Is there anything more difficult to understand in films than the X-Men film series? Whether it's the first trilogy, the three prequels that followed and completely changed the established timeline, or the three Wolverine spin-offs set throughout, the X-Men films are…a lot to deal with you have to deal with it.
And that's before you throw Deadpool into the mix. While the Merc with the Mouth makes fun of almost everything – and makes plenty of meta-jokes at the expense of his own cinematic universe – the X-Men series has Deadpool and Deadpool 2. More specifically, they're set in the altered timeline that follows the events of “X-Men: Days of Future Past.”
But where in this timeline? Just by looking at the films, one might assume that they are set in modern day – 2016 for the first film, 2018 for the second. However, Deadpool 2 puts a huge dent in this assumption. If you haven't seen Deadpool 2 yet, consider this a spoiler alert as we'll be delving into the events in the film.
First of all, Deadpool 2 begins with Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) playing with a music box meant to evoke Logan's final moments from the 2017 film Logan, in which the character Hugh Jackman dies. This particular film takes place in 2029, so Deadpool can either look into the future or it actually takes place in a post-post-apocalyptic world. However, neither is the case. Like most things Deadpool-related, this moment can easily be attributed to another in a long line of jokes, although that can be frustrating for those trying to keep the timeline straight.
The film's tinkering with the timeline doesn't end there, however. During a scene at Xavier's school for gifted youngsters, Deadpool jokes – because that's exactly what he does – that none of the A-Class X-Men ever appear in his films. Instead, he carries Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead and, in this sequel, the new addition Yukio. As he registers his complaint with the universe, the camera finds Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Professor X (James McAvoy), Quicksilver (Evan Peters) and Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) in a room as Beast quickly closes the door to avoid the Merc .
It's a great joke and an excellent series of cameos. However, it just doesn't make sense. These versions of the characters are from 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse, set in 1983. Are we supposed to believe that the X-Men haven't aged in 35 years? Xavier should certainly look a little more like Patrick Stewart at this point.
Read the rest of Chris Hayner's article at GameSpot!
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