Fun fan service and superb superhero shenanigans highlight the immensely entertaining Deadpool & Wolverine, a viciously violent and proudly profane buddy action comedy that will especially play well with MCU devotees.

A knowledge of Marvel superhero movie lore and appetite for Ryan Reynolds’ particular brand of humour is needed for Deadpool & Wolverine to truly leave its mark. Deadpool & Wolverine is very much a movie made for the fans, with their dream of seeing two of the most popular X-Men characters sharing the screen in an R-rated capacity now a reality, and it is worth the wait.

Directed by Shawn Levy (Free Guy) and marking the return of Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine, Deadpool & Wolverine is also a satire of the superhero movie industry, with the Walt Disney buyout of 20th Century Fox the basis in a multiverse hopping buddy comedy that is as bloody as it is bonkers.

Reynolds stars as motormouth mutant mercenary Wade Wilson aka Deadpool, who after laying down his guns and focusing on living a “normal life” is thrust back into the red spandex when informed that his world – or timeline – will cease to exist since its “anchor character” Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) has died. Deadpool’s solution? Find a Wolverine from another timeline to exist in his. This quest leads him to the “worst” Wolverine who we first meet as a drunken pit of restrained despair over a tragedy he inadvertently brought to fruition.

There is a lot to take on with Deadpool & Wolverine, with the script sure to confuse the uninitiated with its constant references to superhero movies of the past, while those in the know will be perplexed by the consistent plot holes found in the films’ multiverse jumping exploits.

Levy, however, brings to Deadpool & Wolverine a joyfully cheeky spirit that never lets up in its aim to entertain in its own particularly violent and maturely immature way. The performances of Reynolds and Jackman is, of course, a big reason why Deadpool & Wolverine works so well. Like all successful buddy action comedies, the chemistry between morbid clown Reynolds and brooding straight-man Jackman is off-the-charts good. Jackman is especially pivotal in his portrayal of a down and out Logan wallowing in bottom-of-the-bottle regret bringing some depth to what could have easily – yet thankfully does not – become a soulless endeavour.

The constant jabs towards the superhero movie industry throughout Deadpool & Wolverine are smart and funny and brings to the fore both the silliness and the passion superhero movie fans have for watching grown men and women duke it out in battles to save the world. After a dull period of superhero movie films post Avengers: Endgame, Deadpool & Wolverine reminds why so many people like these movies when they are done right.