As you might have noticed, Deadpool & Wolverine is out this week and it's a pretty big deal. This year's Marvel Phase five movie comes with a ton of expectations from fans of the fourth wall-breaking wisecracker, and I'm literally heading to the IMAX theater to see it as soon as this article is done.
If – like me – you want to ensure you get the maximum enjoyment from the mouthy merc and his amusingly intense pal, you might want to watch these three movies on Disney Plus first. Because two things are certain: there are going to be callbacks aplenty, and nobody has time to catch every X-Men and relevant Marvel movie before hitting the theater this week. But in the rare instance that you do, here are our guide to how to watch the Marvel movies in order and how to watch the X-Men movies in order.
Deadpool
I know: duh. But while it's absolutely possible to enjoy Deadpool and Wolverine on its own terms (despite myself I've read the first reviews), the first Deadpool movie is so much fun that it's an absolute treat to revisit it again and again and again. It gives us the full Wade Wilson origin story, a very affecting and tragic romance and a ton of sight gags that make me laugh so hard my kids get embarrassed and threaten to disown me.
Logan
The tenth X-Men movie and the final installment of the Wolverine trilogy is pretty dark and more like a tragic western than a brightly colored CGI fight-fest. It's the superhero movie as art, Unforgiven with Adamantium claws, and the description 'No Country for Old X-Men' sums it up beautifully. And that seriousness, that weight, that feeling of it being 'A Big Important Movie' sets Wolverine up beautifully for the tomfoolery and mockery of Deadpool vs Wolverine.
Deadpool 2 / Once Upon a Deadpool
The second Deadpool movie and its hilarious family-friendly version featuring Fred Savage isn't as good as the first. But there's a montage of superhero flight that's genuinely one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a theater, and that section made me laugh so hard and so uncontrollably I thought I was going to get kicked out of the movie. It's gloriously silly, it does a wonderful job of showing how the other X-Men see our anti-hero and it's exactly the amuse bouche you need before heading to see the third instalment this week.
