This story contains spoilers for “Deadpool & Wolverine” and is meant to be read after the film has been seen.
Marvel’s Merc with a Mouth is back — and he brought more than a few friends with him.
It’s been six long years since audiences last saw Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool on the big screen, but Marvel’s beloved antihero returns, as mouthy as ever, in “Deadpool & Wolverine,” out Friday. As the title suggests, the film also marks the return of Hugh Jackman as “X-Men’s” gruff Wolverine. It’s a reunion of sorts for the two characters: Reynolds first appeared as Wade Wilson opposite Jackman in 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (minus the red suit).
As Deadpool repeatedly reminds audiences, much has changed for him since “Deadpool 2” was released in 2018. Namely, Disney acquired Fox in 2019, along with the film rights to popular Marvel characters like Deadpool and the X-Men. “Deadpool 3” takes advantage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s multiverse era and is packed with cameos of characters audiences might remember from Fox’s catalog of Marvel films.
Among those spotted in “Deadpool & Wolverine” include the aptly named Pyro (Aaron Stanford) from “X-Men” (2000) and “X2” (2003) as well as Wolverine nemeses Sabretooth (Tyler Mane) from “X-Men” and Lady Deathstrike (Kelly Hu) from “X2.” Other familiar villainous mutants that appear include Toad, Azazel and Juggernaut.
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There are also plenty of other cameos, including a number of familiar faces from the MCU as well as other surprise appearances.
Here’s a breakdown of “Deadpool & Wolverine’s” biggest cameos from Marvel movies past. (One last time: Turn back now if you haven’t seen the film.)
Johnny Storm
Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) is fascinated by his fiery powers in 2005’s “Fantastic Four.”
(Kerry Hayes / 20th Century Fox)
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Chris Evans at the “Ghosted” premiere in 2023.
(Evan Agostini / Invision / AP)
Years before Chris Evans suited up as Captain America to help lead the Avengers, he made his superhero movie debut as a member of Marvel’s First Family, the Fantastic Four. Evans played Johnny Storm, a.k.a. the Human Torch, in 2005’s “Fantastic Four” and its 2007 follow-up, “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” This incarnation of the superhero team also included Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic), Jessica Alba as Sue Storm (Invisible Woman) and Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm (the Thing). Johnny and the other members of the Fantastic Four develop superpowers after being exposed to cosmic energy in space.
Johnny appears in the new film as Deadpool and Wolverine’s potential ally against the telepathic villain Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin).
The MCU’s incarnation of the Fantastic Four will include Pedro Pascal as Reed, Vanessa Kirby as Sue, Joseph Quinn as Johnny and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben.
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Laura / X-23
Dafne Keen as Laura, Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine and Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier in the 2017 film “Logan.”
(Ben Rothstein / 20th Century Fox / Marvel)
Dafne Keen at the Beverly Hilton in 2019.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
As teased in the film’s trailer, “Deadpool & Wolverine” sees the return of Dafne Keen as Laura from 2017’s “Logan.” Laura, also known as X-23, was created in an experiment using Logan’s DNA so her powers (and aspects of her personality) are very similar to her surrogate father’s. Keene, who was just 11 when “Logan” was filmed, was praised for her performance — then-Times film critic Kenneth Turan described her as an “effective newcomer” in his review — and was a fan favorite in Fox’s R-rated “X-Men” spinoff.
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Deadpool and Wolverine meet X-23 as part of a team that has been fighting against Cassandra.
Elektra
Wielding her signature weapons, sais, Elektra (Jennifer Garner) springs into action in the 2003 film “Daredevil.”
(Zade Rosenthal / 20th Century Fox)
Jennifer Garner at the SAG Awards in 2020.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Between launching its “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four” franchises, Fox released a couple of films revolving around the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. Jennifer Garner first appeared as Elektra in 2003’s “Daredevil,” which starred Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock, a blind attorney who moonlights as a vigilante. Elektra is a skilled, sai-wielding assassin who serves as both Daredevil’s love interest and adversary. Garner last portrayed the character in 2005’s “Elektra,” a spinoff that follows the title character as a contract killer. (Garner and Affleck were also a couple offscreen and were married from 2005 to 2018 — their divorce is coyly addressed in the film.)
Elektra is part of the team that agrees to help Deadpool and Wolverine along with X-23.
Blade
Wesley Snipes in 2004’s “Blade: Trinity.”
(Diyah Pera / New Line Cinema)
Wesley Snipes at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Wesley Snipes portrayed the vampire hunter Blade in a trilogy of films: “Blade” (1998), “Blade II” (2002) and “Blade: Trinity,” which also starred Reynolds (2004). Blade is a human-vampire hybrid whose mother was attacked and killed by vampires while she was pregnant with him. He relies on a special serum to keep his own bloodlust at bay. The “Blade” films were released by New Line Cinema, which is now a part of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The one and (so far) only Blade, as he calls himself in the film, is also part of the ragtag team that includes X-23 and Elektra.
In 2019, it was announced that Mahershala Ali had been cast to play Blade in the MCU reboot of the character. After a number of creative shuffles, “Blade” is expected to reach theaters in 2025.
Gambit
Channing Tatum at the premiere of “Fly Me to the Moon” in New York in July.
(Evan Agostini / Invision / AP)
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At long last, Channing Tatum makes his debut as Gambit in “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Tatum had long been attached to an “X-Men” spinoff for the Ragin’ Cajun Remy LeBeau, which ended up becoming a casualty of Disney’s acquisition of Fox. After Tatum had expressed interest in playing the character, it was announced in 2014 that he would appear in a future “X-Men”-related project as Gambit. A “Gambit” film was slated for 2016 but faced a number of delays until it was officially canceled in 2019.
Gambit (and his energy-charged playing cards) is also part of the team Deadpool and Wolverine meet while trying to figure out how to defeat Cassandra.
BONUS: Henry Cavill and Blake Lively also appear in “Deadpool & Wolverine” as alternate versions of the title characters. Cavill, who appears as a Wolverine variant, previously portrayed DC icon Superman in that other superhero franchise. Lively, whose face is not actually seen on screen, is married to Reynolds and is credited as Lady Deadpool.
Forget the “video game movie” curse;The Mortuary Assistantis a bone-chilling triumph that stands entirely on its own two feet. Starring Willa Holland (Arrow) as Rebecca Owens, the film follows a newly certified mortician whose “overtime shift” quickly devolves into a grueling battle for her soul.
What Makes It Work
The film expertly balances the stomach-churning procedural work of embalming with a spiraling demonic nightmare. Alongside a mysterious mentor played by Paul Sparks (Boardwalk Empire), Rebecca is forced to confront both ancient evils and her own buried traumas. And boy, does she have a lot of them.
Thanks to a full-scale, practical River Fields Mortuary set, the film drips with realism, like you can almost smell the rot and bloat of the bodies through the screen.
The skin effects are hauntingly accurate. The way the flesh moves during surgical scenes is so visceral. I’ve seen a lot of flesh wounds in horror films and in real life, and the bodies, skin, and organs. The Mortuary Assistant (especially in the opening scene) looks so real that I skipped supper after watching it. And that’s saying something. Your girl likes to eat.
Co-written by the game’s creator, Brian Clarke, the movie dives deeper into the demonic mythology. Whether you’ve seen every ending or don’t know a scalpel from a trocar, the story is perfectly self-contained. If you’ve never played the game, or played it a hundred times, the film works equally well, which is hard to do when it comes to game adaptations.
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Nailed It
This film does a lot of things right, but the isolation of the night shift is suffocating. Between the darkness of the hallways and the “residents” that refuse to stay still, the film delivers a relentlessly immersive experience. And thankfully, although this movie is filled with dark rooms and shadows, it’s easy to see every little thing. Don’t you hate it when a movie is so dark that you can’t see what’s happening? It’s one of my pet peeves.
The oh-so-awesome Jeremiah Kipp directs the film and has made something absolutely nightmare-inducing. Kipp recently joined us for an interview, took us inside the film, discussed its details and the game’s lore, and so much more. I urge you to check out our interview. He’s awesome!
The Verdict
This isn’t just a cash-grab; it’s a high-effort adaptation that respects the source material while elevating the horror genre. With incredible special effects and a powerhouse cast, it’s the kind of movie that will make you rethink working late ever again. Dropping on Friday the 13th, this is a must-watch for horror fans. It’s grisly, intelligent, and genuinely terrifying.
A former executive at Live Nation, the world’s largest live entertainment company, is suing the company, alleging that he was wrongfully terminated after he raised concerns about alleged financial misconduct and improper accounting practices.
Nicholas Rumanes alleges he was “fraudulently induced” in 2022 to leave a lucrative position as head of strategic development at a real estate investment trust to create a new role as executive vice president of development and business practice at Beverly Hills-based Live Nation.
In his new position, Rumanes said, he raised “serious and legitimate alarm” over the the company’s business practices.
As a result, he says, he was “unlawfully terminated,” according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
“Rumanes was, simply put, promised one job and forced to accept another. And then he was cut loose for insisting on doing that lesser job with integrity and honesty,” according to the lawsuit.
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He is seeking $35 million in damages.
Representatives for Live Nation were not immediately available for comment.
The lawsuit comes a week after a federal jury in Manhattan found that Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had operated a monopoly over major concert venues, controlling 86% of the concert market.
Rumanes’ lawsuit describes a “culture of deception” at Live Nation, saying its “basic business model was to misstate and exaggerate financial figures in efforts to solicit and secure business.”
Such practices “spanned a wide spectrum of projects in what appeared to be a company-wide pattern of financial misrepresentation and misleading disclosures,” the lawsuit states.
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Rumanes says he received materials and documents that showed that the company inflated projected revenues across multiple venue development projects.
Additionally, Rumanes contends that the company violated a federal law that requires independent financial auditing and transparency and instead ran Live Nation “through a centralized, opaque structure” that enables it to “bypass oversight and internal checks and balances.”
In 2010, as a condition of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger, the newly formed company agreed to a consent decree with the government that prohibited the firm from threatening venues to use Ticketmaster. In 2019 the Justice Department found that the company had repeatedly breached the agreement, and it extended the decree.
Rumanes contends that he brought his concerns to the attention of the company’s management, but his warnings were “repeatedly ignored.”
At the centre of Madhuvidhu directed by Vishnu Aravind is a house where only men reside, three generations of them living in harmony. Unlike the Anjooran household in Godfather, this is not a house where entry is banned to women, but just that women don’t choose to come here. For Amrithraj alias Ammu (Sharafudheen), the protagonist, 28 marriage proposals have already fallen through although he was not lacking in interest.
When a not-so-cordial first meeting with Sneha (Kalyani Panicker) inevitably turns into mutual attraction, things appear about to change. But some unexpected hiccups are waiting for them, their different religions being one of them. Writers Jai Vishnu and Bipin Mohan do not seem to have any major ambitions with Madhuvidhu, but they seem rather content to aim for the middle space of a feel-good entertainer. Only that they end up hitting further lower.
