The long-awaited arrival of Deadpool to the MCU has finally happened. The new movie, Deadpool & Wolverine, officially brings over Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine to the massive film and television shared universe. While plenty of fans are happy with the movie, others are criticizing the use of gay jokes in Deadpool & Wolverine, calling the project “homophobic” as a result.
The complaints over the film’s use of gay jokes were shared on social media in addition to major outlets. It seems as though some viewers felt that it was made even worse given Deadpool‘s pansexual nature.
One critic for The Guardian wrote the following complaint, comparing the film’s gay jokes to “schoolyard homophobia” due to a promotional piece with Deadpool and a Wolverine popcorn bucket:
“The possibility of the two characters having sex is such an extreme possibility that it falls in the realm of promotional satire – hilarious to joke about, too shocking to contemplate. It’s a taunting akin to juvenile schoolyard homophobia, scarcely remedied by Deadpool himself being queer-identified.”
Others more simply complained that the gay jokes in the movie were simply immature:
at the risk of getting too moralistic, it’s also a movie i think is sincerely homophobic, so the idea that people need to be more “normal” about the fact that general audiences are really getting a kick out of non-stop gay jokes during this cultural moment is very frustrating!
— Thel 🏳️⚧️ (@EPM106) July 26, 2024
it really rubbed me the wrong way that deadpool referred to gay people as “the gays” in the new movie as if he isn’t queer himself. i hate how his queerness is only ever played as a joke and never once sincerely
— gwen-tyumi 🤖🤮⚰️ (@gizzverse) July 27, 2024
Me when Deadpool makes the fifth joke in a row where the punchline is “being gay” or “I will get cancelled for that one”
pic.twitter.com/EEtWOurG4E— Ethan 🔜 #TIFF24 ? (@notfunEman) July 27, 2024
I snuck away from Fantasia to check out DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE…and I wish I hadn’t.
It’s shockingly bad – from the CGI blood to the fratboy gay jokes to the lack of stakes to the terrible villain (poor Emma Corrin!).
It’s an unequivocal mess.https://t.co/jwDyKvGpL3— Joe Lipsett (@bstolemyremote) July 25, 2024
Of course, while Deadpool & Wolverine is receiving backlash from some viewers and critics for its use of gay jokes, the film is still performing rather well at the box office. In fact, the crossover between Fox‘s X-Men franchise and Marvel Studios’ MCU has actually made $590 million at the box office as of this writing – on a budget of $200 million. Quite a feat for a R-rated movie.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional MCU news as we have it, including any other details regarding the release of Deadpool & Wolverine. As for now, the massive superhero outing is finally here, bringing fans a proper narrative featuring both Deadpool and Wolverine as so many have asked for in the past.