Deadpool & Wolverineis the second highest-grossing movie of 2024, with $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office, but does that mean it should have a chance at an Academy Award? Franchise star, producer, and co-writerRyan Reynoldsthinks so and is making a case for it. As with every movie released in 2024,Deadpool & Wolverineis beginning its “For Your Consideration” campaign ahead of the upcoming 97th Academy Awards, whose nominees will be announced on Jun 14, 2025.
While speaking withIndieWire, Reynolds explained why he believesDeadpool & Wolverineis worth consideration for an Academy Award, particularlyBest Adapted Screenplay. Reynolds believes there is a genre bias against the film, not because it is a superhero movie but as a comedy, which many people dismiss as not being as important as dramatic fiction or that most of the movie was improvised. Yet Reynolds believes the movie’s ability to balance both comedy and drama while walking the fine line of being an R-rated movie that could appeal to everyone is a technical achievement that makesDeadpool & Wolverineworthy of consideration, even citing romantic poet John Keats. Reynolds said:
“Many of the alt jokes are written in advance. One thing that’s against it [in the awards space] is that a lot of people consider it a comedy. That’s fair, but it has a backbone that is emotion and warmth. Comedy and drama both subsist on tension. Certainly comedy is designed to set up an expectation and then come 90 degrees to it or subvert it. Somehow, you can do that so much more when you have dramatic stakes. When these two feelings are working in concert with each other, it allows you so much more leeway. And going into the movie, we felt we had a lot to prove to Marvel and Disney. It’s the first big Fox property, after Disney bought the studio, to be R-rated. We had to write a movie that was a four- quadrant R-rated movie. That’s a hard thing to do. In order to do that, I’m not a big poetry person, but Keats talks about all the stitching and unstitching you do to make it feel like a moment’s thought. And that’s what it is.”
Reynolds’s comment about comedy movies being overlooked by Academy Award voters sounds true, but is a little misleading. Comedies likeBorat,and its sequelBorat: Subsequent Movie Film,as well asBarbiewere nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, while movies likeLittle Miss SunshineandJunowon Best Original Screenplay. Many assumed the firstDeadpool’sscript would score it a Best Adapted Screenplay for the 89th Academy Awards,but it did not make the cut. However, it earned a Writers Guild of America nomination, which was seen as a big deal for not justDeadpoolbut the superhero genre, kicking off a new era of superhero movies earning Academy Awards attention that would be followed byLogan,Black Panther, andJoker.
Does ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Measure Up For Academy Awards Consideration?
Deadpool & Wolverineis the definition of an Oscar wildcard because, at this moment, nobody expects it to land asignificant nomination except possibly for Best Visual Effects. The race is heating up in the Best Adapted Screenplay category, with titles likeWicked,Conclave, andNickel Boysseeming like locks. While Reynolds’s claims thatDeadpool & Wolverinetackle comedy and drama are valid, that could be said about most comedic movies released in 2024, likeHit Man,Problemista,Thelma,My Old Ass, andBabes. By the metric Reynolds set, those movies are all just as worthy of Academy Award consideration and likely would fare better given they all have better reviews from critics thanDeadpool & Wolverine.
10 MCU Characters Deadpool Should Team Up With Next
Now that we have seen Deadpool team up with Wolverine, superhero fans are wondering who he will team up with next.
The question would be how wellDeadpool & Wolverinetackled these themes and whether they rose to the occasion. It could be said to be mixed at best. It certainly is noBlack Panther. If there wereMCU movies that could make a case for being considered for Best Adapted Screenplay, perhapsThe Avengers,Avengers: Infinity War,Avengers: Endgame, and all threeGuardians of the Galaxymovies would deserve it more thanDeadpool & Wolverine. Yet,Deadpool & Wolverinedoesn’t need the recognition of the Academy Award to be successful; that’s what the money is for.
Deadpool & Wolverine
