What does Deadpool and Wolverine's success mean for the MCU?

Somewhere, Kevin Feige just breathed a sigh of relief. After a rocky few years of mixed critical reviews and up-and-down box office receipts, Deadpool and Wolverine just got the Marvel Cinematic Universe back on track.

It hasn't even had its second weekend in cinemas yet and Marvel's superhero team-up has already made $591m (£464m) worldwide. That's already more than the total grosses managed by 10 of the previous MCU adventures, including its immediate predecessor The Marvels. Only a fool would bet against it passing the billion-dollar milestone, joining Joker as the only R-rated films to achieve that.

The film is the only MCU movie on cinema screens this year, with 2025 set to fire the starting pistol on the build-up to what we now know will be Avengers: Doomsday and the return of Robert Downey Jr. So it's safe to say that Deadpool and Wolverine will have an impact on what comes next. But what will that impact be?

R-Ratings

Marvel has been circling the idea of an R-rated movie for quite a while, but it's only now that they've finally taken the plunge. And though it seems like a risk, the MCU's fanbase probably skews older than you'd think. Anyone born on the day Iron Man was released in 2008 would now be 16 and able to see the 15-rated film in the UK. By next year, those people will be 17 and able to see R-rated movies without a parent in tow.

Read more: Deadpool and Wolverine is 'the most wholesome R-rated film anybody can ever see', says Kevin Feige (BANG Showbiz)

Deadpool and Wolverine's success shows that the Marvel audience is more than ready for bloodshed, swearing, and sex jokes. With that in mind, it's likely that we'll see more adult material involving Marvel characters, whether that's in the major movies or spin-off TV series like this year's Echo.

This could also grease the wheels for the long-gestating Blade movie, starring Mahershala Ali. The movie has already lost two directors and hasn't yet ended up in front of cameras. It's currently set to finally be released in November 2025 and it now seems like a no-brainer that it will be every bit as violent and sweary as the Wesley Snipes-led trilogy in the 1990s and 2000s.

Meta Humour

One of the most common comic threads throughout Deadpool and Wolverine is the idea of poking fun at the history of the MCU and its current malaise. Ryan Reynolds' take on the character is acutely aware of his status within the world of superhero movies and, now that he's a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he didn't pull any punches in his withering assessment of the current state of Feige's universe.

This vein of humour could now be more commonly deployed given the success it has brought this time around, as opposed to the less-than-enthusiastic response to the fourth wall-breaking audacity of the She-Hulk finale. Perhaps Wade Wilson and Jennifer Walters could be a match made in heaven and show up together in future movies and TV series.

Read more: She-Hulk Nails Its Deranged, Meta as Hell Finale (IndieWire)

Either way, we can expect the MCU to get a lot better when it comes to laughing at its own lengthy history and its ups and downs over the years. Marvel has always leaned heavily into comedy, but it might now have to learn to be the butt of some of its own jokes.

Hugh Jackman

There's a running joke throughout Deadpool and Wolverine that Marvel will now force Hugh Jackman to keep playing Wolverine until he turns 90. Wade Wilson might be a little hyperbolic in that case, but it would not be a huge surprise if we don't see Jackman wield Logan's adamantium claws at least one more time on the big screen.

Read more: Hugh Jackman explains why he has returned to play Wolverine (PA Media)

This is a little disappointing. Jackman has been brilliant throughout 20 years of X-Men films, but James Mangold's 2017 movie Logan — arguably the best superhero film ever made — gave the character a perfect farewell, while allowing him to spread his R-rated wings. Deadpool and Wolverine is able to use its meta storytelling to avoid outright overruling this ending, but it would feel more like a betrayal to see Wolverine again in a more serious film.

However, when there's so much money on the table and the potential for infinite Wolverine variants courtesy of the multiverse, Marvel won't be letting Logan rest. Hugh Jackman will be sculpting the muscles and the facial hair in time for Avengers: Secret Wars — mark our words.

Fox-Era Nostalgia

Deadpool and Wolverine brings both characters into the MCU for the first time in the wake of Disney's purchase of 20th Century Fox. But the film also serves as an homage to the superhero movies created by that studio, including Fantastic Four, Elektra, Blade, and all of the X-Men outings. There are cameos aplenty and anybody who hasn't kept up with the last 30 years of superhero storytelling might find themselves confused at least once.

Read more: Vinnie Jones turned down return as Juggernaut in Deadpool & Wolverine (Yahoo Entertainment)

But given the success that this nostalgia has birthed, it's entirely possible that Marvel pulls the trigger on more of this. Rather than recasting mutants and other Marvel characters, Feige might be making calls to the stars who've played them before in an attempt to access that nostalgia. If I were Patrick Stewart, I'd probably disconnect my phone — or draw up plans for a new house.

Deadpool and Wolverine is in cinemas now.