Deadpool & Wolverine’s ‘fixed homosexual jokes’ leaves followers divided

The internet has been left divided over the ‘constant gay jokes’ in Deadpool & Wolverine – with some people branding them as ‘relentless and annoying’ and others coming to the Marvel film’s defense.

Deadpool & Wolverine hit theaters on Friday, and the superhero movie raked in a whopping $211 million at the box office in its first weekend.

But viewers seemed divided over the flick on social media, particularly with the amount of quips that Ryan Reynold’s character Deadpool made about wanting to get intimate with Hugh Jackman‘s character Wolverine.

Immediately, X, formerly Twitter, became flooded with posts about the topic, and some people slammed the continued gags regarding Deadpool and Wolverine’s sexualities.

‘POV: you’re watching Deadpool & Wolverine and they make another unfunny gay joke,’ one person wrote alongside a GIF that showed someone looking unamused in a movie theater. 

‘Me when Deadpool makes the fifth joke in a row where the punchline is “being gay,”‘ added another user along with a GIF that featured someone drinking bleach. 

‘It was a really interesting choice for Marvel to pack Deadpool & Wolverine with relentless and exhausting gay jokes,’ a third tweet read. 

‘The same joke told over and over eventually gets stale,’ a fourth person chimed in. 

‘Deadpool & Wolverine was good but god damn I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many gay jokes in anything in my life,’ a different user confessed. 

‘I kept waiting for them to get off the stupid gay jokes and find some new material,’ someone else scathed.

Others, however, came to the movie’s defense and said they enjoyed the humorous approach to the topic. 

‘There’s a lot of jokes sure, but they aren’t like, making fun of gay people/the subject matter,’ one person defended.

‘I thought they were in fact funny because it never felt like they were making fun of Deadpool for being gay,’ another agreed. ‘It just felt like that’s how he is which is cool.’

While promoting the movie, Marvel released a series of posters that seemed to hint that Deadpool and Wolverine would become romantically involved.

One featured their hands forming a heart together with the letters ‘D + W’ etched in the background, similar to what lovers carve into a tree.

Another showed Deadpool rubbing his finger along one of Wolverine’s claws, while a third saw the character’s slow dancing, similar to the poster for Beauty and the Beast.

They also sold a popcorn bucket that featured Wolverine’s mouth open wide in a very provocative pose.

In the Marvel comics, Deadpool is depicted as pansexual; Wolverine’s sexuality isn’t revealed but there is one storyline in the comics that explores an alternate universe in which he has a same-sex relationship. 

It was also hinted that he was involved in a throuple with Jean Grey and Cyclops.

Some people were not unhappy with the jokes themselves, but with the fact that the movie included so many gay jabs but didn’t actually feature Deadpool and Wolverine getting together in the end.

‘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,’ someone else said.

‘I hate how his queerness is only ever played as a joke and never once sincerely.’ 

‘Had a discussion today with a rando about Deadpool’s sexuality – I thought it would be interesting if it was an actual plot element instead of a comedic crutch in the new one,’ another tweet read.

One reviewer for The Guardian even accused Marvel of ‘queerbaiting’ in its marketing.

‘That the film’s pansexual insinuations go no further is neither surprising nor particularly detrimental to its joyless functionality as multiplex fodder,’ the publications review read. 

‘The film’s prudence on this front does, however, underline the queerbaiting cynicism of its marketing – which places significantly more emphasis on Deadpool’s sexuality than the finished product ever does.’

The outlet slammed the movie for treating ‘same-sex attraction’ as ‘little more than a gag.’

‘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 continued.

‘It’s a taunting akin to juvenile schoolyard homophobia, scarcely remedied by Deadpool himself being queer-identified.’

Digital Spy also bashed the movie for ‘alluding’ to the characters’ sexualities in its posters, only to turn it into a ‘joke.’

‘Allusions to [their sexualities] in the marketing just amounted to a joke. And it was a tedious, homophobic one at that,’ it said.

‘It’s extremely ’90s, this notion that men loving other men is a punchline, regardless of the intentions behind it.’