‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ the comic team-up of the MCU’s dreams

I am delighted to inform you that “Deadpool & Wolverine” was worth the wait. 

Fans of Ryan Reynolds’ “Deadpool” movies have been waiting since 2018 for the third installment in the series, which has faced any number of issues. The biggest of these was when Disney bought the rights to the character as part of their 20th Century Fox acquisition, threatening to tame the series so much it became unrecognizable. Reynolds fought back, determined to hold to the character’s essential nature, but even the fans knew there was only so much he could do. Surely something would be lost under the Disney umbrella, no matter how hard he tried. 

I have never been so happy to be wrong. 

“Deadpool & Wolverine” is just as brash, wild, incredibly violent and raunchy as anyone could hope for. Even better, the budget is bigger and the wealth of comic lore they’re pulling from is monumentally deeper. Wade Wilson may start the movie wanting to join the Avengers, but in the end he charges through the MCU with such cleverness and verve that they should want to join him. This is by far the best Marvel movie Disney has put out in years, an entertaining romp that puts the leaden quality of most of their other releases to shame. 

A big part of that is how much the movie clearly adores both comics and comic book-related movies. We all knew how much Reynolds loves Deadpool, but he’s clearly willing to go deep into Wolverine’s history and get all the best bits. It’s still a great movie even if you don’t know comics, or the last 30ish years of Fox’s Marvel-related movies, but if you’re knowledgeable about either then the movie becomes epic in the best possible way. A hilarious, foul-mouthed epic, true, but an epic just the same. 

If you’re a fan of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, it breathes new life into the character as well. Jackman last took on the role in 2017’s epic tragedy “Logan,” and “Deadpool & Wolverine” manages to both honor the film and poke fun at it in the same breath. (The poking fun comes mostly in the form of the most entertaining fight sequence in the movie, which requires knowing some basic qualities of Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton.) It also serves as a kind of strange happy ending for the movie, a moment which reads as gently sweet even if you’ve never seen the original film. 

It's hardly the only moment of sweetness in the movie. Anyone who watched the original “Deadpool” movie knows both Reynolds and Deadpool are capable of it, though it’s wrapped in enough sarcasm and anger issues that anyone involved would hotly deny it. Jackman’s Wolverine has always had a similar approach, though with a heavier dose of angst, and it’s just one more way the two of them prove to be excellent partners. 

If this is the last movie we get from either of them, I’ll be deeply satisfied. But I can’t help hoping that “Deadpool & Wolverine 2” is on its way.  

Grade: Four stars