Warning! This article contains spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine.
Summary
Deadpool & Wolverine’s opening credit sequence is causing a stir online, while secretly hiding twoX-Mencallbacks. Although a lot of focus has been placed onDeadpool & Wolverine’s climactic ending, the rest of the film has proved to be causing discussion too. Be it the manyMarvel cameos inDeadpool & Wolverineor the ties the film has to the overall MCU, the third installment in theDeadpoolfranchise is undoubtedly one of the most exciting Marvel movies sinceSpider-Man: No Way Home.
Thelist of upcoming Marvel movieswill surely be attempting to replicate this as the franchise looks to return to the consistent box office success it had pre-Avengers: Endgame.However, theDeadpoolfranchise has a distinct edge over its peers in this regard thanks to the meta, self-referential humor it possesses that allows it to appeal more to mass audiences via Easter eggs to pop culture. WhereDeadpool & Wolverineis concerned, no sequence highlights this more than the opening credits, which also happens to hide two callbacks to theFoxX-Menmoviesthat sum up the themes of the film.
Deadpool & Wolverine: 100 Marvel Easter Eggs & References Explained
Deadpool & Wolverine quite literally has over 100 different Easter eggs, references, and cameos galore. Here are all the ones we found.
Deadpool & Wolverine Opens With Deadpool Dancing To NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye”
Deadpool’s Dance Number Is As Meta As It Gets
The opening sequence in question is the dance number Deadpool has to NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye.” Shortly beforeDeadpool & Wolverinehighlights the former traveling the multiverse to search for a variant of the latter, there is a hybrid action-dance sequence. The sequence sees Deadpool using the adamantium-covered bones ofWolverine’s dead body fromLoganto fend off a horde of TVA agents, while NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” accompanies the bloody action.
The dance sequence in Deadpool & Wolverine also addresses the main worry from before the film came out: whether it will impact Logan’s ending.
From the inventive ways the film depicts Deadpool murdering TVA agents to the dance itself,Deadpool & Wolverine’s opening has been the subject of praise online. No other MCU movie in the entire franchise can say it possesses a gruesomely R-rated dance number to an NSYNC classic. As alluded to, this perfectly sums up the style of humor theDeadpoolfranchise offers, yet also offers subtle callbacks to priorX-Menmovies.
Deadpool’s NSYNC Dance Links To 2 Fox X-Men Jokes
Deadpool & Wolverine Knows What Franchise It Is Part Of
More so than being an action-packed, hilarious opening toDeadpool & Wolverine,the NSYNC dance number features the payoff to two forgottenX-Menjokes. The first comes fromX2: X-Men Unitedand links to a scene in which Wolverine, Rogue, Iceman, and Pyro are driving in Cyclops' car away from the X-Mansion. Pyro states that he does not like uncomfortable silences and turns on the radio. NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” begins blaring, causing Wolverine to physically recoilat the sound. Naturally,Deadpool & Wolverinehas the former dance along to a song the latter has been shown to dislike inX2.
The second reference to a past FoxX-Menmovie relates toDeadpool 2.Deadpool 2had a varied soundtrack, with director David Leitch and Ryan Reynolds wanting a song that tied to the emotional core of the film. The song was Céline Dion’s “Ashes,” which was satirical of prior Hollywood blockbusters using emotional songs for similarly emotional moments in respective films. In the music video for “Ashes,“Deadpool makes an appearance and exchanges heated words with Dion before uttering"God, I should’ve asked NSYNC.”
Why Deadpool & Wolverine’s NSYNC Dance Isn’t Just A Joke
Deadpool’s Dance Conveys The Core Themes Of Deadpool & Wolverine
While it would be easy to brush off Deadpool’s NSYNC dance as a joke to lure audiences into the movie with a fun, comedic opening, it actually is much more than that. The two references to priorX-Menmovies prove this, with the payoff for both signifyingDeadpool & Wolverine’s main theme. Despite many assumingDeadpool & Wolverinewould lean heavily into the MCU and completely disregard any previous Marvel franchises that did not come under Marvel Studios' banner, the film quickly made it clear that it was the opposite.
Choosing NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” links to the movies that came beforeDeadpool & Wolverine, conveying the theme that the film will be honoring past Marvel movies…
Deadpool & Wolverineis instead being dubbed a love letter to the Fox universeslikeX-Men,Fantastic Four,andElektra, as well as other forgotten Marvel franchises likeBlade.The film featured references to these franchises and cameos from major characters that did not get the ending they deserved, or even a beginning concerningChanning Tatum’s Gambit appearance inDeadpool & Wolverine. This was solidified inDeadpool & Wolverine’s end-credit sequence, which saw production reels from the various forgotten franchises in question play out, accompanied by Green Day’s “Good Riddance.”
WithDeadpool & Wolverine’s love letter nature in mind, the NSYNC dance takes on an entirely different context. It would have been easy for Reynolds and his writing team to find another song for Deadpool to dance to that had the same impact. However, choosing NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” links to the movies that came beforeDeadpool & Wolverine, conveying the theme that the film will be honoring past Marvel movies. For what could have been any song with an iconic dance number, the decision to choose NSYNC forDeadpool & Wolverine’s opening proves how dedicated the writers were to upholding the legacy of a bygone superhero era.
Deadpool & Wolverine
Cast
A follow-up to the highly successful Deadpool and Deadpool 2 films starring Ryan Reynolds as the Merc with a Mouth. The third film will be the first in the franchise to be developed under the Marvel Studios banner following Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox.
