OPINION: Hypocrite

I’ve repeatedly put superhero movies, the largest example of franchise-based media, in the crosshairs. I’ve echoed feelings of fatigue from movies released five times a year of underdog heroes triumphing over evil (eight times if the year is 2023).

In the almost five decades since 1978′s “Superman,” the genre explored the dramatic and comedic, will it be somber or bombastic? Marvel’s snark versus DC’s melodrama were two sides of a coin as both brands tried to ape the other.

Even the attempts at subverting the genre to an adult audience with movies like “Deadpool” and “Joker” would only serve to push more blood, more destruction, more spectacle to a subservient audience who would rather see the next chapter in their infinitely-increasing tome of fandom than take the slightest chance at something meaningful.

Now, let me tell you a secret: I actually do enjoy superhero movies. In fact, superhero movies, specifically Marvel in the mid ‘10s, were what got me into movies as I burned TV broadcasts of recent installments onto blank DVDs in my summer off-time (surprisingly, as long as I don’t sell the disk, it’s legal!).

In what is known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, it feels exciting to revisit these characters as they’ve grown. A non-participant, who might go see “Avengers: Endgame” without any previous history, will be undoubtedly baffled by reintroductions of characters and iconography, but an audience who has rode this journey for over a decade will celebrate.

To a non-believer, who can’t tell their Captain Marvels from their Shazams, the idea of a movie series requiring filmgoing homework is absurd. To the general audience, it’s clearly a feature, with “Endgame” quickly breaking box office records.

Of course, this only works because the MCU is the one that’s successful. It’s the franchise that repeatedly wins at the box office and attracts a general audience over any other. To anyone else, mileage varies.

DC has torn down their cinematic universe after poor box-office returns post-pandemic, and is currently rebuilding for next year. Sony’s attempt at using their stake on a handful of Marvel villains has been hit by a barrage of awful movies too toxic to touch. Then, there’s Fox.

Fox, alongside Sony’s Spider-Man trilogy, put Marvel on the movie map in the early 2000s. Their claim to the X-Men, Blade, the Fantastic Four and Wolverine helped build their own miniature universe of characters. However, compared to their younger and more successful brother in the MCU, this universe was underdeveloped and had plenty of stinkers of their own, leading to an identity crisis to be fixed after the mouse swallowed the Fox in 2019.

Fox, in the commercial sense, were losers. Two decades of effort, almost rejuvenated by the successes of “Deadpool” and “Logan” would now spiral down the drain. At least, that’s what most predicted.

Both Deadpool’s self-aware wisecracking, and Wolverine’s indomitable fury would get one more chance, this time in their big introduction to the MCU in this year’s “Deadpool & Wolverine.” As the MCU looks toward a multiverse saga, what better way to introduce their new properties than through a fourth-wall breaking jokester and the most famous X-Man?

As a movie, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is quite decent. It starts off with an opening fight scene most would see as “anti-Disney” with buckets of blood and bone setting a new, R-rated tone for the MCU. Deadpool’s gory action finally gets a budget that supports the character’s craziest ideas. Hugh Jackman’s return as Wolverine is profoundly emotional, with some of his best monologue work in years.

It’s brutal and self-aware to the point of desensitization, where eventually the jokes start extending scenes far longer than they should and the violence becomes visual mush. Frankly, the non-believers are once again left out in the cold for important moments requiring investment into two decades of former Fox properties, both good and bad.

But, what astounds me most in the movie is something that we rarely see for franchises, especially ones that come to an abrupt end due to poor financials and creative decisions: closure. “Deadpool & Wolverine” isn’t just the first movie to feast Fox’s characters into the MCU hydra, it’s the last dance for Fox.

Underappreciated characters get their chance to shine, a part of blockbuster history getting its own final chapter. To basically be jumped with a satisfying ending for characters which I had believed to be in corporate limbo was genuinely emotionally touching.

Superheroes aren’t going away, which I could harshly attribute to their financial success. Hollywood doesn’t want to give up the toy it chewed through to the stuffing. Yet, the idea of a cinematic universe is a creative tool that, despite my protests, has proven fruitful. Yes, it’s repeated iconography and it relies on the audience to point out what they’ve already seen before, but I’m willing to be the hypocrite as long as I keep being proven wrong.