Deadpool 2's Best Superhero Movie Burns

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Deadpool 2, in theaters now.

Deadpool's comic book appearances have always had a certain irreverence to them, and the films have managed captured that spirit rather well. From mocking other superheroes and their movies to having some fun at his own expense, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) will say anything to get a laugh. Deadpool 2 follows in its predecessor's footsteps, finding the Merc with a Mouth once again breaking the fourth wall with abandon, dropping references and burns that would demolish continuity if they came out of anyone else's mouth.

To celebrate 'Pool’s free-for-all attack on the superhero genre, we’ve collected every mention of other live action comic book characters. In the end there proved to be so many of these one-liners, we ended up breaking them down into three major groupings: The MCU, the DCEU, and the X-Universe.

Fox's X-Universe

It makes sense to start with the X-Universe, since Wade is a part of it... sort of. We kind of have to use that caveat because the writers are clearly not too concerned with continuity. Case in point, the Deadpool movies are supposed to take place in the present, yet the cast of X-Men: Apocalypse makes a cameo - and that film is set the 1980s.

Regardless, the first victim in Wade’s roast is, of course, Wolverine. The film starts with Deadpool setting down a music box that has a Wolvie figure impaled on a metal spike, like the death scene from Logan. Then, as he's blown to smithereens moments later he quips, “Fuck Wolverine. First he rides my coattails with the R-rating. Then the hairy motherfucker ups the ante by dying. What a dick. Well, guess what Wolvie? I’m dying in this one, too!” Not only is this a genuinely funny moment, it gets super metatextual by referencing how the success of the initial Deadpool movie made it easier for James Mangold to make the R-rated Wolverine film fans had always hoped for.

Later in the film, Wade is walking through the halls of a strangely empty X-mansion with Colossus and states, “You’d think the studio could throw us a bone. You can’t just dust off one of the famous X-Men? The putz with the giant pigeon wings?” This is obviously a reference to Angel, who he refers to as "pigeon wings" again toward the end of the film. When he uses Cerebro during his time at the School For Gifted Youngsters, he is actually dressed like James McAvoy’s Professor X, and notes the helmet smells like Patrick Stewart, who played Xavier in the first three X-Men movies.

At the Essex House, when the X-Men are trying to stop Russell’s tantrum, Deadpool gets blown into the orphanage. In the room he flies into is a young boy eating breakfast. He picks up the cereal box on the table and signs it. When the camera pauses momentarily on the box we can see the product is called Hero Flakes and features Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine on the front. The signature reads "Ryan Reynolds," with a Deadpool logo beside it.

In the convoy/prison break scene, Pool Boy tries to deflect Cable aka Nathan Summers’ bullets with his katanas. While there is a lot of sword swinging, he just gets shot a bunch of times, an allusion to the scene in X-Men Origins: Wolverine where Wade does the same thing... but manages to accomplish the physically impossible feat.

Easily the best and most satisfying joke is in the after-credits when Wade goes back in time and assassinates the X-Men Origins: Wolverine version of Deadpool, aka Weapon XI, shooting the mouthless not-really-Deadpool in the head and then unloading most of a clip into him.

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We should start off by mentioning that in the first Deadpool 2 trailer everybody’s favorite anti-hero commented on the CG work for Cable's arm not being complete, telling the camera, “It’s not as difficult as removing a mustache." This poked fun at how the Justice League filmmakers had to remove Henry Cavill's mustache in the footage from reshoots. This isn’t in the film, of course, for obvious reasons.

Within the first ten minutes of the movie, the writers take a crack at Batman v. Superman. Wade tells his girlfriend Vanessa that he is late for their anniversary dinner because he was “fighting a caped bad-ass but then I discovered his mom’s name is Martha, too," a reference to the moment from BvS that launched a thousand memes.

The Flash, Superman, Cyborg, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Aquaman in the original Justice League film

When Deadpool and Weasel are conducting Shatterstar’s X-Force interview and he reveals he is a superior alien, Wade says, “Just once I’d like to find a planet with people that are worse than me at everything. A whole bunch of functional idiots. I’m gonna go there and be their Superman.”

When Cable and Wade throw down for the first time and the time-traveller asks the mercenary who he is, Deadpool responds, “I’m Batman.” Shortly after that, he asks Cable if Dubstep is still a thing in the future. Cable serves him a punishing beatdown and then answers, “Dubstep is for pussies!” Without a pause, 'Pool replies, “You’re so dark. Are you sure you’re not from the DC Universe?”

The movie's after-credits scenes end with Deadpool killing Ryan Reynolds as he’s reading the Green Lantern script for the first time. Deadpool truly rights all of Reynolds's wrongs in this movie.

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Throughout the film, the writers snuck in pot shots aimed at a number of the MCU's Avengers. When Deadpool and Russell are thrown in their Icebox cell, he tells the teenager that he can’t do much without his healing factor. He drives the point home by adding, “Give me a bow and arrow, and I’m basically Hawkeye.”

Later, once Cable breaks into the prison and starts blowing everything up, Pool rhetorically asks, “What did I do to piss off a grumpy old f*cker with a Winter Soldier arm?” Just a couple minutes later Wade is questioning Cable about the future and inquires, “At what point do audiences say, enough with the robotic arms?”

At the point in the film when Wade is regrowing his legs at Blind Al’s house, Domino makes a joke about his toddler size junk and he retorts, “Zip it, Black Black Widow.”

In the final fight at the Essex House, Deadpool tries to use Black Widow’s trick for calming the Hulk down on Juggernaut, reciting the phrasing that turns the Green Goliath back into Bruce Banner, “The sun’s getting real low…” This is cut short when it is obvious the tactic is not working. He also tells Cable, “zip it Thanos,” a nod to the fact that actor Josh Brolin plays the villain in Avengers: Infinity War as well as Deadpool 2's time-traveling mutant from the future.

Lastly, when Dopinder kills the headmaster and says that he wants some more, Wade responds, “I bet you do Brown Panther,” a chuckle-inducing quip referencing Marvel's most successful solo superhero movie to date, Black Panther.

Directed by David Leitch, Deadpool 2 stars Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Stefan Kapičić as the voice of Colossus, and Karan Soni as Dopinder, with newcomers Zazie Beetz as Domino, Josh Brolin as Cable and Julian Dennison as Russell. The film is playing in theaters everywhere now.

KEEP READING: The Dead Pool: Which Characters Die in Deadpool 2?