Deadpool & Wolverine Breaks An 8-Year Marvel Movie Trend

A cause exists in the universe for why Deadpool & Wolverine deviates from the other entries in the franchise. Deadpool 3's brutal honesty against the MCU was one of its more unexpected features. It even made fun of how disorganized Marvel's Multiverse Saga had been and implied that Wolverine was coming at a bad time. Wade Wilson's brand of humor is known for its meta-commentary, so it should come as no surprise that Deadpool & Wolverine was full of them, but it was nice to see Marvel not be scared to poke fun at itself.

Deadpool's inclination to make fun of Ryan Reynolds and his profession also persisted in this. A funny allusion to his romance comedy The Proposal as well as several references to his wife Blake Lively, who also makes a cameo as Lady Deadpool, were made. It did not address Reynolds's debut superhero movie, Green Lantern, though, which is considered one of DC's worst movies even after all these years. Although Deadpool 2 created an in-universe explanation for it, this is the first Deadpool movie to not mention it.

The Only Deadpool Movie Without Any References Is Deadpool & Wolverine Verdant Lantern

Reynolds' disapproval of 2011's Green Lantern is well known. He obviously isn't alone, since the movie has a 45% audience score and a 25% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. Green Lantern underperformed at the box office due to negative reviews; on a $200 million budget, it made $220 million worldwide. The film was criticized for a lot of things, including its clumsy CGI, dull characters, and uninspired narrative. Reynolds, who fortunately has a great sense of humor, made the movie into a running joke in the first two Deadpool movies.

Two of Deadpool's gags are aimed at Green Lantern. The first occurs when a Green Lantern trading card flying out of someone's wallet is seen in the opening scene. The second joke is when Wade begs, "Please don't make the super suit green...or animated," alluding to the infamous computer-generated imagery (CGI) Green Lantern costume from the movie, just before he receives experimental cancer therapy. When Deadpool time travels and murders Reynolds when he is clutching the Green Lantern script in Deadpool 2, Reynolds takes his hatred of the Green Lantern even farther.

Deadpool and Wolverine clarified in Deadpool 2 why they weren't referencing the Green Lantern.

Deadpool's timeline undergoes numerous alterations in the post-credit scenes of Deadpool 2. First of all, the antihero spares Vanessa from death at the start of the movie, allowing her to survive and make an appearance alongside Wolverine and Deadpool. In addition, Deadpool kills the version of Fox that he presented to the public in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, who was heavily ridiculed for being rendered speechless and thus very different from the classic character, and he also offs Reynolds before he can become Green Lantern.

In Deadpool's universe, Green Lantern doesn't exist since Reynolds was slain by Deadpool before he could film his role as Hal Jordan. Because it didn't actually happen, Deadpool is unable to mention it in Deadpool & Wolverine. Since Deadpool is aware of things outside of his realm, he might still remember it, although repeating Green Lantern would get old. The act of shooting Reynolds in the head with the intention of preventing him from completing the movie is a serious accusation that effectively conveys the point.

How Wolverine & Deadpool Continue to Make A Lot of Jokes At DC's Expense

Wade's meta humor did not spare DC, even though Green Lantern in Deadpool & Wolverine did not back down. Two great gags that ridicule DC and the DCEU's failure are featured in the movie. Wade's search for a Wolverine who could replace the current anchor being in the Fox universe by traveling the multiverse is one instance of a DC joke. He encounters Henry Cavill's character, a Wolverine variation, and christens her "The Cavillrine." He claims that Marvel will "treat you so much better than those s**t f**ks down the street" and that Cavill's portrayal of Wolverine "feels right."

Although Cavill was a fantastic Superman, the DCEU confused his storyline as the character. In the DCU, he was succeeded by David Corenswet as Superman, albeit he made a cameo appearance in a moment after the credits in Black Adam. A noteworthy example of Deadpool's mockery of The Rock's DC persona is his claim that Wolverine will "change the hierarchy of power in the MCU." This sentence was utilized by Dwayne Johnson to promote Black Adam's DCEU debut, although it was a complete bust following the movie's underwhelming box office results. As such, Deadpool & Wolverine makes some jabs about DC even if it doesn't specifically criticize Green Lantern.