The third installment in the Deadpool franchise, appropriately named Deadpool and Wolverine after featuring Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, has officially been named as the beginning of the mutants story in the MCU by Kevin Feige himself. Beyond the obvious things like a huge projected box office performance and a boost in fan reception that Marvel desperately needs, this movie is Marvel’s power play for the MCU. Those mutant breadcrumbs that we’ve gotten through characters like Kamala and Namor will be nothing compared to what this movie does both for the mutants’ introduction into the MCU and the MCU as a whole. While the mutants future is rumored to be clear after watching the movie, let’s get into the expansion of the MCU Deadpool and Wolverine could bring and why it is Marvel’s power play.

First and foremost, it could and already is looking to bridge multiple storylines. The trailers have already made it clear that there is overlap with other properties, specifically Loki with the appearance of TVA agents and cameos from both the original and rebooted Fox X-Men series. Yet, beyond that, the Multiverse is what is going to allow Deadpool and Wolverine to hopefully make their official migration into the 616 timeline, making them fair game for crossovers with all of the heroes already established in that timeline. The crossover could explore several other universes, allowing for new storylines and characters to appear. Additionally, new villains and heroes can emerge, unseen before in the MCU, specifically the X-Men characters and some of their more interesting villains, such as Mister Sinister or a new attempt at Apocalypse.

Additionally, the movie gives Marvel the opportunity to paint a new thematic depth for themselves. While movies such as Infinity War and Endgame strongly went a different direction in some respects, and newer properties like Moon Knight and MoM also attempted new genres, characters like Deadpool and Wolverine naturally open the door to exploring darker themes. Both characters offer more mature themes through their background and Deadpool already has two R-rated movies out there, while Wolverine has one. This more mature theme can help to push the MCU to explore more series storylines, helping to balance some of the usual, more lighthearted tone.

Likely the best reason that this movie is the MCU’s power play is because it is increasing market and fan engagement. The movie hasn’t even come out yet, but all anyone can talk about is Deadpool and Wolverine. Wolverine, being one of the most famous mutant characters and storylines, helps to bring fourth a renewed interest in the mutant storylines, which fell off quite a bit, especially after the release of Dark Phoenix in 2019. With X-Men ’97 also coming out earlier this year, the mutants have been running conversations across various fan platforms since February. Yet the film also is engaging to diverse audiences, as for a long time, mutant fans were left with the Fox franchises take on the famous comic book characters. Those who prefer the X-Men now have a reason to see this specific Marvel movie, along with fans of Deadpool, who many fell in love with through his first movie, superhero fan or not. The broad appeal of the mutants and Deadpool helps to boost the appeal to not just this movie outside of the MCU but the MCU as a whole to those who may not have heavily followed it before.

The upcoming Deadpool and Wolverine movie crossover has the potential to expand the MCU beyond anything viewers have seen before through the bridging of multiple storylines, offering deeper themes to explore and expanding the viewership pool. While so much rides on the future of the MCU through this movie, Deadpool and Wolverine for MCU fans also means many doors are being opened dealing with the Multiverse that many fans have been waiting for since the beginning of Phase 4. At this point, there is nothing left to do as we all are left waiting and counting down the final days until Deadpool and Wolverine makes it’s official big screen debut, this Friday.

Image: “Deadpool and Wolverine”, Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly