Deadpool & Wolverine's Paradox Has Comic Book Backstory That Connects Him To A Beloved Character

Spoilers for "Deadpool & Wolverine" follow.

"Deadpool & Wolverine" builds on the Disney+ series "Loki," incorporating multiversal watchdogs the TVA (Time Variance Authority) and sending its heroes into the Void, a wasteland where those from "pruned" timelines go for final disposal. 

The ruler of the Void is Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), mutant super-villainess and evil twin of Professor X, but she's only one half of the movie's big bads. The other is rogue TVA agent Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen), who wants to destroy Wade Wilson's (Ryan Reynolds) timeline because he can't be bothered with monitoring it. 

Macfadyen plays Paradox like he did Tom Wambsgans on "Succession," though this time with his natural British accent. Paradox definitely seems like a chap who'd use a TVA agent or two as a human footstool. He's a soulless middle manager who smiles while crushing others, but in the end his ambition exceeds his competence, and next to greater forces of evil he looks hapless. 

Comic Paradox is an incredibly minor character (he has one comic appearance according to the Marvel wiki, in issue #3 of Dan Slott's run on "She-Hulk"), but he has a connection to a more important one: Mobius M. Mobius, the TVA agent played by Owen Wilson in "Loki." In the comics, Mr. Paradox is a clone of Mobius, alongside other TVA managers like Mr. Tesseract, Mr. Ouroboros, etc. "Deadpool & Wolverine" never connects Mobius and Paradox, aside from them both working for the TVA. Macfadyen isn't exactly a dead ringer for Wilson, either.

It's just as well, though, since Mobius isn't in "Deadpool & Wolverine." (Owen Wilson would've been another thick line item in the movie's cameo budget.) Without him present, there's no point in explaining his connection to Paradox; the movie leaning even more on "Loki" would risk confusing people who haven't watched it and have no clue who Mobius is. 

Since there is such limited source material for Paradox, too, it's likely the movie just appropriated the name to fit its TVA agent villain. A "paradox" means a self-contradiction, and it's been used as the name for a physics theory about time travel (as seen in movies like "Avengers: Endgame"). For instance, if a time traveler changes something in the past, the future they came from can no longer exist. Thus, it's a fitting name for a character who monitors different timelines, regardless of whether you're unfamiliar with its comic roots.

Paradox also lacks Mobius' distinctive mustache, a feature that itself has a backstory. Mobius was created by comic writer/artist Walter Simonson, introduced in "Fantastic Four" #346. Simonson drew Mobius as resembling one of his Marvel Comics colleagues: the late Mark Gruenwald, who was famously an expert on comic book continuity. (This skill set netted him a tenure as Marvel's executive editor.) Gruenwald was — both in real life and the pages of Marvel Comics — the man ensuring everything flowed smoothly from point A to point B. Later, it was established that Mobius himself is a clone of Mr. Alternity, leader of the TVA. Alternity (created by Gruenwald and Mike Gustovich) was drawn in the likeness of Tom DeFalco, who was then Marvel Comics editor in chief.

The TVA is, especially in "Deadpool & Wolverine," presented as a stand-in for Marvel Studios itself, "pruning timelines" being akin to canceling movies. Its metatextual puppet master role in the Marvel Universe is nothing new.

"Deadpool & Wolverine" is playing in theaters.