← Back to Directory
Deadpool 2
Movie

Deadpool 2

2018 • Action, Adventure, Comedy

Woke Score
6
out of 10

Plot

After losing Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), the love of his life, 4th-wall breaking mercenary Wade Wilson aka Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) must assemble a team and protect a young, fat mutant Russell Collins aka Firefist (Julian Dennison) from Cable (Josh Brolin), a no-nonsense, dangerous cyborg from the future, and must also learn the most important lesson of all: to be part of a family again.

Overall Series Review

Deadpool 2 maintains the franchise's signature meta-humor while pivoting from a simple revenge plot to a story about found family and heart. The film consciously incorporates multiple elements of modern social commentary, often cloaked in the main character's characteristic R-rated humor and irreverence. The plot revolves around protecting a young mutant from a religiously-zealous and abusive institutional authority figure. The movie introduces a consciously diverse team, the X-Force, with a stated 'genderneutral' mandate. A prominent lesbian couple is featured as the first of its kind in a major superhero film, though their roles remain supporting. The main emotional drive for both the hero and the anti-hero is the death of their female partners, a plot device that undermines the film's attempts at feminist sophistication. The most direct anti-traditional element is the clear vilification of a Christian-affiliated character and institution through the child-abuse villain, which frames zealotry as the root of trauma and violence.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics7/10

A consciously diverse cast is featured, including a Black female lead (Domino) and an Asian lesbian character (Yukio), with the hero explicitly declaring a 'forward-thinking genderneutral' group. The child victim, Firefist, is a non-white character being tormented by a white authority figure. The diversity feels intentionally selected for representation, though some critics argue it is shallow 'tokenism' as some new diverse characters are swiftly killed off.

Oikophobia5/10

The main hero, Deadpool, is a cynical anti-hero who constantly mocks established institutions like the X-Men and traditional superhero tropes. The primary villain for the child is an abusive headmaster of a mutant-correctional facility, representing a corrupt, institutional authority. The narrative's resolution, however, emphasizes the positive and protective nature of a 'found family,' which counters pure civilizational self-hatred.

Feminism5/10

The core motivation for the hero (Deadpool) and the anti-hero (Cable) is the violent death of a woman, which serves as a classic 'fridging' plot device. This places a male emotional journey at the center of the story through female sacrifice. Countering this, the powerful female character Domino is hyper-competent, and the male lead, Deadpool, is repeatedly shown as emotionally vulnerable and non-masculine in traditional ways, explicitly diverging from 'toxic masculinity.'

LGBTQ+8/10

The movie features an explicitly same-sex couple, Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Yukio, who share a casual and unremarkable kiss, marking them as the first openly gay superhero couple in a major studio film. The child-abusing villain's facility, run by a religious zealot who uses electroshock, acts as a thinly-veiled metaphor for gay conversion therapy, framing the rejection of alternative sexualities as violence and abuse.

Anti-Theism8/10

The main villain who abuses the young mutant Firefist is the headmaster of a correctional home who justifies his acts with 'religious pronouncements,' framing religious zealotry as the source of child abuse. The main hero, Deadpool, engages in explicit blasphemous humor, referring to himself multiple times as 'Marvel Jesus.' The narrative consistently places a corrupt, religiously-themed institution in the role of the antagonist.