Though we\u2019ve all poked fun at 20th Century Fox\u2019s old X-Men<\/em> films<\/a> for the dubious wigs and middling stories that became rules rather than exceptions, the franchise played a significant role in defining the modern comic book movie genre. Without the live-action, leather-clad mutants of the early aughts and their box office success, Marvel Studios might not exist as we know it today. And for years, the ironic thing about the MCU as a project was how complicated rights issues<\/a> kept Disney from being able to use some of Marvel\u2019s most iconic IP.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Having access to the X-Men didn\u2019t guarantee that many of the Marvel-branded cape features Fox released through the early aughts were particularly good. But it allowed the studio to take chances on Deadpool <\/em>and Logan, <\/em>two films whose freshness felt, at least in part, rooted in their being created outside of the Disney machine<\/a>. Marvel\u2019s desire for that kind of novelty is self-evident in director Shawn Levy\u2019s Deadpool & Wolverine<\/em> \u2014 the studio\u2019s first R-rated film and major X-Men vehicle. But for all of its big-ticket fan service and willingness to poke fun at how much of a drag the MCU\u2019s become, Deadpool & Wolverine <\/em>feels like a sign that the days of genuinely exciting Marvel movies might just be behind us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As a fourth wall-breaking character familiar with the haphazard way he made it to the big screen, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) has always been aware of the MCU\u2019s existence and the legal reasons he couldn\u2019t be a part of it. Much like Deadpool & Wolverine<\/em>\u2019s target audience, though, Wade keeps up with the industry trades, and news of Disney\u2019s Fox acquisition has left him thinking differently about himself as the film first opens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s not exactly that Wade\u2019s unhappy in his quiet, post-Deadpool 2<\/em><\/a> <\/em>life working as a car salesman with Peter (Rob Delaney), living with Blind Al (Leslie Uggams). He\u2019s comfortable occasionally hanging out with the X-Men\u2019s Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) and Colossus (Stefan Kapi\u010di\u0107), the same way he\u2019s cool just being friends with his ex-fiancee Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). It\u2019s just that now that Wade knows he\u2019s in play, he can\u2019t help but feel like he could be doing more <\/em>with himself if Kevin Feige let him become an Avenger<\/a> like Captain America or Thor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Deadpool & Wolverine<\/em> assumes you\u2019re so invested in the MCU that simply mentioning Loki<\/em>\u2019s Time Variance Authority is enough to make the new film\u2019s fiddly ties to the Disney Plus show make sense. But for more casual viewers \u2014 those who only check in for Marvel\u2019s bigger events \u2014 the connections will be much less clear. The way the movie hurriedly introduces TVA agent Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) just minutes into its first act to explain the importance of one universe\u2019s Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) feels likely to muddle what\u2019s going on, rather than clarify how Deadpool & Wolverine <\/em>is supposed to fit into the larger picture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Though Fox\u2019s Deadpool <\/em>movies were anything but grounded, there was a cohesion that made it easy to understand how characters got from point A to point B and what motivated them to do the things they did. Here, Wade spends quite a bit of time mugging to the camera about how excited he is to finally be in Disneyland cursing up a storm like an overeager teen new to the art of profanity. But the sheer number of dick jokes and digs at Marvel\u2019s flops play like an ineffective distraction from how little story there is to latch onto as Wade dives into the multiverse in search of a Wolverine variant suitable to serve as the \u201canchor being\u201d a dying reality needs to survive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Very few of Deadpool & Wolverine<\/em>\u2019s small gags are funny enough to elicit laughter, but the movie feels like it\u2019s onto something promising with its metatextual send-up of how prominent a part of the X-Men Wolverine became as a result of Fox\u2019s films. Logan-centric movies like X-Men Origins: Wolverine <\/em>and The Wolverine<\/em><\/a> <\/em>were part of what turned the franchise into an unintentional joke<\/a> and made it surprising that Deadpool <\/em>wound up working so well. But as accurate as Wade\u2019s assessments of Fox\u2019s missteps are, they ring somewhat hollow coming from a Feige-produced project given how Marvel Studios built the MCU with a very similar approach that positioned characters like Captain America and Iron Man as its load-bearing centerpieces.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Image: Jay Maidment \/ Marvel Studios<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Deadpool & Wolverine <\/em>stops short of blaming Fox\u2019s downfall on the popularity of Jackman\u2019s Wolverine. But it\u2019s an idea that\u2019s baked into the essence of the blue and yellow-clad Logan<\/a> variant who \u2014 relatably \u2014 spends most of the film seething about wanting to be left alone. And while the movie winds up being unexpectedly lacking in the way of big action set pieces, it gives Jackman just enough space to demonstrate emotionally why his older performances as Logan made it seem like there might never be a role quite so perfectly cast.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Something similar can be said for Reynolds whose latest outing as Wade is\u2026 annoying, but pitch-perfect for the character as he reckons with the reality of not exactly being the gravitational center of his own film. But whereas Jackman (the duo\u2019s straight man) is well positioned to shine as the film moves between its comedic and dramatic modes, those tonal shifts often leave Reynolds feeling somewhat one note. It\u2019s as if all Marvel\u2019s really comfortable letting Deadpool do is point out something that\u2019s just happened onscreen and tell you why it\u2019s hilarious.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n