Deadpool & Wolverine Details That Mean More Than You Realized
Secret cameos, franchise callbacks, and the worst feet you've ever seen: Here are some of the hidden secrets fans have noticed in Deadpool & Wolverine.
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00:00Secret cameos, franchise callbacks, and the worst feat you've ever seen.
00:05Here are some of the hidden secrets fans have noticed in Deadpool and Wolverine.
00:10When Wade Wilson is whisked away to the Time Variance Authority and makes the assessment
00:15that he's, in his words, Marvel Jesus, he makes a quick joke about the balance of power changing in
00:21the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's a meta nod to Reynolds' Red Notice co-star, Dwayne Johnson,
00:26and the big game Johnson talked about his impact on the DCEU.
00:30"...the hierarchy of power in the DC Universe is about to change."
00:36That prediction did end up coming true, of course, just not in the way Johnson wanted.
00:40Black Adam bombed at the box office, and Johnson's attempt to take control of DC was squashed
00:46when James Gunn and Peter Safran became the co-heads of the film company.
00:50That's not the only time Deadpool and Wolverine takes a swipe at DC.
00:54When Henry Cavill briefly shows up as a variant of Wolverine,
00:57Deadpool takes great pains to reassure him that Marvel will treat him better than DC ever did.
01:02This, of course, is a reference to Cavill's time as Superman, which didn't end well.
01:08Deadpool goes through an extensive casting pool when auditioning replacement Logans,
01:12and some are more promising than others. One that doesn't quite have the X Factor
01:17is a Wolverine crucified on a St. Andrew's cross in a nightmarish landscape of bloody skulls.
01:23When this variant fails the witty banter test by groaning in agony instead of firing off insults,
01:28Deadpool decides to leave the crucified Wolverine to his fate.
01:31How did that particular Wolverine end up in such a predicament? It's actually the work
01:36of Donald Pierce, the bionic armed enforcer who was played by Boyd Holbrook in Logan.
01:41The striking image of the crucified Wolverine is based on Mark Silvestri
01:45and Dan Green's artwork for the cover of Uncanny X-Men number 251.
01:50In this issue of the comics, Logan is being tortured by Pierce and his gang of Reavers,
01:55and experiences feverish visions as a result. If you have lingering concerns about this particular
02:00Wolverine, rest assured that, in the comic, he does eventually get rescued.
02:05After Deadpool and Wolverine confront Cassandra Nova at A Lair in the Void,
02:09she offers them a means of escape by putting on a sling ring, creating a portal in the sky,
02:14and letting the two men leap through it to travel back to their proper timeline.
02:18Before they go, Cassandra casually makes a reference to procuring the sling ring
02:23by murdering a sorcerer, with the strong implication being that she has killed the
02:27Sorcerer Supreme himself, or at least a version of him. The multiverse saga has shown that there
02:32are a seemingly infinite number of variants of these characters wandering around in different
02:37universes, so it seems pretty clear at first that the version of Doctor Strange that Cassandra may
02:42have dispatched was not the one we've been following in the MCU thus far. But while her
02:46description is vague enough that it could be referring to any sorcerer, the fact that Cassandra
02:51appears to have the Cloak of Levitation stored in her lair suggests that it really was Strange
02:55who bit the dust.
02:57So much happens in this movie that a lot of stuff can easily get lost in the background.
03:01For example, some people might not have noticed that Liefeld's Jess Feet store in the background
03:06during the film's climactic battle with all of the Deadpool variants. This is in reference to
03:10Rob Liefeld, the co-creator of Deadpool in the pages of Marvel Comics. More than that, though,
03:16it's a loving jab at his career as an artist. Liefeld is a very accomplished artist, but over
03:21the years, he has been mocked online for his depiction of feet in his work. Oftentimes,
03:26he seems to outright avoid drawing feet because, when he does, it can get a little… weird.
03:31So the film team decided to give Liefeld a knowing nod in the film. After the film's release,
03:35Liefeld himself said,
03:37"...I was laughing hysterically when the Marvel business affairs people called me.
03:41They were laughing too."
03:43Loki may have bagged a multiversal variant played by Richard E. Grant,
03:46but Deadpool has one-upped the god of mischief by assembling a whole army of variant cameos.
03:52What did you expect?
03:53Take Ladypool, for example, who is played by Reynolds' real-life wife, Blake Lively.
03:57The Nuclearpool family also includes the foul-mouthed Kidpool,
04:01voiced by Reynolds and Lively's daughter, Inez Reynolds, and the tiny Babypool,
04:06whose giggle comes courtesy of their youngest son, Olin. Meanwhile, Cowboypool speaks with
04:11the familiar Texan twang of Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey. The disembodied Headpool
04:16is played by Nathan Fillion in his fourth minor Marvel Cinematic Universe role.
04:20There's also a fun cameo for fans of Reynolds' reality series Welcome to Wrexham
04:24among the non-speaking Deadpools, as Wrexham-forward Paul Mullen plays Welchpool.
04:29One of the miscellaneous Deadpools is even played by Harry Holland,
04:32brother of Spider-Man actor Tom Holland.
04:35Henry Cavill's cameo as a version of Wolverine from the Marvel multiverse,
04:38aka the Calverine, was one of the biggest crowd-pleasing moments in Deadpool and Wolverine.
04:43But the cameo itself isn't the only Easter egg in the scene,
04:47as it also includes a callback to a moment from 2018's Mission Impossible, Fallout.
04:51As Wade is making his trip through the multiverse trying to find a suitable Wolverine replacement,
04:56he stumbles upon Cavill's version of the character. Rather quickly,
05:00he angrily attacks Wade with his signature claws. However, Cavill's character does so
05:05in a unique manner, seemingly loading his arms for maximum effort. This is very much like what
05:10he did in the bathroom scene from Fallout, where he gets up after a beatdown, shakes it off,
05:15and reloads his arms before going back for more.
05:18Few blockbusters require their target demographics to remain on their toes nearly as much as Deadpool
05:23and Wolverine does, seeing as it lets loose with countless pop culture references and jokes
05:27practically every other minute. Certainly, few fans could hope to compete with Deadpool's vast,
05:32encyclopedic knowledge of every stray piece of entertainment under the sun,
05:36from Gossip Girl to Avril Lavigne to NSYNC. But one particular example of this arrives at the
05:42most unexpected of moments, no less than the emotional climax of the entire story.
05:47This one's for the Trekkies out there. During the third act, Deadpool and Wolverine realize
05:51that one of them must sacrifice themselves in order to destroy Mr. Paradox's Time Ripper device
05:56and save the entire multiverse from Cassandra Nova's sinister schemes.
06:00After a little back and forth, Logan presents an awfully compelling case for why he should be the
06:05one to redeem himself, through a big, heroic sacrifice. It appears as if Wade has resigned
06:10himself to this, too, until he pulls the ultimate switcheroo, incapacitates his buddy, and takes
06:16his place as the one to go out in a blaze of glory. While many will undoubtedly think of a
06:20similar scene in Michael Bay's disaster epic Armageddon, Deadpool hangs a lampshade on this
06:25by outright re-enacting Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan, and calling attention to his parallels
06:30with Spock's famous death scene.
06:35This moment is both hilarious and heartbreaking, though there is the unavoidable reality that their
06:40combined regeneration abilities allow them to skirt any actual consequences. But hey,
06:45that's basically what happens with Spock anyway, so maybe Deadpool knew exactly what he was doing
06:50after all. If there were any doubts that Hugh Jackman might have a career after the first time
06:55he retired as Wolverine, The Greatest Showman laid them to rest. Released in theaters nine
07:00months after Jackman's X-Men met his maker in Logan, director Michael Gracey's musical suffered
07:05a slow start at the box office and tepid reviews, many of which showered praise on the movie's song
07:10and dance numbers while condemning its sugarcoating of real-life con artist P.T. Barnum. It soon
07:16overcame these issues, however, to become a crowd-pleasing commercial success. The movie
07:21itself is everything that Deadpool and Wolverine is not, a squeaky-clean romp for the whole family
07:26devoid of bad language, innuendo, or any sort of graphic violence. So, of course, Jackman,
07:32Ryan Reynolds, and company had to take the mickey out of it at some point. At one point in the movie,
07:36Logan verbally rips Wade a new one in addressing down the likes of which haven't been seen since
07:41Steve Martin tore into John Candy in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. After this, the two
07:46proceed to beat each other to a pulp inside the Honda Odyssey lent to them by Niceball.
07:51After Wade sucker-punches Logan, his clawed companion thwaps the merc with a mouth several
07:56times in the face before slamming his head against the car's infotainment system, briefly causing
08:01the Greatest Show from The Greatest Showman to play. Things only get worse from there,
08:05as the titular duo stab, slash, and otherwise pummel each other, reducing the vehicle around
08:10them to little more than a pile of blood-stained metal and glass. And this isn't the only reference
08:15to The Greatest Showman in the movie, either. Look closely during the portal scene, and you'll
08:19notice a Deadpool variant dressed as P.T. Barnum. Despite Deadpool's reputation as Marvel's biggest
08:25rule-breaker, even this loudmouthed, fourth-wall-breaking hero has his limits.
08:30Deadpool and Wolverine includes a surprising amount of shots fired directly at 20th Century Fox,
08:35Kevin Feige, and pretty much everyone in between. But while one additional reference
08:40provided one of the movie's biggest throwaway laughs, there was a little more going on beneath
08:44the surface for those who know their behind-the-scenes trivia. The moment comes when
08:48Wade and Logan are driving alongside in the Void after one of their many, many arguments.
08:53In order to pass the time during their journey, Deadpool begins acting like a child,
08:57and making annoying thwip noises and gestures to entertain himself. Even the most casual of
09:03moviegoers could likely pick up on the reference to Spider-Man, Marvel's crown jewel of a character.
09:08But what fans could certainly appreciate is the likely reason this was left unsaid,
09:12because legally speaking, not even Ryan Reynolds could get away with name-dropping
09:17our favorite webhead without the expressed, written consent of Sony Pictures. Deadpool
09:22might have been able to fit seamlessly into the MCU by virtue of Disney absorbing Fox,
09:27but the same doesn't hold true for Spidey.