The Decline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has become one of the most beloved and acclaimed film franchises in modern cinematic history. Despite the output of dozens of live-action projects across seventeen years, the overall quality of the MCU has been surprisingly pretty high. Films like Iron Man, The Avengers, and the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy stand out as examples of what the franchise can be at its best. However, recent entries have struggled to capture the earlier magic.
The MCU has waned in popularity in recent years, and that mostly seems to be a by-product of the entire franchise losing its sense of focus and direction. There’s no clear goal in mind with the current crop of MCU films and series, and that’s a real problem. That means that audience expectations are getting lower and lower, and that means that mediocre products are often praised for even being a bit better than what came before. This is the case with the box office smash hit that was 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine.
Ryan Reynolds and the Disappointment of Deadpool & Wolverine
Ryan Reynolds is perhaps the most annoying man in Hollywood today, and though there is certainly some competition for that title, it doesn’t seem like there should be all that much debate about that fact. He’s practically never starred in a good film where he wasn’t playing a character named Wade Wilson, and the fact that his public persona is so deeply rooted in mocking projects of his, like Green Lantern, a film that is only marginally worse than most of his filmography, is frustrating and irritating. 2016’s Deadpool and its sequel, Deadpool 2, are both arguably the two best films that Ryan Reynolds has ever had a major role in. While neither Marvel flick is excellent, both of the entries in the now trilogy are surprisingly fun, funny, and even occasionally heartfelt.
Deadpool was a major surprise for 20th Century Fox when it first released in 2016, and though the Marvel Comics character had always been a fan-favorite, the box office success and critical acclaim surrounding the 2016 original film were even more impressive than most people imagined. The film felt fresh in an era where superhero movies were beginning to become somewhat stale, and although it didn’t hold back on the mockery and fourth-wall-breaking gags, Deadpool also had a genuine sense of earnest narrative depth to it. Granted, the subtext and thematic core of Deadpool isn’t exactly masterful, but the film is sincerely trying to tell a complete and cohesive story, not just a strung-together series of gags and cameos.
Unfortunately, a strung-together series of gags and cameos is exactly how 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine can be described. Taking all of the charm and ingenuity of the first two Deadpool films and mashing them through the dreadful MCU machine, director Shawn Levy’s Deadpool & Wolverine is an overstuffed yet simultaneously half-baked piece of boilerplate trash. It’s stupid, soulless, and visually ugly at every turn.
A Film Without Substance
One of the major defenses of mediocre comic book and superhero blockbusters in recent years is the idea that “not everything has to be some kind of Citizen Kane-style masterpiece”, and while that sentiment is true, the expectations and bar of quality for theatrical releases have dropped drastically in recent years. There used to be genuine talent, unique points of view, and a sincere artistic voice behind most major blockbusters. Audiences need to go back no further than the bombastic wonders of director Gore Verbinski’s original three Pirates of the Caribbean movies to see what could be achieved in large-scale popcorn filmmaking, or even to more recent outings that have showcased what blockbusters should still be, like Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
“Mainstream” movies don’t have to be ugly, generic slogs that feel like they were churned out of a factory. There is genuine artistry and passion alive and well in the film industry today, and so much of that can be dedicated to giant superhero blockbusters. Unfortunately, instead of dedicating the amount of time, budgeting, and hiring to films like Deadpool & Wolverine or Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as films like F1 or Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga get, Marvel churns out slop from lackluster filmmakers like Shawn Levy. The charm of the early Marvel Cinematic Universe came from its scrappiness, from its game-changing attitude and dedication to telling real stories through the lens of comic book superheroes. The reason that Iron Man works in ways that something like Daredevil or Ghost Rider never did is that Jon Favreau’s 2008 masterpiece actually felt like a real movie, not just a cheap attempt at capitalizing on a known property.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe lost that sense of underdog spirit when it became the ultimate pop culture franchise in modern history. The people behind the stories became complacent and unmotivated, and the box office results of even the most mediocre outings from the MCU proved to those in power that they didn’t need to make something actually good for people to come see it. Although that sentiment is thankfully shifting in the wake of more recent MCU outings underperforming at the box office, there are still plenty of MCU flicks that are more successful financially and far more well-received by audiences and fans than they deserve to be, and Deadpool & Wolverine is the prime example.
A Weak Narrative and Uninspired Visuals
Deadpool & Wolverine’s plot is practically non-existent, with a weak narrative seemingly designed solely around getting the two titular characters from one generic set piece to the next, all while filling the in-between minutes with pointless cameos, annoying callbacks, and borderline-impenetrable references. Deadpool works as a character in live-action films like Deadpool and Deadpool 2 because those films took advantage of Ryan Reynolds’ inherent snark and sarcasm, and positioned him as a kind of never-ending foil to basically every “normal” character around him. Deadpool & Wolverine loses that, and in its stead, Wade Wilson is at his most obnoxious, least funny, and least emotionally genuine. It certainly doesn’t help that Deadpool & Wolverine is one of the worst-looking superhero movies in years, with some of the grayest, most visually unappealing images ever put to the big screen.
Audiences Deserve Better Than Deadpool & Wolverine
Pointing out that generally popular movies are actually mediocre might seem like some form of rage-bait or mean-spirited complaining, but in actuality, a refusal to accept films as empty, ugly, and annoying as Deadpool & Wolverine is a claim that audiences deserve better from major studios. In decades prior, blockbusters provided viewers with grandeur and awe, and even though technology and artistic skills have evolved to a point where that is easier and more cost-effective than ever before, casual film-goers are more and more willing to accept the slop that passes for cinematic art these days.
There are films from the last thirty-five years that have pushed the art form further into the future than ever, but it seems that cinema is stagnating in the wake of such mediocrity as the current MCU. Deadpool & Wolverine is only one of the most recent examples of what is wrong with the modern landscape of blockbuster cinema. It’s clear that audiences want more, and though some casual fans might not be able to put their fingers on quite what is wrong with movies like Deadpool & Wolverine, there’s an inherent sense of something missing. There’s no soul. No passion.
Movie fans deserve more from their blockbusters, and with theater prices rising higher and higher, and so many alternative options coming to streaming with each passing week, major studios need to lock in and start providing viewers with the kind of experiences that they cannot get anywhere else. Films like Sinners, Dune: Part Two, One Battle after Another, and even James Gunn’s Superman have showcased what blockbuster movies can and should be in the modern cinematic world, and it’s time for audiences to stop allowing mediocrity like Deadpool & Wolverine to dominate the landscape of modern movies.
