Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) Movie Explained: Ending, Comic Book References, Cameos & End- Credit Analyzed - How does this Film Impact the MCU? (2024)

Six years later (present-day), Wilson retired from mercenary work and joined the same organization that his friend Peter (Rob Delaney) works for as a car salesman. Wearing a toupee and trying to live a normal life after breaking up with his girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), Wilson is clearly trying to ignore his calling and go back to mercenary work. Unbeknownst to him, he is being watched. At his birthday party, where the entire supporting cast (those who are alive from the previous film at any rate and available) converge, Wilson is kidnapped by the TVA (Time Variance Authority) and brought in front of the representative of the TVA for that universe, Mr. Paradox (Matthew McFadyen).

Paradox reveals the TVA to Deadpool before offering him an option: to come to Earth-616, as he had been chosen for a “higher purpose” to save the sacred timeline (this tracks if you consider how each Marvel movie had been considered as the one to save the MCU, especially “Deadpool and Wolverine”). However, the catch is that Deadpool won’t be able to return to his universe.

As it turns out, Deadpool’s universe is slowly dying anyway because of the death of that universe’s “anchor being” (an individual responsible for keeping that universe stabilized)—Logan, AKA James Howlett, AKA Wolverine—in the events of 2017’s “Logan.” And now Paradox doesn’t want to babysit a dying universe. He is a radicalized agent of the TVA who doesn’t want to follow the new doctrine of the TVA as stewards of the multiverse (as seen at the end of “Loki” season 2); rather, he would follow the old ways and prune this universe away, using a timeline accelerant called the Time Ripper.

Which Wolverine variant does Deadpool bring with him?

Wilson takes the option most logical in his brain and hits Paradox on his nose before stealing his TemPad. His mission is to travel the multiverse and find a Logan who can take the place of the anchor being of this universe and stabilize it.

Deadpool’s travels through the multiverse lead him to meet several variations of Wolverine:

• The comic book accurate short, stocky Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman, shortened via CGI
• The Age of Apocalypse version of Wolverine wears a black costume with red stripes running through his torso and has just one hand. This version first appeared in “X-Men Alpha No. 1” (1994) and called itself Weapon X.
• A version of Wolverine wearing an eye patch and dressed in a white tuxedo. In the 1980s, Chris Claremont’s first ongoing Wolverine series introduced Wolevrine’s alias Patch, who would be involved in numerous adventures in the island nation of Madripoor. Madripoor had also made an appearance in the Disney+ series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
• Jackman referenced Clint Eastwood’s performance in “Dirty Harry” as one of his references for essaying Wolverine’s taciturn nature. We get a glimpse of another Eastwood-Wolverine analog in a variant who Deadpool comes across – an older version of Logan seated in front of a cottage, armed with a shotgun, blowing Deadpool off through the time door, referencing the famous Mark Millar comic “Old Man Logan,” which was also one of the chief inspirations for the 2017 Logan film.
• We see another version of Wolverine, this time a live-action recreation of the iconic cover of Uncanny X-Men #251 by Marc Silvestri and colorist Dan Green. The film recreates that harrowing dream sequence of Wolverine stuck in a cross (shaped like an X) in a field filled with bloody skulls; in the comic, Wolverine would be stuck on a cross by Donald Pearce and the Reavers. Pearce would also appear as one of the antagonists of 2017’s Logan, played by Boyd Holbrook.
• Another iconic cover recreation occurs when Deadpool encounters a version of Wolverine sporting the classic brown and yellow costume and fighting the Hulk. The reference is to the Incredible Hulk #181, written by Len Wein, which marks Wolverine’s first appearance in Marvel Comics. In the movie, Wolverine reveals his claws reflecting Hulk’s face, which is about Incredible Hulk #340. Though he would be fighting the Grey Hulk on that issue, the iconography is important.
• The final version shows Wolverine wearing just a white vest, smoking a cigar, and repairing his motorcycle in a farmhouse. This reminds you of the loner Wolverine depicted in most of the comics. This version is played by Henry Cavill, a nod to the rumors and fan casting of Cavill as Wolverine in the MCU.

His travails finally end when he comes across a Wolverine in a universe who loathes himself for a chequered past and is also hated by everyone else in that universe. Deadpool manages to bring that Wolverine back to the TVA, though it was easy because the Wolverine drank himself unconscious. But when Deadpool brings him back, Paradox rejects his proposition to replace the anchor being of his universe outright, dubbing this version of Wolverine as the “worst Logan,” who had let down his entire world. Not giving Deadpool any other option to rectify his mistake, he prunes both Deadpool and Wolverine, banishing them to the Void.

Who is Cassandra Nova, and which inhabitants of the Void work for her?

The Void, or The Void at the End of Time, was introduced in “Loki” season 1. It is a place of existence at the end of time where the remains of alternate universes that had been pruned by the TVA have been banished. The Void is watched over by Alioth, a cloud-like, matter-consuming entity designed and weaponized by He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) to end the Multiversal War. In “Deadpool and Wolverine,” the Void takes on the appearance of a Mad-Max-esque desert wasteland, and that provides ample moments for Deadpool to joke about and reference Mad Max and Furiosa because silly jokes become cleverer when they would already be pre-empted.

Anyway, Logan and Deadpool battle out their frustration at being stuck in the Void before being ordered to stop fighting by a figure cloaked in rags, his blue costume barely visible underneath. Heavily telegraphed to be Captain America and reinforced by the figure’s face being revealed as Chris Evans, the figure begins to prepare himself to battle against an army of multiversal rejects, led by Pyro (Aaron Stanford) driving in makeshift cars, until he screams “Flame On,” revealing himself to be Johnny Storm, the member of the Fantastic Four from the Tim Story-directed Fantastic Four duology “Fantastic Four” (2005) and “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” (2007).

Johnny would be defeated by Pyro sucking up all of his power, while Logan would battle with Sabretooth (Tyler Mane) and kill him in battle, resembling a samurai faceoff ending with Logan cutting Sabretooth’s head off. However, they are finally captured by an enormous magnet attached to Pyro’s vehicle that attracts Logan’s adamantium skeleton and captures both him and Deadpool.

The trio is brought in front of a faction of multiversal rejects working for Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin). She is revealed to be the twin sister of Charles Xavier, who had tried to kill her twin in the womb by wrapping her umbilical cord around his neck before being pruned by the TVA and forced to live her entire life in the void. Nova resides in the headquarters of the faction, which is a gigantic skeleton of Ant-Man (Scott Lang), with Nova taking up her living quarters in the massive skull.

Her army consists of the late Sabretooth, Pyro, Juggernaut (whose appearance resembles the “X-Men: Last Stand,” not “Deadpool II”), Blob, Toad (Ray Park, reprising his role from “X-Men” (2000)), Azazel (Jason Flemyng, reprising his role from “X-Men: First Class”), characters from other X-Men films like Callisto and Lady Deathstrike, as well as the Russian (Billy Clements), who had been one of the chief antagonists of the Thomas Jane-led “The Punisher” (2004).

Deadpool, to distract from not being killed, shifts the blame for badmouthing Cassandra over to Johnny, which leads to Nova killing him by basically sucking his entire skin out by telekinesis. Then he uses her powers to prob her fingers into Deadpool’s mind, revealing that Wilson had broken up with Vanessa after his rejection from the Avengers because he had felt unsure and lost. Nova then reveals that she had been kept in the Void to rule over because the TVA allowed her before leaving Wilson and Logan to be devoured by Aloith as lunch. Logan and Deadpool barely escape by utilizing one mechanical thruster that throws them over a grassy knoll overlooking the wasteland.

As they walk by the wasteland, they come across an abandoned diner where Logan drinks rubbing alcohol, and Deadpool reveals that in his world, Logan had been “the X-Man,” a sharp contrast to this Wolverine, who is a world-weary individual completely disconnected from everything else. He doesn’t have the remotest patience with Deadpool’s shtick and has no problem calling him out on it. Deadpool also reveals that the Logan in his world had a daughter, a clone named X-23 (Dafne Keen), whom he had given up his life trying to save. Later, they come across “Nicepool,” a version of Deadpool who maintains his good looks, has a ponytail, doesn’t wear a mask, and is also the owner of “Dogpool.” Nicepool gives them a Honda Odyssey so that they can travel to the Borderlands to join up with the resistance against Nova’s army.

Who are the Resistance?

The travels remain mostly uneventful until Deadpool mistakenly reveals that he had made an “educated guess” that the TVA would be able to change Logan’s timeline and fix it. It had all been a ruse to ask for Logan’s aid, as without him, Deadpool wouldn’t be able to save his universe. But Logan, having enough of Deadpool, chastises him, calling him a joke, an attention-seeking jabbering prick who had been rejected by the Avengers and the X-Men, the latter being a team that historically takes anyone. The chastising goes deep enough that it incites a fight between the two regenerating immortals in the Honda Odyssey that goes on for a day and a half until the two of them fall unconscious, exhausted. Unbeknownst to them, the Honda Odyssey would be driven by a stranger to the headquarters of the rebels.

The headquarters of the rebels resemble the cave at Mount Wundagore, the Scarlet Witch’s hideout in “Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness,” complete with a statue of Maximoff to boot. There, both Logan and Deadpool are met by a team of rebels:

• Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner, reprising her role from “Daredevil” (2003) and “Elektra” (2005))
• Blade (Wesley Snipes, reprising his role from “Blade,” “Blade II,” and “Blade: Trinity,” the final of which had also starred Ryan Reynolds)
• Gambit (Channing Tatum, who had been in the running for this role since early 2014, but his unproduced Gambit film would never gain traction)
• Laura, AKA X-23 (Dafne Keen, reprising her role from “Logan,” presumably the same character from that universe who had been pruned by the TVA).

The team of rebels plans to storm the stronghold of Cassandra Nova, but Logan refuses to join in on their plans. He finally relents after a conversation that night near a campfire with Laura, where she points out that her Logan had been gruff and unfriendly but had always shown up whenever it had counted. That revelation spurs Logan to reveal how his refusal to join the X-Men and resume his lonesome travels resulted in the death of the X-Men by the humans. The suit he wears is the only reminder of the team he lost, which is why he doesn’t take it off. That conversation helps because the next morning, Logan joins up with the team, who ride on Deadpool’s Honda Odyssey, with Blade firing a bazooka from an AR-15 that had belonged to one of the Punishers and attacking the stronghold.

How do Deadpool and Wolverine return to the world?

After a fierce battle, with the rebels covering them, Wolverine and Deadpool face off against Nova, who easily takes care of Deadpool before trapping Logan in the hellscape of his mind, surrounded by the gravestones of the fallen X-Men, where he reveals to Nova that he had flown in a berserker rage after the death of his teammates and had hunted down humans, whether they had been directly responsible or not. Now, he just wants to be free. As Nova is spurred on by the revelation, she is unaware of Laura having cut off Juggernaut’s head and thrown his helmet—which stops telekinesis—to Deadpool. Deadpool forcefully puts the helmet over Cassandra, incapacitating her temporarily.

Amidst the confusion, Pyro suddenly shoots Nova, revealing his alliance with Paradox in exchange for being taken out of the void. Logan knocks Pyro out and requests Deadpool remove the helmet from Nova’s head to allow her to heal, reminding himself and her that Charles Xavier would not stand by and watch her die. If he had known about her existence, Charles would have scoured the multiverse to rescue her (that might be true in the movies, but in the comics, Charles Xavier is a much more complicated individual).

Ascribing the fact that they had saved her life, Nova brings out a sling ring that she had obtained from a variant of Doctor Strange that had been stuck in the void and uses that to open a portal to Deadpool’s world, giving them a headstart for a few seconds before being devoured by Alioth. The two barely manage to jump into the portal.

How does Cassandra Nova plan to use the Time-Ripper?

Upon reaching Earth-10005, Deadpool and Wolverine race down to the subway station that doubles up as a TVA secret headquarters. Deadpool had learned of such headquarters in his universe when Paradox first brought him in, inadvertently also revealing that Paradox and all the agents working for him have gone rogue. His superiors have no idea of Paradox’s plan to utilize the Time-Ripper to destroy Deadpool’s universe.

Before Paradox could defend himself, a time portal opens, and Cassandra Nova walks through, killing Pyro by breaking his neck, and then using her mind powers to unlock information about the time ripper. Deciding to destroy all universes, with only the void existing in the multiverse for her to lord over, she flicks away Deadpool and Wolverine and walks down the subway station to take control of the machine.

What are the Deadpool variants Deadpool and Wolverine face off against?

Cassandra, to ensure that she is not disturbed, calls in all the Deadpools that had been banished into the void to take care of Deadpool Prime and Wolverine. Dogpool was the first to come through, followed by Nicepool. Before the argument about Dogpool’s ownership could be breached, a horde of Deadpool variants walked through the portal:

• Lady Deadpool (Blake Lively)
• Headpool (a levitating skull wearing a half-Deadpool mask, voiced by Nathan Fillion)
• Cowboy Deadpool (Matthew McConaughey)
• Welshpool (Paul Mullin, Wrexham AFC player)
• Kidpool (Inez Reynolds, daughter of Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively)
• Babypool (Olin Reynolds, son of Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively)
• Canadapool (Alex Kyshkovych, Ryan Reynolds’ stunt double)
• Watari/The Fool (Deadpool from the 5 Ronin comic books)
• Golden Age Deadpool (from the comic book Deadpool against Deadpool)
• Zenpool (Inverted Deadpool from the Marvel AXIS event)
• Piratepool
• Welsh Knightpool

The duo of Deadpool and Wolverine try to face off against them, with Deadpool first using Nicepool as a shield against a barrage of gunfire, only to learn that Nicepool doesn’t have a regenerative healing factor. They square off in a violent clash against the Deadpool variants, with Wolverine finally wearing his cowl and the two of them going off on a blood-soaked rampage. While the duo wins the fight, these Deadpools do regenerate, but their fight gets interrupted by the appearance of Peter, disguised as a Deadpool. Seeing Peter warms all the Deadpools’ hearts, as all their universes have a Peter with whom they are very close. This gives Deadpool and Wolverine enough time to sneak away into the subway tunnels.

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) Movie Ending Explained:

Do Deadpool and Wolverine die while saving the universe?

Holding Paradox at an inch of his life, they force Paradox to reveal how to stop the Time-Ripper, which is to disrupt the circuit of matter and anti-matter energy and short their path by allowing them to coalesce together. However, whoever can connect the two strands together is at risk of losing their life. Wolverine decides it will be him because Deadpool has a world to return to. Deadpool pretends to agree before hitting him and knocking him out temporarily to enter the chamber and start breaking the matter canister.

As Deadpool tries to connect the matter wires to the anti-matter wires upstairs, Nova has already activated the time-ripper, and the integrity of the timeline is slowly decreasing. At the last moment, Wolverine managed to break through the door and connect the circuit by holding Deadpool and the anti-matter wires. The push and pull almost threaten to destroy them, but instead, the energy redirects and hits Nova, killing her for good.

Paradox’s boss, the hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), who had been informed of an unsanctioned time-ripper being activated in Earth-10005, finally arrives to question Paradox. Paradox tries to hand-wave it off as a rebellion organized by Nova, which had been averted by Deadpool and Wolverine under his orders, only for Deadpool and Wolverine to reveal themselves to have survived. Wilson requests B-15 to help the rebels stuck in the void be returned to their timelines while also asking for Logan’s timeline to be changed.

B-15 agrees on the first but disagrees vehemently on the second, acknowledging that whatever had happened to Wolverine in the past had shaped him to display the heroism he had shown that day. It effectively makes this Wolverine the anchor to Wilson’s timeline. Logan and Wilson also slowly begin to warm up to each other, with Wilson introducing Logan to his friends as Logan retires. We see Logan reunited with X-23, who has been returned from the void, while Wilson also brings in Dogpool, and under Logan’s encouragement, he decides to mend his relationship with Vanessa.

What happens in Deadpool and Wolverine’s Post-Credit scene?

Like most MCU films, “Deadpool and Wolverine” also have a credit scene. However, the credits show behind-the-scenes footage of almost all the Fox X-Men movies featuring Jackman and Reynolds. Thus, there is no mid-credits scene present.

In the post-credits scene, we see Deadpool again breaking the fourth wall, reminding everyone that he is being unfairly vilified for the death of Johnny Storm (he had been single-handedly responsible by painting Storm as a loud motormouth spouting out insults about Cassandra Nova, leading to Nova gruesomely killing Storm). But now Deadpool, as if to convince the audience, brings forth a tape that contains footage of the truck showing Storm, Wolverine, and Deadpool being driven to meet Nova.

In the original scene, Storm had portentously hinted about Nova and her iron-fisted ruling in the Void. In this new footage, doctored by Deadpool, we see Storm spouting off vicious, sarcastic insults about Nova, sounding suspiciously like the ones uttered by Deadpool himself, and in the footage, Deadpool is shown encouraging him. Once the footage is over, Deadpool turns to the camera and mutters “The End” before walking out.

The “uselessness” of the post-credit scene maintains the pattern established by the Deadpool films, especially in the first one, which had Deadpool re-enacting the post-credit scene from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and gesturing to the audience to go home. If you were expecting any indication of the return of Deadpool and Wolverine in future installments, you are bound to be disappointed.

How does Deadpool and Wolverine impact the MCU?

From the perspective of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Deadpool and Wolverine” is largely self-contained. Most events either take place in Deadpool’s universe or the Void. There is only one scene at the beginning of the film that takes place in the sacred timeline, i.e., pre-Avengers Infinity War.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Multiverse Saga was the most developed in the strand, connecting the TVA through two seasons of “Loki” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” “Deadpool and Wolverine” could be taken as the direct sequel to “Loki” season 2 because it explores the TVA immediately after the characters re-jigger themselves as the protectors and stewards of the Multiverse.

How Do Deadpool and Wolverine impact the Fox X-Men series of films?

If one were to look at all the inhabitants of the void and associate them with the movies they represent, made or unmade, these couple of movies seem to be erased from the timeline –

• The X-Men original Trilogy (X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand)
• The Fantastic Four Duology
• The X-Men prequel saga as well (the presence of Azazel confirms that)
• The Punisher series
• Blade Trilogy
• Daredevil and its spinoff Elektra

The two X-Men movie trilogies being removed do make sense to a certain extent, and before Disney acquired Fox, the continuity of X-Men had already been a mess. But Deadpool also shows the cast of the prequel trilogy X-Men after the events of “Days of the Future Past.” The entry of Deadpool into the MCU continuity, as well as showing the events of Logan occurring in the same universe as Deadpool, proves that the movies currently setting up the timeline of Earth-10005 in the Marvel Multiverse are:

• X-Men Days of Future Past (the new timeline)
• X-Men Apocalypse
• X-Men: Dark Phoenix
• Deadpool
• Deadpool 2
• Logan
• Deadpool & Wolverine

As for this variation of Wolverine in “Deadpool and Wolverine,” it seems this version’s history mostly follows a similar history that might have occurred during the new-ish timeline of “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” but its changes occur a few years after that itself. Perhaps it simplifies a timeline, but it also shows the fluidity of the Fox universe, which is still surviving.

It’s still unclear whether this is the same timeline shown at the end of “The Marvels,” where Monica Rambeau meets a version of her mother and a version of Hank McCoy (The Beast).

Read More: Top 10 MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) Movies

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) Movie Trailer:

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) Movie Links:IMDb,Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia, Letterboxd
The Cast of Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) Movie: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Matthew Macfadyen, Jon Favreau, Morena Baccarin
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) Movie Release Date: 26th July 2024 | Genre: Action/Adventure/Comedy | Runtime: 2h 8m

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