Deadpool and Wolverine Films Ranked
Many characters have made the jump from the pages of comic books to the silver screen, but two of the most successful are undoubtedly Wolverine and Deadpool.
Hugh Jackman’s 24 year stint as Wolverine is one of the most celebrated superhero castings of all time. It’s a role that he very much made his own, his trademark white tank top and jeans becoming as iconic as Wolverine’s blue and yellow costume from the comics. Deadpool’s success wasn’t as immediate, initially appearing as a version of the character unrecognisable by fans, but due to Ryan Reynolds’ desire to do right by the character (and some leaked test footage of an accurate depiction of the character), Deadpool finally headlined his own film in 2016 and became the hit with audiences he was always destined to be.
It’s no surprise that the duo are so closely linked cinematically. Deadpool and Wolverine make a compelling pairing for many reasons. Deadpool’s irreverent humour and unpredictability balance Wolverine’s gruff and stoic demeanour, while their shared history with the Weapon X program allows a foundation for understanding and camaraderie. And their shared power of a regenerative healing factor makes for intense, over-the-top action sequences that are dripping with fun… and blood. There’s something so universally lovable about them both.
Each character has their own trilogy, with the team up movie Deadpool and Wolverine serving the role of ‘Deadpool 3’. While Deadpool’s trilogy maintains throughlines and connections, Wolverine’s trilogy is bafflingly disjointed. It’s difficult to consider Wolverine’s films a true trilogy, due in part to his ongoing presence in the wider X-Men franchise, which Deadpool has managed to avoid. This freedom allowed the Deadpool filmmakers to focus solely on his story. Wolverine’s film collection spans the lowest point of the genre to the peak, whereas Deadpool offers a more consistent quality throughout his trilogy. In this edition of Ranked, The Film Magazine examines the disparity between the Deadpool and Wolverine franchises to ultimately decide which comes out on top. These are the Deadpool and Wolverine Films Ranked.
6. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a prequel to the previous X-Men films. It explores the backstory of Hugh Jackman’s fan-favourite mutant.
Logan and his half-brother, Victor Creed aka Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber), fight in various wars before joining a special team of mutants led by Colonel Stryker (Danny Huston). Disillusioned with the team’s violence, Logan leaves to live a peaceful life in Canada with his girlfriend, Kayla (Lynn Collins). After Victor seemingly kills Kayla, Logan undergoes a procedure to bond adamantium to his bones for revenge, becoming Weapon X. Along the way, Logan teams with other mutants, like Blob (Kevin Durand) and Gambit (Taylor Kitsch), and faces off against some powerful foes, including Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool.
A Wolverine standalone film seemed like a no brainer. The comics had frequently given Wolverine his own title, and the return of the always likable (and bankable) Hugh Jackman was almost guaranteed to make a hit. But that couldn’t be further from reality. X-Men Origins Wolverine proved to be a cinematic disaster.
The opening scene hints at a better film, one which follows Wolverine and Sabretooth closely and sees their relationship deteriorate from brothers to enemies. But viewers only get splashes of what could have been in the opening credits. The actual plot is loose, messy and frustrating. Things happen simply because the plot requires it.
The film is also notorious for marking Ryan Reynolds’ first appearance as Deadpool. Well, kind of… because this character could not be further from the Deadpool of the comics. It’s low hanging fruit to point out that Fox were stupid enough to sew shut the mouth of the Merc with a Mouth, but still to this day it is one of the most baffling studio decisions in comic book movie history. It has been the punching bag of comic book movie fans ever since and is so bad that it even gets mocked in subsequent Deadpool films.
Perhaps an origin was the wrong way to go with Wolverine? Especially since most of what we see is explored much more effectively in the 2nd X-Men film, X2 (2003).
While this is comfortably one of the worst comic book movies ever, there is a twisted irony in knowing that we probably wouldn’t have got future Deadpool films had this one not crashed so hard.
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5. Deadpool 2 (2018)
Deadpool 2 begins with a shock: the death of Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). She had been integral to Deadpool’s development in the first film, and so Deadpool’s life takes a new direction. It is along this new path that he meets Russell (Julian Dennison), a young mutant being hunted by Cable (Josh Brolin), a time-traveling soldier with a vendetta. To protect Russell and stop Cable, Deadpool forms the X-Force, a team of misfit mutants including the luck-based Domino (Zazie Beetz).
The Terminator-like plot is a fun scenario to throw Deadpool into, and Josh Brolin’s Cable is a fantastic straight man to the Merc with a Mouth – it’s a shame we will likely never see Cable again. Zazie Beetz doesn’t get as much to do as Domino, but her power is really unique and lends itself to some terrific comedy and action. While on the topic of action, here it feels much more accomplished than in the first film. John Wick and Atomic Blonde director David Leitch brings the same signature flare and stylish camera movement that worked so well in his breakout hits.
The plot of Deadpool 2 is much more like that of a comic book than the story of the first film, which leads to some fun X-Men references but causes the film to occasionally veer into the territory of being generic. At its worst, Deadpool 2 feels like the very thing it is meant to be parodying. Additionally, it isn’t as funny as the first film – perhaps due to the idea being done before and thus losing that novelty – but these issues don’t fill up the entire runtime and there is still plenty of Deadpool goodness to be found.
