Wolverine on screen when Joe and Anthony Russo step back behind the camera to film the next two Avengers movies, Doomsday (with Robert Downey Jr.) and Secret Wars. Keep it here for all of those updates.
