Is there another superhero out there who’s able to break the fourth wall like Wade Wilson?
Ahead of the release of Deadpool 2, Ryan Reynolds’ irreverent, gun-toting mercenary took jabs at Disney, Josh Brolin, Céline Dion (!) and even the DC Extended Universe. And that’s just the promotional campaign we’re talking about.
Because in the film itself, the Merc with a Mouth takes aim at a lot more, including famous celebrities, fictional characters, Fortune 500 companies, etc. In David Leitch’s sequel, everything was fair game, including Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. And while most of the jabs at the Avengers are pretty easy to spot, there was one which most seemed to have missed, until now.
In the final act, we see DP, Domino (Zazie Beetz), and Cable (Josh Brolin) squaring off against the Juggernaut. However, it quickly becomes clear that they’re going to need some help if they’re to take him down. Lucky for them, Colossus (Stefan Kapicic), Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), and Yukio (Shioli Kutsana) arrive to lend a hand. It’s at this point that Wade “tags them into the fight” and says to Colossus, “Go get ’em, tiger!”
Of course, we don’t need to tell you that this is a reference to the wall-crawler, and specifically, the film Spider-Man 2, where Mary Jane says it to Peter Parker. There’s not much significance to it besides that, but it’s a nice nod to a character that the Merc’s often associated with and is yet another fun easter egg to pick up on in a movie that’s packed to the brim with them.
Deadpool 2 is now playing in theaters everywhere and with a $604.2 million gross under its belt, the future looks extremely bright for DP at the moment. True, a third solo outing may not be a sure thing, but Wade Wilson will be back for that X-Force spinoff we keep hearing so much about. And beyond that? Well, we can’t say for sure, but with these kind of numbers, expect to see a lot more of the anti-hero in the years to come.