Deadpool & Wolverine Pays Cheeky Tribute To A Famous X-Men Comic Book Cover

Spoilers for "Deadpool & Wolverine" ahead.

"Deadpool & Wolverine" has advertised itself as a multiverse adventure. It is a movie that bridges the 20th Century Fox "X-Men" movie franchise with the Marvel Cinematic Universe — not that you need to be a Marvel super-fan to enjoy "Deadpool & Wolverine." Since there's only so many different worlds one can visit in two hours, the film has a montage of Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) jumping from universe to universe and meeting many different Wolverines.

One of the Wolverines he finds is in dire straits, crucified on a Saint Andrew's cross in an apocalyptic landscape. X-fans might recognize the image from the cover of "Uncanny X-Men" #251 ("Fever Dream"), drawn by Marc Silvestri and Dan Green.

Marvel Comics

Silvestri is a prolific "X-Men" artist; he drew most of writer Chris Claremont's final stretch on the title during the 1980s, and then "Here Comes Tomorrow," the last arc of Grant Morrison's revolutionary "New X-Men," in 2004. The "Fever Dream" cover remains one of his signature X-traordinary achievements.

Marvel movies rarely capture how vibrant and striking the comics are (exceptions, like the "Spider-Verse" movies, only prove the rule). "Deadpool & Wolverine" uses a simple apocalyptic red palette, not the ostentatious yet eerie purple-green coloring Silvestri and Green did.

Comic covers can be deceiving about the story inside their pages. Strapping the X-Man to a giant X-shaped cross? That could just be some clever branding imagery. But nope, Logan spends all of "Fever Dream" tied to that cross. How did he end up there?

Wolverine's predicament is the work of Donald Pierce and his cyborg mutant hunters, the Reavers. You might remember them as the villains of "Logan" (with Pierce played by Boyd Holbrook). In that movie, they were hunting Wolverine to capture his clone/daughter Laura (Dafne Keen). Why do they hate Logan in the comics?

Like many things in "X-Men," the answer to that goes back to "The Dark Phoenix Saga," widely considered the definitive "X-Men" comic even if the movies bungled both adaptations. ("The Dark Phoenix Saga" ran in "X-Men" issues #129-137, with an epilogue in #138. It was published through 1980, written by Claremont, and drawn by John Byrne.)

Jean Grey is the star of that story, but it also solidified Wolverine as the book's breakout character. In "X-Men" #132 (aka "Dark Phoenix" chapter 4), the X-Men are defeated by the Hellfire Club. All of the team is captured, except Wolverine, who is sent plummeting into the sewers of New York City by the Club's mass-altering Black Bishop, Harry Leland. The others write him off as drowned, but the issue's final panel is a defiant Wolverine unsheathing his claws and promising payback. 

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Whereas the cover of #132 depicts the Hellfire Club standing triumphant over the defeated X-Men, #133's cover shows Wolverine fighting Hellfire Club goons. No false advertising there; Wolverine spends the issue carving his way through the Hellfire Club to save his chained-up teammates. This is what solidified Wolverine as the X-Men's badass.

Only, much later, it turns out three of those Hellfire Club pawns who Logan carved up survived. Oops! In "Uncanny X-Men" #205 (by Claremont and artist Barry Windsor-Smith), they replace their mutilations with cyborg parts and partner up with Yuriko Oyama/Lady Deathstrike (who also shows up in "Deadpool & Wolverine") to get their revenge.

After the "Fall of the Mutants" event in 1988 ("Uncanny X-Men" #225-227), the X-Men are presumed dead. So, the team (Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Rogue, Havok, Psylocke, Longshot, and Dazzler) decides to leave the world none the wiser. 

In "Uncanny X-Men" #229, they relocate to the Australian Outback, far away from human civilization. After defeating cyborg gang the Reavers, the X-Men claim the gang's ghost-town hideout as their own. They X-Men are not retired, though; the Aboriginal mutant Gateway teleports the team across the world whenever they need to go be superheroes. Silvestri does the bulk of his "Uncanny X-Men" work in the "Outback" era.

Pierce, exiled from the Hellfire Club, unites the surviving Reavers and Deathstrike's cyborg gang into a new band of Reavers under his command. They attack the X-Men's outback base in #251, but only Wolverine is around. As one mutant fighting a group who've trained to kill him, he falls and wakes up crucified; the Reavers decide to be cute by turning the cross on its axis into a X-shape. It's like the final shot of "Logan" (Logan's grave marker turned over into a X), where the letter X symbolizes the X-Men's death. While that ending was mournful, this one is sadistic mockery. After all, the pose also leaves Logan's torso exposed and easily tortured; Wolverine's healing factor means the Reavers don't have to worry about taking things too lethally far either. 

"Fever Dream" begins in media res with Wolverine strapped to the cross (the first page is a close-up of Logan's battered, bloody face), then flashes back to how he was captured. Initially, he (and the reader) are unsure what's become of the other X-Men. Once they return, they escape the Reavers (thanks to Psylocke's telepathy and the mystical gateway Siege Perilous), so Pierce decides Logan will suffer enough for all his teammates.

Logan spends the whole issue crucified and delirious (he imagines Psylocke walking up to him to help, then the imaginary X-Woman turns into Deathstrike). He also hallucinates Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, the rookie X-Men who he formed a mentor relationship with. By this time, the real Kitty is all grown-up, but Logan meets a new student: Jubilee.

In "Uncanny X-Men" #244, the X-Women went on a day trip to a Los Angeles mall and caught Jubilee's attention; the issue ended with her sneaking through the portal to their Outback base. Since then, she'd been hiding in the base, unbeknownst to the X-Men and now the Reavers. In issue #252, once Logan cuts himself down from the cross, Jubilee helps him escape and kicks off a long friendship. 

Thus, the Outback era of the X-Men ended. (Silvestri departed after issue #261, while Claremont ended his titanic run on the series with issue #279, paving the way for the 1990s to become a super messy time in X-history.)

All credit for realizing the "Fever Dream" cover goes to Silvestri and Green. However, one must not leave Claremont out. The cover is part of a kinky pattern in his "X-Men" stories. He really loved to put the team member's in bondage. As I've said before, he took full advantage of the Saint Andrew's Cross being in an x-shape. The cover of "Fever Dream" is just the most famous example.

The X-Men's Hellfire Club was inspired by "The Avengers" (as in the British spy show) episode "A Touch of Brimstone." Aired in 1966, the episode features Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) going undercover in a fetish club. The image of a famed Bond girl in a strapless black leotard and spiked collar definitely lingered in Claremont's mind.

Some of Claremont's "X-Men" creations, like Emma Frost and the Goblin Queen, are straight-up dominatrices (both women are telepaths who bend people to their will) and dress the part. Then there's the Hellfire Club's leader, Sebastian Shaw, a mutant who turns kinetic energy into physical strength — hitting him only makes him harder.

In "X-Men" #113, Magneto — freshly returned to his proper age after being turned into an infant (long story) — subjects the X-Men to the same indignity. He chains them all up and has them "cared for" by a robotic nanny, who treats them all like babies.

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Some other X-crucifixions: in "X-Men" #131, Emma Frost has a captured Storm affixed to a y-shaped cross, leaving Ororo's limbs in an x-pose.

Marvel Comics

In "Uncanny X-Men" #169, Callisto — queen of sewer-dwelling mutants the Morlocks — captures the X-Man Angel to be her prince. This cover (by Paul Smith and Danny Crespi) shows Angel in the same pose Silvestri/Green drew Logan in 80+ issues later.

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The "X-Men '97" cartoon got in the action recently with a collared, near-naked Magneto strapped to a Saint Andrew's Cross.

Marvel Animation

If Marvel movies have convinced you superheroes are sexless beings, read an "X-Men comic sometime. 

"Deadpool & Wolverine" is now playing in theaters.