Deadpool & Wolverine’s first trailer dropped at Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday with our first look at Wade Wilson’s journey to becoming an official member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But one thing about the trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine was initially confusing: Wasn’t Deadpool’s fiancée Vanessa killed in the last one? That was a big plot point. And wasn’t X-Force member Shatterstar killed, too? And, yeah, Peter also died!
Yes, they were all killed in Deadpool 2. And unless you remember the details of Deadpool 2’s mid-credits scene, it might not be clear how Vanessa and other characters are alive in Deadpool & Wolverine. But if you do remember Deadpool 2’s mid-credits scene, then you understand why the Time Variance Authority (TVA) is showing up at Wade’s apartment, pruning sticks at the ready.
At the end of Deadpool 2, Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Yukio — who return in Deadpool & Wolverine — repair the time-traveling device that Cable used to travel back in time in pursuit of Firefist/Russell (Julian Dennison). Wade then uses Cable’s time machine to intervene in previous events of the movie, preventing Vanessa’s death and ensuring that Peter (Rob Delaney’s character) survived X-Force’s gruesome debut. Remember, almost every member of Deadpool’s X-Force team died after jumping out of an airplane; Shatterstar (Lewis Tan) was pureed by a helicopter and Peter was killed by being covered in the acidic spit of Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgård).
Apparently, Wade saved more than just Vanessa and Peter. Maybe all of X-Force is OK? Fingers crossed for Terry Crews’ Bedlam!
In addition to saving his dead loved ones, Wade also performs two mercy killings during Deadpool 2’s mid-credits: shooting the original Deadpool from X-Men Origins: Wolverine in the head, and doing the same service to Mint Mobile spokesperson Ryan Reynolds moments after he read the script for Green Lantern. Those are less plot-relevant than they are funny bits.
Wade’s time traveling explains why the TVA is after Deadpool in his new movie. He messed with the timeline, and is apparently going to spend some portion of Deadpool & Wolverine cleaning up rogue timelines, or just hanging out in the Void from Loki, running into old X-pals and dodging purple gas cloud of death, Alioth.
Deadpool & Wolverine is coming to movie theaters on July 26. There’s plenty of time to catch up on Disney Plus series Loki if you haven’t, because that sounds pretty darn important to Deadpool’s future.
