Deadpool & Wolverine Ending Explained: What's Next For Wade & Logan?

Warning: This ending explainer contains major spoilers for "Deadpool & Wolverine." Read at your own risk.

What's next for Wade & Logan, you ask? Well, it depends on which Wade & Logan we're talking about.

The issue with that question, and one of the major issues with "Deadpool & Wolverine" (if not the entire Multiverse Saga) is one of variants. When the Marvel Cinematic Universe began back in the merry days of 2008, a post-credits tease at the end of Jon Favreau's "Iron Man" promised more Marvel characters would make it to the big screen and share space. As this shot-calling prophecy came to pass, it wasn't just a fulfillment of the pipe dreams of so many comic book lovers; it was also a promise that these characters would be done the "right" way.

That's because, until the MCU began, Marvel characters on screen had been handled by other studios — namely Sony and 20th Century Fox — who dared to reconceptualize certain canonic aspects of these heroes. As the more "accurate" MCU grew to heights of rabid popularity, the Sony and Fox-produced Marvel films (which were once the only game in town) now seemed odd and almost quaint. They were the kooky underdogs, after a fashion, and it's in that spirit that 2016's "Deadpool" and its sequel, 2018's "Deadpool 2," felt genuinely subversive. Those films had no need to assuage MCU management; they could throw up a middle finger at themselves, other comic book films, and geek culture with abandon.

Now, with "Deadpool & Wolverine," we have a movie that's ostensibly a swan song for the Fox-verse which also welcomes the two titular un-killable mutants to the MCU. Yet this film canonically does not feature the same old Wolverine, and, in essence, the old Deadpool is gone, too.

"Deadpool & Wolverine" begins in medias res, whereupon Deadpool/Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) arrives at the gravesite of Wolverine/James "Logan" Howlett (Hugh Jackman), where the character had been buried at the conclusion of "Logan." Assuming that Logan's mutant healing factor means that there's no way he could be actually dead (forgetting that Logan's loss of his healing ability was a major aspect of that story), Deadpool digs up Wolverine's remains, which consist of just an adamantium skeleton. He's indeed, very dead.

Agents of the Time Variance Authority show up to stop Deadpool, and the Merc with a Mouth brutally defeats them during an opening credit sequence set to *NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye." As the title comes up, Wade catches the audience up on what's been going on since "Deadpool 2." Wade is not sheepish about abusing time — and universe —jumping devices, having apparently used the time travel device from Cable to jump to Earth-616 aka The Sacred Timeline back in 2018 to beg "Happy" Hogan (Jon Favreau) for a place in the Avengers. Hogan tells Wade that the Merc needs it too much as opposed to others needing him, beginning a runner of meta text about Deadpool (and Reynolds himself) nakedly wishing to be a part of the big leagues.

A dejected Wade then went back to his timeline, Earth-10005, and lost his mojo, letting his relationship with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) lapse as well as quitting Deadpool-ing and instead working as a used car salesman with his old X-Force buddy, Peter (Rob Delaney). Even Wade's birthday party is an uncomfortably odd affair, for while Vanessa still attends (explaining that she's currently dating some guy from her job) and a few others from the "Deadpool" supporting cast are around (including Leslie Uggams' delightful Blind Al and Brianna Hildebrand's Negasonic Teenage Warhead), there are some notable folks missing, including Domino and Cable. In all aspects, we're already witnessing a distinctly different Deadpool.

While Wade is feeling his most worthless, the Merc is abducted by the TVA and brought to their headquarters by Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen). He informs Wade that the TVA is interested in bringing Deadpool over to the Sacred Timeline, hinting that he may have a "special" purpose (read: MCU) in the future, a hint of that being a glimpse Wade catches of a dying Deadpool in the arms of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), who is crying over the Merc's body.

Deadpool is all for joining the Sacred Timeline, but then Paradox informs him that it will be Deadpool joining only; his timeline, Earth-10005, is irrevocably dying out given the loss of its "anchor being": Logan. Refusing to lose his friends, Wade swipes Paradox's TemPad and bounces around the multiverse, looking for the perfect (and still surviving) Logan. After too many rejects (aka Logans who instantly try to kill him), Deadpool ends up finding a washed-up Wolverine who's too sad to fight, having become an alcoholic after allowing his world to come to ruin.

Bringing this Wolverine back to the TVA, Paradox informs Deadpool that an anchor being cannot be replaced with a variant. To add insult to injury, not only is Deadpool's timeline doomed regardless, but Paradox is looking to speed up the process by way of a device known as a Time Ripper, which will hopefully prove to TVA management that the organization can be run much more efficiently (or, in meta parlance, old continuities and characters like those of the Fox films can be discarded). When Deadpool and Wolverine protest, Paradox has the two pruned and sent to the Void (which, as Deadpool helpfully breaks the fourth wall to explain, was last seen at the end of season 1 of the Disney+ series, "Loki").

It seems that the corner of the Void that Deadpool & Wolverine are sent to is one rampant with variants (aka Marvel movie characters) who are no longer active, as evidenced by the crumbling 20th Century Fox logo in the ground. As Wade and an ornery Logan have their first angry bout together, it gets interrupted by the appearance of Chris Evans ... as Johnny Storm/the Human Torch, of the late "Fantastic Four." After Johnny explains that the Void is now ruled over by a megalomaniacal, all-powerful despot, the three men are captured and brought to the lair of this despot: Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin). Living inside the corpse of what used to be a Giant-Man variant, Nova is the mad twin sister of Professor Charles Xavier, and her power set seems to match his, though her version of his powers is far more violent and invasive.

After Wade insults Cassandra to her face under the guise of just relaying horrific insults that Johnny supposedly said earlier, Nova strips Johnny of his skin before threatening to kill Deadpool and Wolverine with her minions. These minions seem to be primarily made up of evil mutants; variants of Lady Deathstrike, Toad, Azazel, Juggernaut, and so on.

Nova has a few more powerful weapons in her arsenal, however: for one, she has a black belt in emotional manipulation, keying in on Wade's incessant need to be someone who matters. For another, she has a symbiotic relationship with the Void creature known as Alioth (again, see "Loki" season 1), which she attempts to feed Logan and Wade to. However, the mutants are too fast for the roving Void beast and escape via a nearby jetpack to another area of the Void.

In the tradition of nearly every buddy movie ever made, Deadpool & Wolverine are shown to be a mismatched couple who are ready to throw down at a moment's notice. Their banter here seems mostly relegated to whoever can throw out the most F-bombs — a quality that does seem on par with the heretofore chaste demeanor fostered by Marvel's parent company of Disney — but seems hopelessly juvenile when compared to the deft way a single F-bomb was deployed in the other Fox "X-Men" films (even including the R-rated ribaldry of the first two "Deadpool" movies). Even though both of these guys have used an F-bomb or two in the past, they still feel pretty different here.

Adding to the multiversal uncanny valley is the appearance of Nicepool (also Reynolds), an outwardly zen and physically beautiful Deadpool who seems very content and has his own adorably goofy-looking dog in a Deadpool costume, Mary Puppins AKA Dogpool. Nicepool helps Wade and Logan get to some transportation, which to their dismay is merely an old Honda Odyssey.

As Deadpool and Wolverine traverse across the Void (which seems to be made up of a series of bland-looking sparse environments, a stark contrast to Marvel Studios' other recent "stuck inside another realm" movie, "Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania"), Wade inadvertently lets it slip that he's not 100% positive that this Logan's timeline can be fixed. Infuriated that his chance to undo his past mistakes now seems unlikely, Logan once again attacks Deadpool, and the two really mess up the interior of the Odyssey before they're captured and abducted by a new group of characters.

Turns out this new group of characters is actually an old group of characters: Wade and Logan have been brought to a shelter used by Blade (Wesley Snipes), Elektra (Jennifer Garner), and a variant of Gambit (Channing Tatum), on the insistence of Laura/X-23 (Dafne Keen), the clone/surrogate daughter of Logan from "Logan." Turns out that these heroes from the past (or, in Gambit's case, an almost-was) have been under Nova's thumb in the Void for ages, and have been waiting for the right circumstances to strike back. Deadpool rallies the group, firing them up to finally go take the fight to Cassandra — except Logan, who refuses.

Later, Laura goes to speak to this new Logan alone and gets him to confess his tragic backstory. This Logan has never been a joiner, having refused to team up with his world's X-Men when they needed him, and it's that choice that helped lead to their untimely deaths. As penance, Logan has worn his Wolverine costume that they made for him ever since, drinking himself into a continuous stupor due to guilt. "You got the wrong guy," Logan observes regretfully, to which Laura flips back on him, telling him her Wolverine wasn't the guy, either, until it counted, and then he absolutely was.

Newly roused by this talk, Wolverine agrees to join the others in a grand attack on Nova's compound. As the group realizes that only a special psychic-blocking helmet will work against Cassandra's powers (and, much to Wade's dismay, a Magneto variant is no longer around), they concur that their primary objective will be to obtain Juggernaut's helmet and use it against her.

As this new makeshift superhero team attacks Cassandra Nova's evil lair, things appear to go awry almost immediately: Blade, Elektra, Gambit, and X-23 are woefully outnumbered, and Wolverine confronts Nova only to be waylaid by her awesome powers. Nova invades Logan's mind, discovering that his deepest trauma involves him running away from the myriad voices that haunt his every waking moment, the voices of the people he failed. Nova promises that she can silence those voices forever if he surrenders to her will.

Surprise; Logan's only been stalling Nova long enough for Laura and Wade to decapitate Juggernaut, remove his helmet, and place it on Cassandra's head, robbing her of her powers. As Wade and Logan debate whether to end Nova's life or not, Pyro (Aaron Stanford), one of Nova's crew, takes the opportunity to shoot Nova point blank several times, revealing that he's actually been a mole working with Paradox all along in order to keep Nova in check.

Understanding that Paradox and his Time Ripper are the bigger threat they need to face, Deadpool & Wolverine free Nova from the helmet in exchange for her getting them back to Earth-10005. Using a Sling Ring she'd taken from a Doctor Strange variant, Nova opens a portal for Deadpool & Wolverine to leap into, just as Alioth arrives to have some lunch.

Back on Earth-10005, Wade and Logan are about to get to the business of stopping Paradox from erasing Deadpool's timeline, when they realize that Nova has followed them through the portal as well. Nova invades Paradox's mind, learning all about the Time Ripper, and discovers that she can use it instead to erase not just this timeline but every timeline, bringing all beings to the Void and under her dominance.

As Cassandra heads down into a nearby subway tunnel that leads to the Time Ripper that Paradox's TVA goons have built, she allows some Deadpool variants loyal to her cause to come through the portal behind her; a lot of Deadpool variants, actually. Wade realizes that he can't convince the variants otherwise once they brutally shoot the healing factor-less Nice Deadpool to death (who, to be fair, is being used by Deadpool as a human shield). Deadpool and Wolverine (the latter being very eager to slaughter some Deadpools) then embark on a rip-roaring action sequence set to Madonna's "Like a Prayer," cutting down Deadpools left and right. Of course, this is all for naught, because it turns out that Nicepool was the only Deadpool variant without a healing factor.

Just as it seems like Wade & Logan are in for an endless fight, Peter turns up in a Deadpool costume, eager to rejoin his friend after he'd learned that he was back in Deadpool mode. Seems that all Deadpools both have a Peter and worship Peter, so thanks to Peter's plea for peace, the variants finally back off.

Running down to face Cassandra and stop the Time Ripper, Paradox informs Wade & Logan that there's no possible way to stop her...at least, not without sacrifice. It seems that the Time Ripper can be destroyed if someone pulls out the Matter and Antimatter cords that connect it which are stored in a chamber below the device, but that much Matter and Antimatter would vaporize anyone to bits, even if they have a mutant healing factor.

Both Deadpool and Wolverine volunteer for the job; the former to hopefully, finally matter, the latter to atone for his sins and send Deadpool back to his extended family. Just as Logan is ready to enter the chamber and sacrifice himself, Deadpool swindles him, heading into the chamber instead. This being Deadpool, he refers to Spock's sacrifice from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," one of the touchstones of geek/Comic-Con/fandom culture that helped lead to the dominance of the MCU and this film we're currently watching.

As a choral version of "Like a Prayer" kicks onto the soundtrack, it seems that Deadpool is very insistent that he fulfill his imposed (self- or corporate-mandated?) role of "Marvel Jesus," saving the Marvel Universe all by himself. Yet Logan will not be denied, and he bursts into the chamber, grabbing Wade's hand and allowing him to make a connection between the poles of Matter and Antimatter, the two heroes sharing the load in a manner not unlike the climax of the first "Guardians of the Galaxy." Thanks to their efforts, the timeline is restored, the Time Ripper is destroyed, Cassandra Nova is seemingly disintegrated, and they both survive.

Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) of the TVA discovers what's been going on, and arrives to both arrest Paradox and inform Wade & Logan that Earth-10005 is no longer dying and that there's no need for Logan to time travel back into his timeline to try and fix things, since its everything he's done up until this point that's allowed this timeline to be saved. A grateful Logan gets shawarma with Wade, the hatchet of their tenuous friendship is buried, and Wade invites Logan to his birthday party re-do.

The whole gang is back, including Laura, thanks to help from the TVA. Wade confesses to Vanessa that he did it all for her, and in contrast to the scene of their breakup that we saw earlier where a faithless Wade couldn't fight for their love, Vanessa tenderly accepts Wade's efforts (with no mention of this guy she's supposedly seeing).

So, it seems that Deadpool & Wolverine have survived the death of their timeline(s) to fight another day; but what that means exactly is still very unclear. At present, neither character is in the "Sacred Timeline" of the MCU, but they have a relationship with it. Will their further adventures happen on Earth-10005 until Hugh Jackman, er, Logan is 90 years old? Or will they just show up for "Avengers" crossover films from time to time?

As a post-credits scene shows, Deadpool proves via camera footage that Johnny Storm indeed said all those naughty things about Nova, meaning Wade was telling the truth. An honest, forthright, "Marvel Jesus" Wade? A sorta-resurrected Logan? That's the Deadpool & Wolverine we have now, and your mileage may vary whether you want to continue to see them, or, like the "Seinfeld" finale-referencing end credit reel of Fox Marvel films implies, you're sad to see the old versions go.