The Marvel Cinematic Universe, in its latter-day phases (we are currently midway through the fifth), sometimes seems less like an entertainment franchise and more like a sociological experiment conducted by Harvard University to see how many times a fictional world can fold in on itself, like a multibillion-dollar cootie-catcher. By extension, Deadpool catches mad MCU cooties in the hyper-self-referential first trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine as he enters Disney’s superhero empire. There’s an extended bit about what Kevin Feige, the head of the MCU, will allow Deadpool to say about cocaine, for instance. That energy slots right in with the Deadpool meta-humor ethos, best shown by Deadpool asking Logan, “Want to talk about what’s haunting you, or should we wait for a third-act flashback?†Set over a slowed-down version of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer,†the trailer is giving exactly what Deadpool fans need: action mixed with a healthy dosage of Ryan Reynolds saying “I’m so wet right now.â€
The previous two Deadpool films came out under 20th Century Fox prior to Disney fully acquiring the studio in 2019, so they existed alongside the mainline X-Men films as Marvel adaptations in a separate Marvel-based cinematic universe. There, the character was allowed to be his foulmouthed, irreverent self and to commit hard-R violence, giving the movies a shaggier, edgier tone than the films of the MCU machine. Deadpool & Wolverine will be Disney’s and MCU’s first R-rated film, as Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine (who went full R-level, realistic violence in 2017’s Logan) is also ported over to the new CU. Deadpool & Wolverine comes out on July 26 — a big year for beasts fighting.
This post has been updated.