Deadpool

Wade Wilson exists in a category of his own. Created in the Fox X-Men universe and defined by fourth-wall-breaking metahumour, his two solo films (2016, 2018) are R-rated comedies built around a character who treats his own fictional status as a given. The films are simultaneously parodies of the superhero genre and sincere genre entries — a balance Ryan Reynolds maintained by treating Deadpool's emotional throughline (the relationship with Vanessa, the cancer diagnosis, the search for belonging) with genuine seriousness beneath the irreverence.

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) is the character's MCU arrival and one of the most structurally ambitious films in the franchise: a movie that exists explicitly because of the Disney–Fox merger, uses the TVA established in Loki to fold the Fox universe into the MCU multiverse, and turns Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman's real-world friendship into its emotional core. The film requires no prior MCU knowledge for casual viewers, but rewards it significantly — every Fox Marvel reference carries weight if you know what it's saying goodbye to. Watch the two Fox Deadpool films first for full context.