Deadpool & Wolverine Gives Logan's Ending A Twist We Never Saw Coming

Watch it, bub! This article contains major spoilers for "Deadpool & Wolverine."

When the third "Deadpool" movie turned out to be a crossover extravaganza titled "Deadpool & Wolverine" following Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox, there was one loud and oft-repeated reservation from practically the moment it was first announced. To many a fan, the primary concern was how Marvel could ever actually bring back Hugh Jackman's Wolverine without undoing or outright ruining his grand sacrifice made at the end of James Mangold's "Logan" in 2017. As it turns out, that adamantium-clawed elephant in the room would be addressed in the blockbuster's opening moments — and the answer, hilariously enough, would involve the Merc with a Mouth literally digging up the corpse everybody's favorite big-screen mutant and desecrating his gravesite as only Deadpool could.

For director Shawn Levy and star Ryan Reynolds, the first item on their agenda was always going to be explaining how and why Jackman ought to reprise his famous role as Wolverine after "Logan" delivered such a fitting sendoff — other than the ungodly sums of money that such a team-up would inevitably bring in, that is. Narratively and creatively, the filmmakers had to thread the needle between paying respect to one of the most well-received superhero movies of the last few decades in "Logan" and marching by the beat of their own drum so that this movie could be the best version of itself that it could be. Or so we thought. Naturally, they opted for the most controversial move of all and simply returned to Wolverine's actual grave as seen at the end of "Logan," exhumed the body, and had Deadpool go on a bloody rampage using the bones as weapons.

In short, "Deadpool & Wolverine" acknowledges "Logan" as only a "Deadpool" movie could.

Well, "Deadpool & Wolverine" certainly found one quintessential way to set the tone at the very beginning of the story. Rather than ease audiences into the idea of Wade Wilson and his fourth wall-breaking antics existing within the otherwise buttoned-down confines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the film instead throws moviegoers right into the deep end of the pool to sink or swim on their own. How else to describe Deadpool's voiceover narration posing that very same question only minutes into the opening scene? After rhetorically asking himself how he could possibly avoid stepping all over what "Logan" had accomplished years earlier without "dishonoring" the memory of what came before, he follows that up with the film's first gut-busting punchline: They can't.

Talk about a buzzkill. Once the action cuts to Deadpool shoveling dirt from Logan's grave, however, it's likely that fans will be too busy laughing to complain about the blatant injustice being done to their childhood fave. Granted, it's been clear from the earliest trailers that the version of Wolverine depicted in the threequel is actually a different variant from the one we knew and loved from the Fox "X-Men" movies, but this is another matter entirely. Before Wade later teams up with the "worst" version of Wolverine imaginable, viewers are treated to the unthinkable during the opening credits sequence (set to "Bye Bye Bye" by *NSYNC, of course). Deadpool digs up the "real" Wolverine, carries on a conversation with his adamantium skeleton like the weirdest ventriloquist show ever, and ultimately uses him to kill off invading Minutemen troopers sent by the Time Variance Authority — one bloodied bone at a time.

In retrospect, this couldn't have happened any other way.

If any movie could get away with treating its own franchise icons with such irreverence, it would be this one. There's an even more important takeaway from "Deadpool & Wolverine" than just its overt connections to "Logan," however. Throughout the film, Wade runs into several characters from both the MCU and the Fox "X-Men" franchise ... some of whom are treated as little more than gags and jokes (looking at you, Sabretooth), while others play integral roles in the superhero's emotional journey (let's just say you were likely happy to see one particular cameo early on). Yet, at no point does the movie forget just how much of a thrill it is to see Hugh Jackman suited up and back in action. It's possible to mock and poke fun at franchise lore or other aspects of official "canon" that fans tend to take too seriously at the same time that it's celebrating it, the script seems to be arguing. In the end, "Deadpool & Wolverine" proves that it really can have its cake and eat it, too.

So, at a time when fans tend to get a little too obsessed with whether new installments of their favorite franchises are respecting the lore or nitpicking every detail no matter how minute, here comes an extremely timely reminder that nobody has to take fiction so seriously. This isn't to imply that every movie or show ought to take the "Deadpool" approach, obviously, but there's certainly value in even the biggest fans of a property learning to laugh at themselves every now and then. After all, as much as he might make fun of Marvel, even Deadpool wants to be an Avenger deep down.

"Deadpool & Wolverine" is now playing in theaters.