Deadpool & Wolverine, the Merc with a Mouth’s first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is coming out on July 26, 2024. While waiting, you might want to watch the following movies and TV shows from the MCU.
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Deadpool is due to have his long-awaited film debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Deadpool & Wolverine, which will be released on July 26. With interconnected threads of media being the hallmark of the MCU, why not catch up a bit with these TV shows and films before the Ryan Reynolds film hits the silver screens?
Loki
Based on the two trailers released to promote Deadpool and Wolverine, the Time Variance Authority is central to the film’s plot. To understand TVA, there’s no better material to peruse before watching the film than Loki's two seasons.
Loki follows the God of Mischief variant that made it out of the Battle of New York in Avengers: Endgame as he struggles to find his purpose and identity while helping the TVA deal with the most significant threat the Multiverse has yet to face.
The series, which spanned two seasons on Disney+, is connected to the current MCU phase set to conclude in the yet-untitled Avengers 5.
Deadpool
Deadpool is the eponymous first film featuring Ryan Reynolds as the titular character, which, by the way, ignores the first Deadpool that appeared in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine film, also portrayed by Reynolds.
It is an origin story, with a considerable part of the film devoted to flashbacks showing how Wade Wilson, a former Canadian special forces operative, turned mercenary and became the mutant he is after contracting cancer.
Deadpool introduces several characters, such as Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and Deadpool’s love interest, Vanessa.
Deadpool 2
The acclaimed sequel to the first Deadpool film, the movie shows the Merc with a Mouth on an unusual mission—protecting a boy named Russell Collins from a cybernetic soldier, Cable, who has travelled from the future specifically to assassinate him.
For this mission, Deadpool teams up with a woman calling herself Domino, who is extremely lucky that her luck almost feels like a superpower. Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Colossus also return in this film, while several previous X-Men actors, such as James MacAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters, and Hugh Jackman, make cameos.
The film also gained attention for casting Josh Brolin as Cable in his second Marvel role after Thanos in Infinity War, released in the same year, and Endgame, which dropped to theatres in 2019.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Although the Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine could be considered a variant of the 20th Century Fox Wolverine that Hugh Jackman played, the two characters nevertheless share the same origin story - and the same actor - that you’ll learn about in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Released in 2009, this film takes place before the timeline of two of Fox's original X-Men films. It shows Wolverine’s personal history, which stretches back to the American Civil War, and the events that led to his participation in Colonel William Stryker’s Weapon X project, where he gained his adamantium skeleton.
Although this film was Ryan Reynolds’ first project as Deadpool, it has nothing to do with his subsequent films as the Merc with a Mouth. The film is also notable for featuring several mutants, including Blob, Gambit, and Sabertooth.
The Wolverine
The Wolverine follows Logan immediately after the events of X3: Last Stand.
Tormented by his decision to murder Jean Grey at the end of the third X-Men film, Logan travels to Japan at the behest of an old acquaintance who owes him a life debt. Upon arrival, he was immediately embroiled in a corporate ownership conflict within a large zaibatsu.
The Wolverine shows what it is like for Wolverine to lose the healing factor that’s solely responsible for his longevity. It foreshadows what’s to come in the last film in the Wolverine trilogy - Logan.
The Wolverine also features Hiroyuki Sanada in his first Marvel role before Avengers: Endgame.
Logan
Logan concludes the Wolverine trilogy, after which Hugh Jackman retires after nearly 20 years of playing the role. Of course, Deadpool and Wolverine would break that retirement.
Partially based on the Old Man Logan comic books, the film shows an elderly Logan taking care of an equally old Charles Xavier. Both are mere shadows of their former selves, with Logan’s healing factor slowed down considerably and Professor X’s telepathic powers suppressed by medication.
Logan also introduces the character of X-23, played by Dafne Keen. Keen was also rumoured to appear in Deadpool & Wolverine, but there is still no official confirmation.
These films should be enough to give you an understanding of the characters of Deadpool and Wolverine, as well as the concept of the TVA and the Multiverse before Deadpool & Wolverine comes to theatres in July.
If you’d like, you could also watch the first X-Men trilogy and the reboot series X-Men First Class, together with Days of Future Past.