Is Deadpool really Marvel Jesus? Although it sounds like a typical OTT boast from Wade Wilson, the nickname the Merc with the Mouth gives himself in Deadpool & Wolverine may actually be entirely accurate. Not only is the character himself returning to the big screen after six years away, he’s bringing another icon back from the dead with him… And resurrecting a defunct franchise at the same time.
Yes, even more so than usual with the MCU, Deadpool 3 requires a fair amount of homework to fully appreciate, serving as it does as a love letter to Fox’s X-Men universe — which lasted a nice round 20 years before Disney hoovered the rights back. To really comprehend he cinematic weight of what it means to have Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman now playing in the Marvel Studios sandbox, these are the films you need to watch before catching DP and Wolvie’s grand comeback in theaters.
1. X-Men (2000)
Although we’re not a fan of the costumes, Bryan Signer’s original X-Men film still plays well thanks to an economical script that deftly sets up the world and its conflicts, but also doesn’t scrimp on the mutant-clashing action. Hugh Jackman — despite being too tall and fit for the role going on 20 years now — introduces audiences to Logan with the right mix of berserk energy and dry wit. Anna Paquin matches him aptly as a mutant who even other mutants fear, making her journey to find acceptance the emotional backbone of the film. But the movie really belongs to Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto, respectively. We could watch them give speeches and try to outmaneuver each other all day.
2. X2 (2002)
Singer’s X-Men sequel is another success at presenting a believable version of our real world, except with people who can teleport through walls. The action is a step up here, as the aforementioned mutant power (belonging to Alan Cumming’s wonderfully realized Nightcrawler) lends itself to a stunning opening sequence where a single mutant penetrates the Oval Office. Logan steps into more of a leadership role here, and the film serves nicely as a continuation of his story. Famka Janssen’s Jean Grey is also a standout, playing a woman afraid of her own powerful impulses while trying to steward a younger generation of mutants. The will-they-won’t-they relationship between Wolverine and Jean Grey is sort of a lynchpin for Logan’s emotional journey beyond this film, and the ending packs an emotional wallop.
3. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
Yes, this is a pretty bad movie. But it’s the first time Reynolds’ Deadpool (or at least a bizarro version of him) comes up against Jackman’s Wolverine, and it’s the foundation of half the jokes in the Deadpool franchise. X-Men Origins, as the title suggests, tells the story of Wolverine’s origin, which X2 shed more light on as well. But this entry dares to ask the question: What if we supply more information than anyone cares to know, plus make his claws look extra fake? This movie is essentially a down payment on several great jokes later on.
4. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Several years after the original X-Men trilogy, Singer returned to the franchise to direct a sequel to his original films as well as the reboot X-Men: First Class. How? Time travel. For some reason, Kitty Pride’s ability to phase through walls has evolved into an ability to phase people through time. She and some future mutants send Wolverine back to the 1970s to stop Mystique from starting the world down a path that eventually leads to mutant extinction. Wolverine doesn’t get many good action scenes here, but Jackman is better than ever when called upon to lead a younger, bitter Professor X (James McAvoy) back to the mindset of his former (and future) self. The student becomes the teacher, basically, in one of the coolest, most epic movies in Logan’s canon.
3. Deadpool (2016)
Surprising everyone who laughed Ryan Reynolds’ first attempt at the character off the screen, Deadpool works in every conceivable way. The jokes land, the action impresses, there’s plenty of real pathos, and the movie is as foul-mouthed as its marketing campaign promised. Several jokes in here still make us blush (“Happy International Women’s Day, baby”). This is what the fourth-wall-breaking character should look like, move like, and talk like — which retroactively makes us appreciate X-Men Origins as a strange cultural artifact that was hilariously off the mark in every way.
2. Logan (2017)
Logan is a film with a capital “F.” James Mangold’s closer to the Wolverine trilogy — including X-Men Origins and his own first sequel, The Wolverine — takes place in the future, but not the same one as Days of Future Past. This one is just as bleak, but the film takes inspiration from old Westerns, ensuring the sun-baked soil and free-running horses get just as much attention as the fistfights. It’s somewhere between The Dark Knight and a Cormac McCarthy novel, so don’t turn it on hoping to smile. The movie is surely one of the best superhero films ever made, but it can be a tough watch for how unrelentingly bleak it is. Why are we recommending it? Because we — and Jackman himself — were convinced this was the end of Logan’s journey for years. Until he made the surprise decision to suit up for Deadpool 3.
1. Deadpool 2 (2018)
Deadpool 2 is the most recent film in the storyline, so it should be the one you watch immediately before the threequel. It also lampoons the ending of Logan, so you should definitely watch that one and have a good cry before Reynolds turns it all into a farce. But again, it works. Deadpool 2 is arguably even funnier than the first film. It once again boasts some great action, along with a beating heart underneath all the filthy jokes. And the ending is an absolute riot, opening the narrative up to the limitless, multiversal canvas that Deadpool & Wolverine operates on (even if some of the sheer quality may have got lost in translation).