Deadpool & Wolverine will see the two antiheroes team up, but it’s by no means the first time they’ve shared a screen, with their first appearance being in one of the most hated X-Men movies.
The two first collaborated in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The superhero movie later became infamous for its use of Deadpool, sealing up his mouth and taking away his most notable traits.
The action movie isn’t fondly remembered, and many hope that the upcoming Marvel movie will be able to right some wrongs. However, when it comes to Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, neither have any regrets about Origins.
As Reynolds told The Hollywood Reporter, “It’s given birth to this incredible friendship.” Essentially, without their initial team-up, Deadpool & Wolverine may never have come to pass.
At the #DeadpoolAndWolverine premiere, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman say they have absolutely no regrets from #XMen Origins #Wolverine pic.twitter.com/yFI8wkd2S0
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) July 23, 2024
Reynolds also revealed just how hard that production ended up being, saying, “That movie, a lot of people don’t realize, was shot in the middle of a writers strike, one of the hardest ways to shoot a film you could ever imagine.
“I think the perseverance that you showed and everybody else — also I got to watch the most classy, kind, intelligent, wickedly disciplined movie star welcome me onto a set. I got to have that behavior modeled for me at a pretty formative time in my life. And I’m always grateful to Hugh for that.”
So, there is some benefit to X-Men Origins: Wolverine existing. However, that doesn’t erase the years of bad rep the movie received, with many dubbing it as the worst X-Men movie of them all.
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“Let’s be honest, this is the worst movie in the Marvel Universe,” one IMDb review said. “The story is irrelevant, the special effects are awful. But the worst part is the shameful use of the character Deadpool: a real insult to Marvel fans. Why? Ironic that the film ends with Wolverine’s total amnesia. He also prefers to forget everything.”
Even now, the negative reviews are still rife. One Reddit user wrote: “Generally speaking it was poorly written, poorly directed, and far from the source material. As far as motion pictures go, it’s pretty bad all around.”
Another said: “I seriously can’t find anything good in this movie. The overall quality is terrible. With the not-so-great acting, a lot of forced screaming, and a setting that I wouldn’t really know was in the ’70s. I tried rewatching it and I ended up skipping every scene till the movie was over.”
Of course, there’s no requirement to watch X-Men Origins: Wolverine before Deadpool & Wolverine. If you want to know which movies to watch ahead of it, then we’ve got you covered.
For more, check out our guide to Marvel Phase 6. Or, check out the Deadpool & Wolverine soundtrack and everything we learned at the sneak peak event.