Are we ready to talk about the portal? I think we have to, because some people are taking things a bit too far. Marvel Studios released the trailer for the upcoming Marvel movieDeadpool and Wolverine a few weeks back. The trailer gave us some insight into the overall plot of the sequel, a hint at the villain, and ended on a spectacular tease of the movie’s two heroes leaping through a portal. Created by whom? Unknown. It’s very much a portal attributed to a Sorcerer Supreme, and not a TVA doorway, as we have seen in the Loki series available to those with a Disney+ subscription. So, where are Deadpool and Wolverine going?
Speculation on their destination immediately ran rampant. The Twitter account Deadpool Updates cited a synopsis they found that claimed:
Not only will they be working to defeat a range of villains plaguing the Marvel universe, bub, but they’ll be gate-crashing the MCU franchise, too, and putting their own R-rated, 20th Century Fox-styled twist on some of our favorite moments from Phases 1-4!
On the surface, I believe this. But, I also don’t buy into some of the crazy speculation that has made its way online. Let’s go over a few of the theories, and determine if they hold any water.
Deadpool will drop into key moments from the MCU’s first four phases.
This seems highly likely. Think of it in a similar way to how the Avengers appeared in previous Marvel scenes will time-traveling through Avengers: Endgame. We got to see Peter Quill’s introduction from a fresh perspective. We dipped back into the realm of Thor: The Dark World. We even revisited The Battle of New York, which led to a hiccup that birthed the Loki series!
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As we saw in the Deadpool and Wolverine footage that Disney screened at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, the TVA recruits Deadpool for a mission and gives him an opportunity to join the MCU world. In the process, TVA agent Paradox (Matthew Macfayden) shows Deadpool monitors showing off key scenes from the MCU – including Thor footage that Chris Hemsworth recently talked about. Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) comments on Captain America, the Hulk, and more. So yeah, given how easily it was for Avengers: Endgame to drop characters into the existing mythology of the MCU, it makes total sense for Kevin Feige to unleash Reynolds and his comic sensibilities for shocking results.
However, there’s another theory out there that makes a lot less sense to me, and that involves Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2.
Deadpool and Wolverine will visit worlds outside of the MCU.
Shortly after the rumor started to circulate that Wade and Logan will hop around the Multiverse in their summer blockbuster, footage of the two characters sitting at a table in an eatery made the rounds. I grabbed a screenshot of the moment in question, because way too many fans jumped at the font on the window of the establishment and said it resembled the font of the menu items listed on the glass at Joe’s Pizza… from which Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker got fired at the beginning of Spider-Man 2.
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That’s a bridge too far for me. First, let’s actually read the items on the glass in the Deadpool and Wolverine scene. We can see Joe’s Easy Omelette, Two Eggs, Two Bacon, Hashbrows, and other diner fare. Not really what you’d expect to get in a pizza joint. For that reason alone, I don’t think this is Joe’s Pizza from Spider-Man 2 (a location that also didn’t appear to have tables and chairs).
Secondly, Spider-Man 2 is a Sony movie. And even though Spider-Man is able to play in the Marvel sandbox thanks to studio partnerships, I don’t see any reason why Marvel would want its characters to visit a location from a Sony movie. That just feels like a legal migraine.
That’s not to say that Deadpool and Wolverine won’t have all sorts of Multiversal madness. I just think, like most of the rumors are speculating, it’ll be limited to the MCU, and not involve any locations (or characters) outside of the realm of the Marvel universe. We’ll see for sure when Deadpool and Wolverine opens in theaters on July 26.