Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) introduced the now-popular multiverse concept into the iconic film franchise—at the time that Marvel was at its best. Hints of the MCU multiverse were left in movies such as Doctor Strange (2016), but the first full development occurred in Avengers: Endgame (2019). While the multiverse until that point was peripheral to the stories of beloved characters in the MCU (such as Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor) the films following the climactic and box-office-shattering conclusion to the Infinity Saga used the multiverse as a means of fan service; this ultimately eclipsed strong storytelling and supposed long-term plans for the MCU. Despite receiving claps of praise and gasps of surprise from first-time viewers, films like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) set a tragic precedent that most multiverse superhero films would—and likely will—follow for years.
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) is the multiverse treatment’s latest victim.
In my initial review, I wrote that Deadpool & Wolverine follows the same formula that The Flash (2023) did: It offers an overwhelming amount of fan service, realizing long-lost dreams for superheroes’ on-screen depictions, but lets the writing and plot development bleed out in the process.
Sure, it was cool to see a Nic Cage Superman (despite how bad the CGI looked), the introduction of Wally West and other iconic Flash characters into the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), but the story was lacking. So, too, with Multiverse of Madness. Seeing iterations of Captain Carter, Black Bolt, Charles Xavier, and Reed Richards was exciting, if only for a moment until Sam Raimi stepped in and killed their MCU futures in characteristic fashion.
And while I’d argue that Spider-Man: No Way Home had the best execution of a multiverse movie so far, it still followed the same format as the others (minus all the death).
Deadpool & Wolverine does this as well, but with a higher self-awareness than its predecessors as the fourth-wall-breaker acknowledges how bad most multiverse movies are these days: “we should just take the L,” he states as hundreds of multiverse Deadpools pour out of portals to fight him and Wolverine. Sure, (spoilers ahead), it was a cool chance to get Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’s kids into the film and become a happy little Deadpool family, but the other characters—Elektra, Blade, and Gambit—mostly die or are assumed dead.
The feeling after the otherworldly dust settles is that one of the biggest companies in movies decided to give devoted comics fans what they want in exchange for another massive paycheck. No matter that the stories are just copy-pasting the last four years of superhero movies; as long as the Merc with the Mouth is pointing and smirking at the bad writing, it’s meta enough to be funny.
At the end of this movie, they literally just survive based on (last chance to skip this paragraph before spoilers) hand-holding and Madonna. After spending hours on chokingly annoying expositional dialogue about the TVA’s control of time and space, the science of the machine Cassandra Nova uses, and the ways in which the lost planet influences the multiverse, the climactic moment of the film is no science and all fiction, zero sense and just another opportunity for a joke.
It’s all quite dissatisfying, isn’t it?
The balance between making money on blockbuster movies and telling good stories is often hard to strike, especially when the project is the introduction of Deadpool into the MCU, with massive potential for humor and surprise. The reveals are fun; for a movie that relies almost entirely on cameos (and, of course, Deadpool dancing to “Bye Bye Bye”), that’s enough for a good first watch. But it shirks the possibilities of the multiverse. Instead of using it to bring about possibilities of characters and storylines, it uses it to fan-cast heroes with no requirement to return to the movies—lookin’ at you, John Krasinski.
That’s why I loved Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). Not only did it do the multiverse very well, but it wasn’t bent on providing longtime comics fans with the impossible appearances they’ve waited decades for. It builds the multiverse for the sake of the story, not for the opportunity to shock fans with a startling new casting of Reed Richards. It delves into the weirdness the multiverse can offer and explores worlds. Marvel’s multiverse seems bent on creating planets run by FOX and Disney—not their own economies and natures and morals—and in which Chris Evans played the Human Torch for his entire acting career. It’s meta but all too commercial.
So, what then?
I’d venture to say we’re not going to get truly substantive multiverse stories from the MCU, or even Disney. It’s a matter of valuing storytelling over selling. And that’s something that Disney can’t seem to understand. Their goal for the last few years has been to churn out as much content (be it Star Wars, MCU, or Pixar) as possible to satisfy their supposedly insatiable fans—and the result was superhero movie fatigue.
For Forbes, Mark Hughes writes:
Is audience rejection of superhero cinema this past year really as simple a problem as “too many of the movies were mid, and the top brand (Marvel) put out too much stuff?” Yes, it is. And that’s not a shocking conclusion, nor is it a surprise — folks have been saying the movies need to be better to regain audience interest, and that there was too much of it.
So many great opportunities arose with the introduction of the multiverse into the MCU, but it’s worth acknowledging that for the most part, Disney dropped the ball. The fix would be a better long-term plan for the MCU—I know there are still phases leading up to Avengers: Secret Wars—which doesn’t include seemingly incoherent appearances of multiverse heroes (and villains) that almost immediately die off.
Despite being the highest-grossing Deadpool movie and the most anticipated of the anti-hero’s films, Deadpool & Wolverine entered the MCU in characteristic Disney fashion, falling in line with other multiverse movies that offered some fun ideas which probably won’t last after the credits roll.
If it hasn’t happened yet, it won’t just be superhero movie fatigue that everyone feels, but multiverse movie fatigue.
It’s time to tell good stories again.