GUWAHATI: Marvel. There used to be a time not so long ago when anything with a Marvel logo used to sell like hot cake. The past couple of years, read post Endgame era, the story had changed. Call it a saturation point of superhero movies or call it the result of some sub-standard projects from the studio, the credibility of the Marvel logo now has trickled down the popularity ladder. Yes there were occasional gems like the last instalment of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and some good shows on Disney but other than that most of their big ticket projects were massive underperformers. Marvel needed a saviour. Enter: Marvel Jesus!
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‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ was being billed as the next big thing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) ever since Disney got the rights to Fox’s characters, most importantly the ‘X-Men’ and the movie was announced. So did it live up to expectations? Yes and No.
The Pros: The movie is as much a Deadpool movie as it could have been. Funny, R-rated jokes, self roasting. For this edition, add Marvel and Fox roasting as well. The movie starts off in a splendid sequence which will surely go down as one of the best opening sequences of the MCU. Ryan Reynolds lives the character on and off the screen and he again has a whale of a time enacting the antihero who this time is going to Disneyland! In a lot of ways, this is very close to the standards the first instalment of the franchise set for itself. What could make it even better? The company! Hugh Jackman is back as an X-men or as Mr Pool says, ‘The X-men’ and he looks like he never left! Wolverine’s (Logan) death in the 2017 blockbuster ‘Logan’ was an emotional high point for the franchise. But by now it is quite clear that if you are a money spinning superhero (or a cameraman!), you can’t die.Deadpool(Wade Wilson) brings him back from another timeline (this multiversal saga is not ending anytime soon). Together, along with some expected and some others not so much cameos, Deadpool and Wolverine take us on a fun ride which was the call of the hour for Marvel Studios. The chemistry between the two is crackling and that is the USP of the movie. The jokes land well especially when Deadpool roasts the recent failures of the Studios! The cameos work well. The best of the lot- Chris Evans who shouts out ‘Flame on’ rather than ‘Avengers Assemble’ serving the audiences a gentle reminder of the upcoming Marvel projects involving Marvel’s first family, the Fantastic4. Tribute was also payed to the one who started it all with Wesley Snipes’ Blade making a cameo appearance along with Jennifer Garner’s Elektra and Channing Tatum finally gets to play ‘Gambit’ so what if its only for a few minutes! But Henry Cavill as Wolverine in one of the universes! That was a masterstroke. But the quiet showstopper was sweet little ‘Dogpool’ aka ‘Mary Puppins’ played by Peggy, a mixed breed pup. Whoever came up with the award of ‘Britain’s ugliest Dog’ must be tearing his hair out now!
The cons: The storyline or the lack of it. The wafer-thin storyline thwarts a good movie from becoming a great one. Deadpool is picked up by the Time Variance Authority (TVA) on his birthday on the orders of an officer, Paradox, who has his own ulterior motives. He tells Wade that his timeline is on the wane as the ‘Anchor being’ of his timeline, Wolverine has died and he needs him in a different timeline where Deadpool could be of major use in a future event which he can even avenge. What this multiversal saga has done is it has given Marvel the license to do any hocus-pocus and blame it on the multiverse. This ‘Anchor Being’ is one of that. Anyways, this happened after Pool got rejected in a ‘tense’ job interview for the Avengers by Happy Hogan. Wade decided he would rather bring in another Anchor being from another timeline and restore his own timeline where he has his friends. And mostly that’s about it. In between they stumble upon the ‘Void’ where they meet Cassandra Nova, Charles Xavier’s twin sister who is now ruling over the Void and is the supposed villain of the movie and towards the climax tries to decimate all timelines so that only the Void remains but never do you actually feel the urgency which you feel in ‘Loki’ when he tries to save the timelines. Although powerful, Nova will join the now long list of forgettable Marvel villains. Director Shawn Levy had two selling points for the movie. One-the Deadpool-Wolverine pairing.Two-Deadpool’s humour. And luckily for him, both hit the mark and despite the obvious flaws with the storyline, the movie doesn’t feel boring and you do end up having a good time at the theatre.So, we saw the human torch (Evan’s cameo) from the Fantastic4, ‘The’ X-men, Happy from the MCU and Deadpool in a single movie now. What the future holds now will be interesting for now the MCU doesn’t need to tease the X-men in its movies as they have already brought in the most popular of them all. It can just be slam-bang action.
The weekend was special for Marvel Studios not only because it had a big release but also because that was San-Diego Comic Con weekend. Pop culture fans worldwide wait for this convention as studios announce their major projects here. Marvel has been bringing the roof down at Hall H annually where they make their slates known to their fans. This time, although they did not have a lot on the cards apart from the Fantastic4, Thunderbolts and the upcoming Captain America movie,Brave New World. But Marvel used the Deadpool euphoria to surprise fans with the announcement of the next two Avengers movies- Doomsday(2026), Secret Wars(2027). But the biggest surprise of them all was when the Russo brothers, who are returning to direct the upcoming Avengers films announced Robert Downey Jr as ‘Doctor Doom’! After the initial moments of disbelief and joy of seeing the most loved MCU superhero return albeit in an entirely different avatar, contrasting thoughts do come to your mind. Will fans accept seeing the pioneer of this cinematic universe who got a hero’s farewell in Endgame in the garb of probably Marvel’s greatest recurring villain? More so, is it a move of desperation by Marvel to bring back their showstopper to poach audiences back to their now underperforming movies? Did they not find anyone capable of replacing Jonathan Majors’ ‘Kang’ as the next big baddie? This act of bringing back RDJ does run the risk of being a double edged sword. It will pull back crowds to the theatres surely but unless they can justify why they had to play with the legacy that RDJ left behind as Iron Man, this might backfire heavily for the studios. Having said that, the multiversal saga does create numerous possibilities for the makers to explore and to be fair, there is a storyline in Marvel comics where Doctor Doom and Tony Stark (Iron Man) are compatriots doing their own research but sharing the same room. In that storyline, Doom captures Stark’s body and instils it with his mind and traps Stark’s mind in his own body and they both start leading each other’s industries. The possibility of RDJ playing an out and out villain are slightly less and the chances of him being a variant of Doom with Stark’s face are more likely. Plus, Doom mostly will have his face covered with his iconic mask saving fans the pain of seeing their hero now turned villain. Whatever happens, Marvel has once again raised the hype meter to unprecedented levels with this announcement and time will tell how the Russo brothers will play out their cards. But one thing is for sure. The last weekend of July does mark a comeback for the studios. Not only in the theatres but also in the minds of the fans. Let the Avengers Assemble!