Spoiler Warning: This story discusses all sorts of major story details, including post-credits scenes, in Marvel Studios' “Deadpool & Wolverine,” currently in theaters.
Throughout “Deadpool & Wolverine,” Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth reveals things the Marvel Cinematic Universe has never seen before: copious blood and gore, flamboyant vulgarity, gleeful references to drug use, and exaggerated descriptions of male-on-male sex.
Perhaps most surprisingly, Deadpool’s self-deprecating sarcasm is nowhere more acute than when he enters the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which may be the best thing that has happened to Marvel at this point in its history.
After Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) welcomes Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to the MCU, he adds that this is happening at a “low point” for Marvel, in a pointed reference to the studio’s ill-fated 2023. Later, Deadpool bemoans the multiverse and how disappointing it has been as a narrative engine for the MCU post-“Endgame.” The film even finds time to fit in a joke about how impossible it is for Marvel to bring “Blade” back to theaters, thanks to one of the best cameos in “Deadpool & Wolverine”: In his return to the iconic role, Wesley Snipes declares not only that there has only ever been one Blade, but that there will only ever be one Blade. He is One blade.
Part of what makes the MCU so beloved is how often its films poke fun at themselves, from Doctor Strange listening to Beyoncé to the Avengers using “Back to the Future” to argue about the mechanics of time travel. But Deadpool’s ability to break the fourth wall elevates this chutzpah to a galactic level of franchise-sustaining mentality: These jokes work best if you’re deeply invested in the MCU and superhero cinema as a whole, but they also provide a space for audiences who find phrases like “sacred timeline” a bit silly to enjoy them, too.
In other words, Deadpool is a Marvel fan — and you have to be to understand why it’s so funny to ask Channing Tatum to play Gambit. He’s making fun of the MCU just because he cares so much about being part of the Marvel family, to the point where his film is an adult-only love letter to why audiences have been loyal to superheroes for so long. After two years of bad headlines (and some even worse ones for some), not just for Marvel but for comic book adaptations in general, audiences needed a reminder that it’s okay to enjoy a superhero movie. By poking fun at superheroes, Deadpool & Wolverine makes superheroes fun again.
That dedication translates to the film’s ending: Rather than interrupt it with a teaser for what’s coming next in the MCU, Reynolds and director Shawn Levy have assembled a montage of behind-the-scenes footage from every Marvel movie 20th Century Fox has ever produced, set to Green Day’s classic song “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).” There’s footage from the sets of the “X-Men” movies, the “Deadpool” movies, the “Wolverine” movies, the “Blade” movies, the “Daredevil” movies, the “Elektra” movies, the “Fantastic Four” movies—yes, even the objectively terrible 2015 remake.
We see a quick interview with Reynolds during the press tour for 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” where he almost sheepishly admits that he feels “a kind of kinship” with Waid, who he read the comics as a kid. “I just thought, ‘I want to play that guy someday,’” he says. Later, Jackman, a shockingly young man in 2000’s “X-Men,” shares how “nervous” he was playing a beloved character in his first-ever movie. “Everyone was like, ‘Who is this guy?’ There was a lot of, ‘Is he going to make it?’ You could feel all that pressure,” he says.
If the post-credits scene in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is supposed to be a look into the future, this one is a serious farewell to a bygone era of superhero filmmaking, and the people who made it happen—well, the actors, basically. By the end, the scene hits heartstrings that some theatergoers may not have realized were there, and it’s a nice reminder that it’s okay to care about these characters and these kinds of stories.
As if they suddenly remembered that this is still a “Deadpool” movie, Levy and Reynolds follow up all this sweetness with a scathingly caustic chase sequence that serves as the film’s only real post-credits scene. Halfway through the film, Deadpool and Wolverine meet a group of forgotten comic book characters living in the void, the first of whom is Chris Evans as Firstly Marvel character Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four. When they are all captured and brought before the film's villain, Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), Deadpool tells Cassandra that Johnny unleashed a torrent of curses against her, which Johnny vehemently denies until Cassandra rips off all of his skin, turning him into a pile of blood, bone and muscle.
After all the action is over, Deadpool reappears to declare, “I'm sick of these nasty rumors that I got Johnny killed,” and then calls up footage of Johnny first explaining to Deadpool and Wolverine who Cassandra is.
“[She’s] “She’s a psychopathic, finger-licking, fairie-slapping, third-rate nut milk seller,” Johnny says, “and I’ll tell you what she can do…”
“I'm listening,” Deadpool interrupted.
“She could lick my fucking cinnamon ring clean and kick rocks all the way to hell,” Johnny says. “I actually don’t care if she rips all my skin off and blows me up like a nightmare blood balloon. If the last thing I do in this damned, cum-filled life is set this sodomy box on fire, I’m not going to die happy anyway.”
“Oh my god, you're crazy, girl,” Deadpool says.
“That’s right,” Johnny replies, more than happy to have the chance to vent his anger openly. “I won’t be happy until I’ve pissed on her freshly roasted corpse and had sex with the charred remains while I gargle with Juggernaut shit.”
“Wow,” Deadpool says.
“And you can quote me.”
This, in other words, is the post-credits scene, a charming and disgusting one, cleansing the palate of the unhealthy pressure Marvel places on itself to tease new stories that may never see the light of day. Interestingly, Deadpool—who already parodied post-credits scenes in 2016’s Deadpool—never parodies them in Deadpool & Wolverine. It’s pretty much the only thing in the MCU that Deadpool doesn’t parody. He doesn't do it. In fact, that was the reference in this movie. He even knew it was time to give them a break.
