Vote up the reasons you think 'Deadpool 2' is better than the original.
Fans of the Merc with a Mouth are in for a treat when they see Deadpool 2. The sequel doesn't just match the over-the-top silliness and face-melting action of the original – it exceeds it. Yes, Deadpool 2 is cooler than the first movie, which is a feat in itself, considering how much everyone loves Deadpool.
A lot of crazy things happen to Wade Wilson, but not many of them can top the antics of Deadpool 2. Everything in the Deadpool sequel is about escalation. There are more characters, the jokes are funnier, and the action scenes are breathtaking. Somehow, Deadpool 2 manages to be both more violent and hilarious than its predecessor.
The following reasons Deadpool 2 is better than the original can also reveal major plot points of the sequel. For those avoiding spoilers, it may be best to stick to some Deadpool trivia.
In the first Deadpool film, Wade Wilson notes that every time he stops by Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, there's never anyone there. Deadpool 2 reveals the X-Men are actually at the school, but they don't want anything to do with him. The rationale for the lack of superhero cameos in the first film is a lot of fun, and it gives audiences a peak at the ever-expanding world of the Sony/Marvel universe.
As Deadpool wheels around the mansion, he yells at Colossus and the audience catches sight of Beast chatting with Quicksilver and Professor X. Sharp-eyed viewers also get a quick glimpse of Cyclops.
In the film, Cable introduces his time travel tech that can only be used twice: once to bring him to the past and a final time to get him home. He uses his second time travel trip to rewind the film and keep Deadpool from dying to save Russell.
In the mid-credit sequence, Negasonic Teenage Warhead and her girlfriend, Yukio, fix the time machine and give it the ability to have more jumps. Instead of giving it back to Cable, Deadpool decides to travel back to the beginning of the movie and save his girlfriend, Vanessa, from being murdered. He then jumps forward to keep Peter (Rob Delaney) from being melted to death.
Deadpool then hops into X-Men Origins: Wolverine and murders that film's version of Deadpool. Afterwards, Deadpool goes full-on meta to 2008 and kills Ryan Reynolds before he can take the role of Green Lantern. This scene is genuinely crazy and it kind of unspools the entire movie, which is 100% what Deadpool is all about.
It never seems like screenwriters know what to do with Juggernaut. In the previous X-Men movies, he just kind of runs around being menacing and not smashing enough stuff. All of that changes in Deadpool 2. When Juggernaut shows up about halfway through the movie, very little time is spent dealing with who he is and what he wants, mostly because he's the Juggernaut, and he wants to f*ck sh*t up. He does just that.
Juggernaut not only gives our heroes a clear villain to vanquish, but he also gets his own theme song, in case there needed to be additional clarification on what his whole deal is.
Fans of the Cable & Deadpoolcomic series know the kind of relationship these two have, but newcomers don't have to know anything about Deadpool 2's antagonist to enjoy what he does. Josh Brolin's grim portrayal of Cable makes him the perfect foil for Deadpool, and he acts as the movie's singular straight man.
Comedy beats aside, Cable has some of the coolest fight scenes, and his narrative arc perfectly underscores the themes running throughout the film. Brolin manages to make it look like he's actually wrecking shop, and many of his biggest moments harken back to action flicks from the '80s like The Terminator and Cobra.
As if the film wasn't already packed to the gills with famous people in small roles, there are also cameos that whip by, bringing major stars into Deadpool's world.
The biggest cameo comes from none other than Brad Pitt. Initially, Pitt was in the running to play Cable, but he ultimately had to drop out after a scheduling conflict. Luckily, he found time to film a five-second cameo as Vanisher, an invisible superhero whom the audience only sees when he's electrocuted to death in a set of power lines. According to screenwriter Rhett Reese, Pitt agreed to film the cameo "for scale, which is a very, very low number, a low, low salary and a cup of coffee from Starbucks delivered to him by Ryan Reynolds."
Pitt's Ocean's 11 co-star Matt Damon also shows up, playing a redneck who chats up another hick played by Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Rogue One). Zazie Beetz (Domino) said Damon's was her favorite cameo and noted that "he's not even listed in the credits... They don’t even give his real name and he’s in complete prosthetics."
The actor credited to Damon's role is "Dickie Greenleaf," the name of Jude Law's character in The Talented Mr. Ripley. In that film, Damon's character steals Law's identity, thus becoming Dickie Greenleaf. The Deadpool crew sure does love their meta moments.
For all of its fourth wall-breaking, meta-moments, the first Deadpool isn't all that weird, at least in comparison to the sequel. Deadpool 2 takes everything audiences love about the first film and puts incredibly odd twists on them. One of the most bizarre standout moments from the sequel is a scene where Wade Wilson, having been cut in half, grows tiny baby legs as his body slowly repairs itself.
This is exactly the kind of exploration of superpowers that wouldn't happen in any other film. Other surreal moments in the sequel feature characters melting, people jumping through glass windows instead of opening doors, and a full-stop to discuss proper bathroom hygiene.
