Trailer number two for Deadpool & Wolverine has come knocking, and as the Marvel Jesus narrative continues to gain steam with every passing reveal, we’ve only become happier and happier to answer that particular door.
Suffice to say that this ain’t your granddaddy’s MCU; when it comes to visceral bloodshed and exceptionally colorful language, there’s no more prosperous well than the mere snippets of Deadpool & Wolverine we’ve gotten so far, not to mention a cheeky Kevin Feige namedrop among the many winks that the Merc With the Mouth will be sending our way come July.
But, even with the reckless abandon with which it waves that R-rating around, Deadpool & Wolverine is still an MCU movie, and it has the cameos and callbacks to prove it. With that, here’s all the in-canon morsels, from the Feigeverse to the Foxverse, that we caught a glimpse of in Deadpool & Wolverine’s latest trailer.
Ant-Man
Or, more specifically, what’s left of him.
Indeed, what was once the body of some version of Ant-Man has now become a skeletal fortress for the likes of Cassandra Nova and her multiversal cronies. Any implications that come with this should be taken with a grain of salt, as there’s little to no chance that Marvel Studios has killed off Scott Lang in such an unprecedently jarring manner. Nevertheless, you wouldn’t display Ant-Man’s multi-story corpse so prominently unless there was a reason for it; as for what that reason is, we’ll probably just have to wait until we see the movie ourselves.
Alioth
Agatha Harkness theorycrafters beware; those big purple clouds we’ve been seeing belong to the owner of the MCU’s most devastating appetite (at least until Galactus shows up).
The presence of Alioth implies that the Void—where all entities pruned by the TVA end up—will serve as a prominent battleground for Deadpool & Wolverine’s shenanigans, and if anyone’s going to cause the duo more problems than Cassandra Nova and company, it’s the gargantuan cosmic entity that swallows everything in its path. On top of that, the death of He Who Remains means that, as far as we know, Alioth’s only master is itself.
Undetermined Master of the Mystic Arts
See this portal that our two protagonists jumped into at the end of the trailer? That implies that there’s going to be a sorcerer in play at some point.
Whether that sorcerer is Wong, Stephen Strange, a better-practiced America Chavez, or any other disciple of Kamar-Taj remains to be seen, of course. Nevertheless, we now know that the mystic arts corner of Earth-199999 is getting involved with Deadpool & Wolverine; a film whose in-canon reach seems to know no bounds.
Toad
And now onto the Fox universe teasers. Up first is Toad, the Brotherhood of Mutants veteran and one of the X-Men’s least-sanitary adversaries from the original X-Men film, where he was originally killed by Storm during a standoff between the Brotherhood and the X-Men.
And now, 24 years later, Ray Park is stepping back into the shoes of the long-tongued Mortimer Toynbee in Deadpool & Wolverine, where he appears to be a member of Cassandra Nova’s gerrymandered mutant task force (you can see him, along with these next two characters, hunched over on the left side of the scene in the trailer above). Having apparently been gifted a second chance at life, perhaps Toad will take special care to not get his name on the casualty list this time around.
Lady Deathstrike
Meanwhile, 2003’s X2 has gifted Cassandra yet another powerful asset in Kelly Hu’s Lady Deathstrike, the former assistant to William Stryker who has something of a score to settle with Wolverine. That rematch potential puts Lady Deathstrike among the most intriguing returning characters in Deadpool & Wolverine, as her involvement can and should realistically go beyond her status as one of Cassandra’s operatives.
Azazel
And up last is Azazel, of X-Men: First Class fame, once again brought to life by Jason Flemyng. Functionally, Deadpool and Wolverine will find themselves up against a much more sinister Nightcrawler in Azazel, complete with swashbuckling and teleportation abilities that are bound to get on the duo’s nerves.
Seemingly rescued from his off-screen fate in Days of Future Past, perhaps this version of Azazel has had time to develop his other abilities from the comics, such as paralysis bolts, mind control, and immortality. Further still, perhaps it’s Azazel who’s the real culprit behind that aforementioned mystic portal, given his penchant for magic. Long story short, this guy is bound to be full of headaches for Deadpool and Wolverine to contend with.
As for what those headaches are, that and more will be revealed when Deadpool & Wolverine cuts into theaters on July 26.
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
