Italian
A heartfelt farewell: Deadpool & Wolverine’s unexpected tribute to 20th Century Fox
A sentimental surprise in a summer blockbuster
For all the raunchy jokes, club drugs, buckets of blood, and meta punchlines, Deadpool & Wolverine may be the most sentimental movie of the summer. Fans of superhero films and Hollywood insiders were taken aback to discover that this Marvel blockbuster essentially serves as a heartfelt sendoff to 20th Century Fox.
The legacy of 20th Century Fox
Founded in 1935 and sold to Disney in 2019, 20th Century Fox was the birthplace of Deadpool, who first appeared on-screen in a skintight suit and pistols. It was also the studio behind two decades of Marvel films, most notably the X-Men series, which catapulted Hugh Jackman to stardom. These characters, originally from Marvel Comics, were licensed to Fox, operating outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The merger with Disney changed all that.
A tribute to the creatives
Amid the slapstick violence and fourth wall-breaking of Deadpool & Wolverine, there is a sincere tribute to the creatives who powered Fox’s Marvel machine. On a desert set meant to spoof Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, a skyscraper-sized statue of the 20th Century Fox logo is seen half-buried in the sand, evoking a sense of nostalgia and loss.
To honor the spandexed heroes whose cinematic exploits were cut short by corporate mergers or dwindling box office results, director Shawn Levy recruited a who’s who of discarded Marvel characters. This includes Jennifer Garner’s Elektra, Chris Evans’ Human Torch from Fantastic Four, and Wesley Snipes’ Blade. Even Channing Tatum appears as Gambit, a supernatural card shark whose greatest adversary was Fox’s greenlight committee.
A montage of memories
The end credits of Deadpool & Wolverine feature a montage of behind-the-scenes footage from Fox’s Marvel titles, set to Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).” This nostalgic look back resonates strongly with many of the projects’ filmmakers, actors, and executives, who weren’t expecting to get emotional watching a bawdy adventure.
The mixed legacy of Fox’s Marvel films
While fans may cherish many of these films, even their biggest admirers would likely admit that quality control wasn’t one of Fox’s superpowers. For every critical success like X2 or Logan, there’s a less beloved entry in the studio’s universe of costumed heroes. The less said about Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, the better.
Ryan Reynolds’ tribute
It’s surprising that a creative force like Ryan Reynolds, holding a blank check from Disney and Marvel, would use his first appearance in the MCU to eulogize 20th Century Fox. The $71.3 billion transaction that merged Fox with Disney may have made the Murdoch family very rich, but it left Hollywood with one less studio to produce movies and purged thousands of jobs. Reynolds seemed to sense that fans needed to close one chapter before a new one could be written.
The enduring impact of Fox’s Marvel films
20th Century Fox produced Marvel films at an impressive rate for two decades, averaging a new installment every two to three years for the X-Men franchise, with numerous spinoffs interspersed throughout. The studio gave us indelible cultural icons, with Jackman’s Wolverine carving out the most staying power. Characters like Halle Berry’s Storm, Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, and the blue-tinted Mystique (portrayed by Rebecca Romijn and later Jennifer Lawrence) are immortalized in Halloween costumes and TikTok makeup tutorials to this day.
The highs and lows
However, it wasn’t always a victory march, either with critics or at the box office. X-Men kicked things off in 2000 with an 82% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a $300 million gross on a $75 million budget. But Ben Affleck’s Daredevil and Garner’s Elektra sputtered out in the early 2000s. An early Fantastic Four attempt with Evans and Jessica Alba managed two movies with decent returns, but a 2015 reboot with a new cast was a financial disaster. Marvel will try again with 2025’s Fantastic Four: First Steps, enlisting the likes of Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby to finally deliver a super-team movie that lives up to its name.
A farewell to an era
Reynolds himself embraced the mixed track record after the blockbuster opening of Deadpool & Wolverine, posting on social media that the film was a “farewell to a place and an era that literally made us. We are forever grateful to the fun, weird, uneven, and risky world of 20th Century Fox.”
Explore more
For those interested in diving deeper into the legacy of these characters and films, check out the trailers and information pages for Deadpool, Wolverine, and X-Men. These links provide immediate access to additional details and multimedia resources, enriching your understanding and appreciation of these iconic films.
Deadpool & Wolverine serves as a poignant reminder of the creative legacy left behind by 20th Century Fox, a studio that dared to take risks and brought some of our favorite superheroes to life.
