Deadpool & Wolverine's Most Shocking Moment Demands A Closer Look

You know the drill: Here's your warning that this article contains major spoilers for "Deadpool & Wolverine."

Those mad men really did it. It was always obvious that the various trailers for "Deadpool & Wolverine" were holding back in a big way — but few of us could've guessed just how many surprises were laying in wait for us. Once Hugh Jackman officially boarded the threequel, director Shawn Levy and star (and co-writer) Ryan Reynolds went full steam ahead in packing the script with every zany idea they possibly could. According to /Film's review by Chris Evangelista, that leaves us with a joke-riddled, cameo-heavy experience that's less than the sum of its parts. But, chances are, those of you who clicked this particular headline (sorry Deadpool, but you're not the only one here capable of breaking the fourth wall!) are more interested in digging deep into the most fanboy-friendly and downright spoilery moments that likely left you buzzing while leaving the theater on opening night.

But with so many memorable scenes to pick from, which one stands out as the most shocking one of them all? It's tough to top the visual of Deadpool literally digging up the corpse of Wolverine from the end of "Logan," of course, and not a single one of us had any idea that the two superheroes would end up fighting alongside the most unexpected team of misfits in superhero movie history: Wesley Snipes' Blade, Jennifer Garner's Elektra (okay, that one we had some inkling about), Channing Tatum as Gambit, and even Dafne Keen reprising her role as X-23/Laura. But all of that pales in comparison to the real scene-stealing appearance a little more than half an hour into the film. Yeah, you know the one: Chris Evans suiting up once again ... as Johnny Storm.

Oh Captain, my Captain! Ever since Evans' rode off into the sunset at the end of "Avengers: Endgame" and put a bow on his beloved portrayal of Steve Rogers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans have been waiting — nay, expecting — his grand return as Captain America in some superhero movie down the line. Ideally, it would've been something like "Secret Wars" or whatever "X-Men" and "Avengers" crossover that Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige almost certainly has in the works, but there was always a chance that "Deadpool & Wolverine" could jump the gun and beat everyone to the punch. And it certainly did ... in a manner of speaking, at least.

After Wade Wilson and Logan end up pruned by the nefarious villain Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) and wind up in the Void, as seen in the Disney+ series "Loki," even the most casual of fans had to have sat up and taken notice. Here, the nexus between the MCU's ongoing multiverse obsession and its singular focus on nostalgic cameos finally meet as we hear an awfully familiar off-screen voice and, weirdly, see a silhouette of someone sporting some very Captain America-looking threads. But just as Deadpool mouths off and hypes up the arrival of Marvel's boy scout, we instead get the signature catchphrase of "Flame on!" and everything suddenly clicks into place. Whether merely a variant of the character we saw in 2005's "Fantastic Four" or the hero himself, it almost doesn't even matter. Evans' hotheaded Johnny Storm has returned for the first time in 17 years and he's as brash, impulsive, and annoyingly charming as ever — in other words, a perfect fit for Deadpool.

But even that's nothing compared to what comes next.

Well, Johnny finally flew a little too close to the sun. As shocking as his mere presence may have been in "Deadpool & Wolverine," the real shocker comes when the trio of misfits are taken against their will to the lair of Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), the supervillain banished to the Void as a result of the existential threat she poses to the rest of the Sacred Timeline. An antagonist carrying some seriously bizarre comic-book origins, the twin sister of the great Charles Xavier isn't to be trifled with ... but that's exactly what Deadpool does, anyway. In the first of many instances of our Merc with a Mouth putting others directly in harm's way to save his own skin, he basically sells poor Johnny out and tells Cassandra all about the awful, vulgar insults he (supposedly) said about the all-powerful mutant villain. Having already demonstrated a taste of what she's capable of, we finally see the full extent of Cassandra's powers when she flicks her wrist and strips away Johnny's skin until he collapses into a bloody mess of muscle, organs, and bones. Gross! Hilarious, but gross.

Rest in peace, Johnny Storm, we hardly knew ya. It's an ignominious end for a character who waited over a decade and a half to finally appear on the big screen again but, well, that's what you get when you're part of a now-defunct franchise showing up in the MCU through the magic of the multiverse — after all, this gory precedent was set in "Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness." "Deadpool & Wolverine" takes this to even greater (and funnier) extremes, and the end result is one of the most shocking MCU moments in years.

"Deadpool & Wolverine" is now playing in theaters.