Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds in "Deadpool & Wolverine."
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s Deadpool & Wolverine end credits pay tribute to the legacy of the X-Men films and more—but in what way?
Deadpool & Wolverine, of course, marks the beginning of a new era for each of the characters, because before Disney purchased 20th Century Fox in 2017, Fox produced 18 Marvel superhero movie adaptations, beginning with X-Men in 2000. In addition to 11 X-Men movies, Fox also produced Deadpool, the Fantastic Four and Daredevil films.
Apart from the core films, Fox released spinoff films in the Marvel franchise including Elektra, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine and Logan. X-Men also got a soft reboot with the prequel movies starting with X-Men: First Class and The New Mutants spinoff, while Fantastic Four was given a complete overhaul in 2015.
Deadpool & Wolverine marks a pair of firsts in that it not only marks the Merc with a Mouth and Logan’s first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it also becomes the MCU’s first R-rated movie.
Of course, no MCU movie would be complete unless it has a post-credits scene, but to avoid spoilers, that scene will not be described here. There is a clip reel that begins in the middle of the end credits, though, that honors the place where Deadpool, Wolverine and their fellow Marvel superheroes originated.
Note: The next section includes a mild spoiler for the end credits of Deadpool & Wolverine.
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Pays Tribute To Fox’s Marvel Movies
During the middle section of the end credits, a frame pops up on the right-hand side of the screen that features a vault door to Professor Charles Xavier’s Cerebro chamber. But instead of showing any scenes using the mutant-detecting device, to door opens to begin a clip reel that highlights several behind-the-scenes looks at Fox’s Marvel movies.
Set to Green Day’s classic song Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), the nostalgia reel features the actors during candid moments on the set from every Marvel movie shot under the 20th Century Fox banner.
As such, the reel captures the great times the likes of Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Jennifer Garner, Halle Berry and Chris Evans were having while filming the X-Men, Deadpool, Daredevil, Elektra and Fantastic Four movies. Evans, of course, has the rare distinction in the newly formed MCU because he played Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in the Fantastic Four movies before he starred as Captain America/Steve Rogers.
Fans may be surprised to find that Fox Marvel’s behind-the-scenes clip reel includes all of the studio’s productions, including less-popular entries including 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine—which infamously introduced Reynolds as a decidedly different version of Deadpool/Wade Wilson—and the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot. As such, there are clips featuring Reynolds on the set of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, as well as Michael B. Jordan, who played Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in Fantastic Four.
In addition to the heartwarming behind-the-scenes clips of Fox’s Marvel movies, there’s interview footage featuring Reynolds and Jackman discussing the legacy of the films.
Jackman specifically recalls his nerves on the first day of shooting X-Men. Jackman, of course, famously replaced Dougray Scott in the role of Wolverine when Scott could not commit to X-Men because he was filming Mission: Impossible II.
While entertaining, the clip reel also has hints of sadness because the release of Deadpool & Wolverine indicates Marvel’s association with 20th Century Fox is truly over. Of course, the studio has been going under the moniker of 20th Century Studios for some time now, but the nostalgia reel in an emotional sort of way marks the end of an era.
Watching the clip reel was an emotional experience for Aaron Stanford, who starred as Pyro in X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand and reprises his role in Deadpool & Wolverine.
“I got the same feeling that I get when I look at old photographs from any period of my life,” Stanford told me in a Zoom conversation on Tuesday. “There’s something very bittersweet about it and you think back to the happy memories and you can’t help but reflect on all the time that has passed as well. That’s the same way I felt during the nostalgia reel.”
Deadpool & Wolverine plays in previews on Thursday evening before opening nationwide on Friday.