Deadpool & Wolverine: Marvel Jesus, potty mouths and bloody cameos – discuss with spoilers

The satirical superhero match-up broke rules and box office records, but what kind of Marvel cinematic universe has it left us with?

Major spoilers ahead

Deadpool & Wolverine is such a strange beast of a movie that some critics have suggested it may not even be a film at all – which rather begs the question, what exactly is it? An extended satirical comedy skit, like something you’d see on Saturday Night Live, but running more than two hours? A meta-infused, sarcastic diatribe against the entire superhero genre? A buddy movie featuring two middle-aged men in tight costumes who really should know better?

The reality is that Shawn Levy’s film is all of these things, and possibly not a lot more. The Marvel films are by their nature a little throwaway and made-in-the-moment, but this one feels so gossamer-thin that if you remove all the superhero tomfoolery, drug and sex japes, manic fourth wall breaking and endless, often rather pointless cameos, there is really very little left. Audiences from the future looking back at this one in 2045 might wonder exactly how Ryan Reynolds and his team got away with delivering something so flimsy and slight to the door of Marvel’s president, Kevin Feige. And yet it’s an undeniably entertaining romp that will no doubt deliver gazillions in box office greenbacks, just when Disney really needs them.