Final Deadpool & Wolverine Trailer Has an Adamantium-Laced Heart
Marvel is making one last push for its only 2024 film, and this one comes from the heart. Today saw the release of the final trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine, the upcoming superhero team-up that brings Fox’s X-Men universe into the MCU, or destroys it, or maybe something completely different. Directed by Shawn Levy, Deadpool & Wolverine finds Wade Wilson recruited by the Time Variance Authority for some multiversal mission where he must join forces with Wolverine to save his world. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman return as the title characters, with Emma Corrin, Matthew MacFadyen, Morena Baccarin, Leslie Uggams, Brianna Hildebrand, Shioli Kutsuna, and Karan Soni also starring, along with a plethora of returning characters from previous X-Men and other Marvel films (and maybe Taylor Swift; we’re not sure yet). Deadpool & Wolverine arrives in theaters a week from today, July 26, 2024, and you can see the final trailer below, though it does reveal some new things about the movie you may not want to see:
Again, this trailer was another smart move in this stellar marketing campaign. As I’ve talked about before, every piece of advertising for Deadpool & Wolverine has emphasized how much fun the movie will be. This one centers on the emotional stakes, with Wolverine’s failure to save his friends – perhaps even to be a loyal teammate to his fellow X-Men – and Deadpool’s desperation to save those he loves. It feels like a redemption story for Logan, a chance to be the hero he never was in his world. That makes Dafne Keene’s return as X-23 appropriate, forcing him to face the daughter he (presumably) never knew and to be the hero she always needed him to be. But as much as I like this and I’m excited for the movie (got my opening day ticket for Thursday), I wish I didn’t know some of this. I get Marvel wanting to show people that this isn’t just a throwaway comedy but a heartfelt story about heroism (remember when Marvel used to make those?), but maybe they could’ve saved X-23 for the film rather than reveal her in a trailer one week before the premiere. I felt the same way about Sabretooth; people were sold on this and the idea of cameos, and while I’m sure there will be more, why ruin any of them?
That being said, it does open up some possibilities. While this is a different Wolverine, Dafne Keene could be playing the same X-23 she did in Logan; that would allow her to tell this Wolverine what he’s capable of, to believe in him when no one else does (except Deadpool, which is probably not worth much to him). It would even fit with the comic book costume since she and the other kids in Logan were taking their inspiration from the comics based on the X-Men. It also affirms that Wolverine is as much a lead in this film as Deadpool and that he accounts for a good deal of the emotional heft. We’ve also got some confirmation from Kevin Feige that Deadpool & Wolverine will be one of the more consequential films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as he recently told io9 that if Avengers: Endgame is a 10 in terms of its impact on the MCU, and Avengers: Infinity War is a 9, then Deadpool & Wolverine is an 8. That makes it a big deal to the overall story, which has been diminishing in quality over the past few years. Marvel may be using this as a reset/kickstart for their series, and that could account for this trailer’s insistence on its importance as a drama as well as a comedy. We’re at the finish line, and the film is almost here; let’s hope it’s as great as it looks.
I didn’t directly quote Kevin Feige with the comparison between Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers Endgame, and Deadpool & Wolverine and I see some people are taking my words and making them his.
Here’s what went down.
Full interview next week. pic.twitter.com/WeYMUERlVN
— Germain Lussier (@GermainLussier) July 19, 2024
And in case you thought they wanted us to forget about the laughs completely:
It’s actually perfectly ergonomic
Introducing the Cheeky Controller designed by Deadpool.@Marvel Studios’ Deadpool and Wolverine, in theaters July 26 pic.twitter.com/0Yp0HgleF4
— Xbox (@Xbox) July 17, 2024
I’m telling you, this is genius-level marketing.
