The final trailer for Deadpool 2 is out, and yet again the Merc With A Mouth is throwing shade at the DCEU and Marvel. The big-screen version of Deadpool is well aware that he's in a superhero film, and it seems he even knows about the triumphs and failings of his competitors, making way for some great one-liners.
Over in the comics, Deadpool is well known for his habit of "breaking the fourth wall". He frequently makes allusions to issue numbers, and even interacts with his beloved "little yellow boxes". One story even saw Wade Wilson resolve the plot by using his swords to tear through the pages of the comic and shout back a warning to himself (naturally, his past self didn't listen). Translating that aspect of the character to the big screen was always going to be a challenge, but Deadpool pulled it off - even including an irreverent quip about X-Men timelines.
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Deadpool 2 has upped the ante, with the trailers presenting a character totally aware he's in a piece of marketing; he even stopped the second teaser when the CGI wasn't up to snuff. That's given each trailer a sense of identity in its own right, and presented Fox with an opportunity to troll the superhero genre as a whole. Deadpool, for his part, has simply been unable to stop mocking his main rivals - the MCU and the DCEU.
Deadpool Mocks Henry Cavill's Justice League Mustache
As already mentioned, the first trailer screeched to a halt when Deadpool realized the CGI on Cable's metal arm was unfinished. "Why are the visual effects not done," Deadpool cried out. "It's a metal arm! It's not like we're trying to remove a mustache!" It's a hilarious way of throwing shade at Justice League, where extensive reshoots were complicated by a mustache Henry Cavill wasn't allowed to shave off. Warner Bros. used CGI to hide the mustache, and the results were widely mocked by viewers.
Making this particular joke even more amusing, the trailer used it as an opportunity to introduce a brief interlude. When the interlude came to an end, there was a loud ding, and Deadpool looked at the screen as though acknowledging this had all been a gag. "They're done already? Oh, wow, that was... unrealistically fast."
Deadpool Knows Thanos Is Playing Cable
As well as playing Cable, Josh Brolin also appears in theaters this summer as Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. Naturally, Deadpool 2 has had a lot of fun with this. The Cable teaser was chock full of Thanos gags: Wade saying "Ah, f*ck it, I'll do it myself" in a clear reference to Thanos's line in the Avengers: Age of Ultron's post-credits scene; and later Deadpool using action figures to play out a fight between himself and Cable where he said, "Zip it, Cable! I got the Stones to help you." - a brilliant reference to the Infinity Stones (and also foreshadowing a moment in the film).
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It didn't stop there, though, with the final trailer featuring a moment where Deadpool addresses Cable as "Thanos". The film is clearly going to milk this casting choice.
The DCEU Is Dark. Deadpool Isn't.
The last quip in this final trailer sees Deadpool brutally owned after being stabbed in the shoulder by Cable. "So dark," Deadpool comments, "Are you sure you're not from the DC Universe?" It's a hilarious acknowledgment of the most common criticism of the DCEU, that it kicked off to far too dark an opening. Making the joke even more amusing, Deadpool appears to know that "DCEU" isn't actually the official term for the rival superhero universe.
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The trailers have given viewers a strong sense that Deadpool 2 will retain its whimsical, self-aware sense of humor. No doubt the film itself will contain lots more gags inspired by the DCEU and the MCU - and Thanos promising to be a running joke.
