*SPOILERS for Deadpool 2 below, read at ye own risk.
Despite our concerns over a certain character’s demise, there is a lot to enjoy in the kinetic and hilarious Deadpool 2. The sequel boasts large-scale action sequences, new POC and LGBTQ characters, and epic fight scenes. It is also, like its predecessor, gut-bustingly funny.
I saw the film last weekend in a crowded theater, and the scene that got the loudest laughs was the X-Force’s first mission. Deadpool is at its best when he pokes fun at his own genre, so his send-up of the classic recruitment montage was delightful. After recruiting Bedlam (Terry Crews), Domino (Zazie Beetz), Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgard), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan), the Vanisher (Brad Pitt in one of many celebrity cameos) and Peter (Rob Delaney), Deadpool gives the team a rousing speech before they parachute out of a plane on their first mission.
Almost immediately, heavy winds cause the team members to die a seriously of gruesomely hilarious deaths: Shatterstar sails into the blades of a helicopter, Bedlam smashes into a city bus, the Vanisher is electrocuted on power lines, and Zeitgiest flies feet first into a woodchipper. Finally, Peter tries to help Zeitgeist before getting sucked into the chipper himself. Only Domino makes it out alive thanks to her preternatural good luck.
The decimation of Deadpool’s X-Force is a brilliantly funny sequence, but it also raises some questions regarding the upcoming X-Force spin-off movie. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the writer/director Drew Goddard discusses his reaction to Deadpool 2 and his plans for the spin-off. Goddard, of course, is a veteran of the comic book world, having created Netflix’s Daredevil series. And as the co-writer and director of Cabin in the Woods, he is no stranger to meta-commentary or flipping the script on genre movies.
“To be honest, I think that’s why it excited me so much,” says Goddard, about the X-Force massacre. “I remember reading that scene and just cackling with delight, specifically because it was the very last thing you’d expect to happen in one of these movies. These movies are so careful to set up the next thing and the next thing, and it made me so happy.” He elaborated, saying:
“One thing I said to Ryan was, ‘Don’t worry about it, we’ll come up with new ideas; you guys go make your movie, and do your thing. We’ll figure it out,’” Goddard says. “That tends to be the way I like to work. It’s much more important to focus on making the movie that you’re making than focusing on the next thing. It’s much more important to just make one good movie and take your time, then let that dictate what the movies are after.”
Goddard confirmed in the interview that the X-Force film would center around Deadpool, Domino, and Cable, characters he’s been a fan of for years. “It really all stems from a place of love; I love those comics, I love Ryan, I love Josh, and I love Zazie Beetz,” says Goddard. “It’s much more about the characters and my love for them than it is about any plot or story line. It’s more about loving them and wanting to see them bounce off each other.”
The X-Force film will most likely include Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead and her girlfriend Yukio, both of whom will hopefully get more to do in the film than they did in Deadpool 2. Given Goddard’s nerd cred and skills, I’m excited to see what he has in store for the X-Force.
(via Entertainment Weekly, image: 20th Century FOX)
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