by L.A. Mood Comics and Games

By Dan Brown

If your social-media feeds are anything like mine, you may have noticed how the makers of the latest Marvel movie, Deadpool & Wolverine, have been marketing the hell out of that thing.

But I’m here to tell you there’s a strong argument to be made, despite a precision advertising effort and the combined star power of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, the threequel still might not live up to studio expectations when it debuts on July 26.

And I’m going to make that case.

First point: Does anybody know what IS working at the box office this summer? Is there a formula, genre or performer whose appeal is reliable and consistent?

Such would-be blockbusters as Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and The Fall Guy have underperformed, to the chagrin of studio executives learning that moviegoers aren’t automatically buying tickets for traditional popcorn fare.

Sure, D & W is a superhero tale, a genre which has done big business in recent years, but it comes in the shadow of flops like Madame Web and the Marvels, so what was once a guaranteed winner has become an uneven bet.

If there’s one thing that’s working this season, it’s family pictures like the latest Inside Out and Despicable Me flicks.

Perhaps this explains the rash of articles about Reynolds taking his nine-year-old daughter to see her dad’s latest, which is R-rated. The not-so-subtle message: You can bring the whole family to Deadpool & Wolverine!

Second point: It’s an R-rated film! That means most teens, the target audience for this story, need an adult to accompany them to the theatre.

It’s true the restricted tag didn’t stop the previous two Deadpool instalments from finding an audience, but it does mean it'll be harder in this summer of cranky moviegoers.

Third point: It’s unclear if self-referential comedy is working any more for Marvel.
As Deadpool fans are aware, the one thing that separates him from other heroes is how his adventures are self-reflexive meta-art.

In other words, the Merc with a Mouth is aware he is a comic character, and turns to the camera to remind viewers they are watching a movie with a funny running commentary.

One trailer has him joking that Disney brought Wolverine back from the dead – the character died in 2017’s Logan, so it looks like the Wolvie in this motion picture is one from another part of the multiverse – and is going to force Jackman to play the Canadian mutant until he’s 90 years old.

(Canadian graphic novelist Mariko Tamaki has called this narrative strategy “this is the thing commenting on the thing being a thing.”)

But keep in mind Marvel fans have had access to a self-reflexive superhero in the interim – She Hulk. The green-skinned lawyer starred in a pandemic-era streaming show and fans were . . . not amused. They especially hated the conclusion, when the series devolved into a comment on Marvel Studios itself.
This kind of funny business may have had its moment.

Fourth point: Reynolds and Jackman have already played these characters in a movie together and it was a disaster!

Does anyone in Hollywood have a memory that extends as far back as 2009? That’s when Fox released X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which was savaged by fans and reviewers alike.

I stand to be corrected by diehard Marvel followers, but I think this film isn’t even considered canon – it was so horrible, Marvel has tried to wipe it from the collective memory.

The climax of that stinker featured a battle royale between Jackman and Liev Schreiber on one side and Reynolds on the other. Is anyone itching to see a replay of that scene?

There are valid counter-arguments to all the points I’ve raised, and I’m willing to entertain them in the comments section.

But the underlying point remains: This summer, all bets are off.
The truth is none of us has a crystal ball powerful enough to see what July 26 will bring.

And just because Marvel Studios have been flooding everyone’s social media with micro-targeted ads for Deadpool & Wolverine, that doesn’t mean filmgoers will find the energy to schlep their carcasses all the way to the local movieplex when they could be watching a million other things at home. Or just enjoying the sunshine.

Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 31 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.