8 Well-Hidden References in Deadpool & Wolverine

Besides superheroes, the Marvel blockbuster has a lot of nods to real life and popular culture. Were you able to catch them?

Deadpool & Wolverine will certainly go down in history as one of the most joyously meta films of its generation, multiplying its digs at the MCU (and superheroes in general) without being too afraid to put its foot in it. But some more subtle references can get lost, eclipsed by the flow of words that escape from the mask worn by Ryan Reynolds or by the spectacular action sequences of the film directed by Shawn Levy.

Yet, beyond a superheroic intimacy, and as in all the films of the saga Dead Poolthe screenwriters took some liberties with the Fourth Wall, projecting into this third part a contemporary je-ne-sais-quoi, a string of jokes resolutely anchoring the film in popular culture and in the collective imagination of 2024.

Here is a (necessarily) non-exhaustive list of these deciphered references. Warning, this article contains spoilers!

Deadpool & Wolverine Accomplishes Its Mission (Review)

A Canadian who has had enough

After a credits sequence danced to *NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye”, Deadpool returns to the fight against the henchmen of the TVA (Tribunal of Anachronistic Variations), whom he leads armed only with Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton. Shocked by a most graphic scene, one of the soldiers denounces this sacrilege, Logan being, in his words, “the only thing worth having ever come out of Canada”. Enough to make the blood boil for our anti-hero, and under the mask, for his interpreter Ryan Reynolds, originally from Vancouver, British Columbia. “Keep my country’s name out of your f*cking mouth” (or in the original version, “Keep the name of my country out of your f*cking mouth”), he says before throwing one of his katanas at his face. Does that remind you of anything?

And yes, it seems to be good. “the incident” from the slap of Will Smith at the Oscars that Ryan Reynolds parodies here. On March 27, 2022, during the 94th ceremony organized by the Academy, the American actor went on stage at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood and slapped Chris Rock after the latter’s allusion to his wife’s alopecia Jada Pinkett-Smith. Returning to his seat after this outburst (in the most literal sense of the term), he had roared at his colleague: “Keep my wife’s name out of your f*cking mouth”.

This is not the first time this year that we have been treated to a reference to this event, which put a stop to Will Smith’s career. Back on the bill for Bad Boys Last June, Will Smith, or rather his character, got a slap in the face, a way of coming full circle. Coming full circle once again through his appearance in Deadpool 3.

Objective moon

No one is spared in the saga Dead Poolnot even entire nations. Besides, in this latest opus, Ryan Reynolds almost got Denmark on his back. Explanations: when he has just accepted to work for the TVA, Deadpool asks what his work rhythm as a space-time traveler will be. His preference? One week on/one week off, the rhythm preferred by the Danes according to him. Still according to his words: “You’ll never see a Danish flag on the moon, but boy, are they happy!”

Perhaps a reference to Copenhagen Suborbitals, an amateur NGO created with the goal of sending a crew into orbit? Made up of fifty-five volunteers, Copenhagen Suborbitals is supposed to compete with Russia, the United States and China and become the fourth nation to send a human into space.

Asked about this at a London press conference, Reynolds humorously backpedaled:

“Listen Denmark, it was a joke. I don’t think they have a week/week work organization. I’ve been to Denmark and Copenhagen several times. It’s a very beautiful place. They know how to live.”

MJ for…?

Another star, another scandal. Will Smith is not the only one to take a little tackle in Deadpool 3. Since he was contacted by the TVA and Mr. Paradox, Wade Wilson aka Deadpool has decided to give himself another alias: Marvel Jesus. All this because all he has learned about the complicated issues of the multiverse and his universe in particular is that there are “agglomerators” around which the different worlds are built. Telling him that the agglomerator of his world was Logan doesn’t change anything: Deadpool proclaims himself the new Messiah of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, aka Marvel Jesus.

Later in the film, Deadpool and Wolverine meet Cassandra Nova in the Vortex. Deadpool introduces himself to Charles Xavier’s twin sister as the “Marvel Jesus, MJ for short.” A French translation that does not do justice to the original version, which instead says: “MJ if you’re nasty”. In other words, “GM for the villains”. A way of referring to another very famous MJ, both for being the King of Pop and for the accusations of sexual assault that multiplied against him from the 1990s. A certain Michael Jackson.

Melomania

Hugh Jackman himself is the target of Wade Wilson’s mockery. Just before the film’s release, the soundtrack was unveiled, revealing that the song “The Greatest Show”taken from a musical produced and performed for the big screen by Hugh Jackman, could be heard in the film. This is indeed the case, even if this furtive happening will surely have escaped those who have too distant a memory of the film and its soundtrack.

Launched into a road trip in the middle of a Vortex populated with a thousand dangers, Deadpool and Wolverine exchange a slew of insults, quickly transformed into a sophisticated fight confined to the passenger compartment of the minivan in which they were traveling. Pushed, Logan bumps into the car radio, which starts up. We have time to hear the beginning of a melody sung by a choir before Wolverine hits the machine again and the famous “You’re The One That I Want” ofOlivia Newton-John And John Travolta does not launch.

As you will have understood, the first song heard was good “The Greatest Show”which we ultimately did not have the leisure to listen to in its entirety. Like a snub to the fans of The Greatest Showman or Hugh Jackman.

But this is not the only reference to the career of the Australian actor, which began, as many already know, on the boards. Inside the fortress of Cassandra Nova (which is actually Antman’s armor), facing the super-villain, Deadpool threatens to let Jackman play “the whole act 2 of The Music Man without having to warm up”. This Broadway musical created in the 1950s was performed on stage by Hugh Jackman in 2020. A joke that has all the more weight when we know that a scene, ultimately cut from the script, saw the actor perform (naked, he specifies), a cover of “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues” ofElton John. A missed opportunity?

Peace and love

Another reference linked to this cramped fighting scene, the “COEXIST” visible on the back of the car, and which seems to make a nod to the disagreement between Logan and Wade Wilson, really exists. It is an image designed by a Polish artist, Piotr Młodożeniec as part of a competition around the themes of dialogue, understanding and coexistence organized in the early 2000s.

Covered by the rock group U2 during the Vertigo Tour, this logo sees the word “COEXIST” written in capital letters, with an Islamic crescent instead of the C, a Star of David instead of the X and a Christian cross instead of the T. The one seen in the film is more complete, also with a sign “Peace and Love” instead of the O, a mixture of the masculine and feminine symbols as an E, a pentagram to replace the point of the I and the symbol of Yin and Yang around the S.

This version was popularized by an American named Jerry Jaspar, and released as a bumper sticker in response to the war waged on Iraqi and Afghan soil after the September 11 attacks.

In Deadpool & Wolverineit is taken up to establish an ironic parallel between the pacifist state of mind of Nicepool – who kindly lends his car to the two anti-heroes – and the disaffection reigning between the two traveling companions.

An amicable divorce?

Elektra makes her big comeback in Deadpool & Wolverine. That’s it, it is said.

But besides the character, it is above all Jennifer Garner who returns to wield the sai: nineteen years after the film’s release Elektra under the Fox banner, twenty-one years after that of Daredevilon the set of which she slips into the shoes of the hitwoman for the first time.

It was also on this occasion that Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleckwho plays the character of Daredevil, are – according to rumors – fallen in love, a few years after the filming of Pearl Harbor on which they had met.

In Deadpool 3despite the proliferation of cameos, no Daredevil or Ben Affleck in sight. The reason? According to Elektra, Cassandra Nova killed the superhero with a snap of her stringy fingers. But when Deadpool offers his condolences, she shrugs before responding: “It doesn’t matter”. In short, a little scathing dig at his ex-partner, who has since remarried. Jennifer Lopez which he already frequented in the 2000s.

An offer Ryan Reynolds can’t refuse

Ryan Reynolds himself does not escape the scathing derision of Dead Pool and its storyline. In addition to being confronted by a perfect version of himself – Nicepool – the super-anti-hero also sees this alter-ego playing his own game, breaking the Fourth Wall, and whispering to the camera (in a very random way, it must be said) two words: “The Proposal.”

Proposal is a romantic comedy released in 2009. Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock They play an employee and his boss, forced to get engaged when the latter discovers that his green card is no longer up to date.

Nominated for Golden Globes, Satellite Awards and Teen Choice Awards, Proposal is quickly becoming a classic in Reynolds’ filmography, and in the rom-com genre in general.

With family

In a way, Deadpool 3 is a family film. You just have to ignore its 12+ rating and turn to Ryan Reynolds’ private life, which he shamelessly infuses into it.

Blake Livelyhis wife, is at the top of the list of occurrences. She is the one who hides under the mask of Lady Deadpool during the Battle of the Pools. But before that, the film makes references to the actress several times.

From the opening scene, Deadpool gives a not-so-subtle nod to the series that made the American actress famous in the 2000s: “There are 206 bones in the human body,” he said. “207 if I look Gossip Girl”. A salacious image, certainly, but one that refers to his wife without detour.

Later, it’s Nicepool who teases the arrival of Blake Lively as Lady Deadpool by referring to the superheroine’s recent childbirth. “It doesn’t look like she gave birth four months ago.”he exclaims, before Deadpool reminds him that a woman’s physique is not something to comment on. However, this is indeed the case, since the actress who plays Serena van der Woodsen in Gossip Girl recently gave birth to their fourth child.

After that, Deadpool laments wandering hands and threatens to kill him. “complain to Blake”.

But the actress isn’t the only member of the Reynolds family that Ryan managed to squeeze into his casting and myriad references, as some of their children appear in the film’s credits. Their son James is credited as “screaming mutant” and Inez plays Kidpool. As for Betty, it is under the designation “Hugh Jackman’s Guardian” (she will celebrate her 5th birthday in October) that we find her in the end credits, which gives us the image of a very family-oriented shoot.

Deadpool & Wolverinestarring Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and Emma Corrinis currently showing in movie theaters.