Marvel movies, comic book movies in general and big franchise movies like Star Wars, etc. are movies that fans love on a fervent basis, they’re the projects that keep the lights on at all the studios in Hollywood. But to me, more often than not, these are movies I watch once, write about, and don’t think about again until it’s time to catch up for the next one. I have had an affinity for the Deadpool movies, however, and that is almost entirely due to Ryan Reynolds bringing some big enthusiasm to the character and turning it into his signature role. The eponymous ‘Merc with a Mouth’ is sardonic, foul mouthed and constantly breaking the fourth wall.

But a lot of drama went down behind the scenes between 2018, when Deadpool 2 was released, and now, with Deadpool and Wolverine, opening in theaters today. The Disney company bought 20th Century Fox, a ton of layoffs happened, projects were delayed, taken off the schedule or just scrapped altogether. And there was a lot of conversation about whether to bring Reynolds’ decidedly R-rated Deadpool into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Well, this couldn’t have come at a better time, for the MCU, for the comic book movie in general, and for audiences. Deadpool and Wolverine is a hoot and a half, overflowing with stunning (and super R-rated) fight scenes, lots of gratuitous cameos, lots of meta commentary about the Hollywood machine that had me howling with laughter, and surprisingly some genuinely tender moments. This is not just a thoughtful tribute to the Wolverine character but also to what’s been special about Reynolds’ Deadpool. And it’s the strongest the MCU has been in quite some time.

Audiences are super sensitive about spoilers with superhero movies, so in my review I aim to be as vague and spoiler-free as I can. I will only reveal information that has been divulged in marketing and press materials for this film. If you are sensitive to spoilers, maybe come back and read this review at another time. However, I’m going to be talking around a lot of information because part of what makes Deadpool and Wolverine so fun is all of the reveals, and I want to allow you that same experience.

We open on the titular Deadpool (Reynolds) who, six years after the events of the last film, has settled into a more quiet life, but still has regrets that haunt him about the end of his relationship with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) and his longevity as a hero. He is whisked away by the TVA (the Time Variance Authority, introduced in the Disney+ Loki series, also included in other MCU projects), and enlisted on a journey to another timeline, a journey which would ultimately save his world from certain destruction. He has to find a certain variant of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), because the main timeline is disrupted after the events of Logan (2017), where the character sacrificed his life. Together, Deadpool and Wolverine go on a wacky and violent journey to save their respective universes.

Would any of this make sense if you haven’t seen every single thing in the MCU up until this point? I’m going to say yes, because I have not seen any of the X-Men movies with Hugh Jackman, but I have seen some of the early Fox/Marvel projects that are referenced in this film. If you have a general understanding of what those movies looked like and who was in them (maybe skim that Wikipedia page prior to going into this), you should know enough to enjoy a lot of the in-jokes and almost overwhelmingly meta-ness of it all. It’s probably all more effective if you’re following this reference for reference, but the good thing about Deadpool and Wolverine is that it’s so packed with jokes, they all come at you so fast, that if one gag doesn’t work for you, there’s another ten barreling from around the corner.

Because if you are in the know, I think it’s very possible you will have some kind of emotional response to this movie. It is very much a heartfelt celebration of all the Wolverine character has been in cinematic form, and as a comic book character. There’s a scene early on when Deadpool is scanning various universes looking for the version of Wolverine that he needs, and all the different versions of this character that we see feels like a shoutout to the comic books where these films get their inspiration. I haven’t done a deep dive on this yet, but I’m confident in saying there’s a lot of deep cuts here. We also have that kind of deep affection for all the Deadpool character has done, and if you’ve followed these last two films, that’s enough to get you to appreciate the attention to character detail here.

Ryan Reynolds is still having the time of his life playing this character, and while he’s tried, with varying degrees of success, to bring the Deadpool energy that has solidified his place as a serious movie star, to other projects, he’s so damn fun to watch when he’s firmly in his element as this character. Being as closely involved with the development of this character cinematically as Reynolds has been, it clearly means a lot to him to bring every bit of himself to this role. And he doesn’t disappoint here.

Hugh Jackman said he’d never return as the Wolverine character after Logan. And he’s not playing that exact character. The memory of the Logan Wolverine, which is so special to so many viewers, is not undone or tainted in any way in this story. Instead, we have Jackman, also always great, diving into different aspects of the character, and somehow looking better than ever, at age 55. His comedic chemistry with Reynolds is top notch, and even though there are infinite Wolverines and infinite Deadpools, you leave the film very happy these two specific people got to spend this time together.

A big part of why this worked for me is how sharp this screenplay is, and how the self referential meta commentary never crosses the line of becoming obnoxious. There are references to long-forgotten superhero movies of the early 2000s, films from that era that never got made, or lines that reference infamous troubled productions, Hollywood relationships, and behind the scenes drama that you would really have to be a Hollywood/filmmaking nerd to fully appreciate. I can see a lot of these jokes being a bit alienating to audiences because they’re so pointed and so specific, and a couple times in my screening today, I felt like I was the only person laughing. But again, I don’t think this is a big enough problem to be a significant negative for audiences.

Overall, I think Deadpool and Wolverine is a strong enough movie to silence the online community of fans who have been bitching and moaning about the MCU for the past five years, ever since Avengers: Endgame. It’s big, it’s vibrant, it’s colorful, it’s hilarious and it’s very well paced. It’s easily the strongest film we’ve seen from Marvel in a while, and it helps that we’ve had a little break from the near constant barrage of Marvel content that audiences have been consuming for the last several years. It makes a solid case for the end of superhero fatigue. There is not a huge focus on tying this into future films, and establishing a place for Deadpool moving forward in the MCU, but that’s just fine. The films in this series that I enjoy are the ones where the stakes are a little lower than global-destruction must-save-the-world-at-any-costs. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are just having a good time here, and I suspect the audience will as well.