New ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Posters Irritate Gay Fans

Recently released posters for the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine have struck a nerve with queer Marvel fans, which are leaning into the pair being gay as a punchline. 

The upcoming MCU film is the first time the two characters are teaming up on screen, and is predicted to give the MCU its biggest box office opening in some time. However, despite the fact that Deadpool is canonically pansexual and an alternative universe version of Wolverine is gay, the marketing seems intent on making a potential relationship between the two a joke. 

The IMAX poster for the movie was revealed on June 10th, and depicted the two mutant heroes seeming to hold hands while wearing friendship bracelets – partly leading to wild speculation about Taylor Swift being in the movie. 

Some fans criticised the reveal, with one saying: “Personally, I’m definitely bored of the canonically pansexual character playing gay chicken for the laughs of the bigoted fan base. Especially during Pride Month.” 

Only days later, another poster riffing on Beauty and the Beast was released and drew further ire from some fans.

“Oh I get it, it’s like they’re gay,” reads one reply, while another fan says: “I’ve really enjoyed the posters for this film but one criticism I’ve seen is them making gay imagery with Wade and Logan meant for laughs.” 

Another user on Twitter/X heavily criticised the marketing, saying:

dont think i havent noticed that in this depiction of supposedly hyperqueer pansexual icon deadpool, his interest in men is only ever comedic and his interest in women is like the only time he’s ever allowed to show a real emotion in these godforsaken movies https://t.co/jc6J5tcLjq

— adazztra🦦 (@suzieminiike) June 13, 2024

However, another user pointed out that given the Beauty and the Beast remake’s equally hollow moment of gay representation, it’s the perfect movie to parody for a poster.  

Marvel’s rocky history with queer representation

The attempted marketing rings extra hollow coming from Marvel, who have a poor track record with meaningful queer representation as is. Though a number of characters are queer (Valkyrie, Loki, that one grieving man from Avengers: Endgame), many potential moments of queer representation have been entirely cut out. 

Moreover, even queer scenes that are included in the movies are often cut to release in international markets where homosexuality is illegal. For instance, Marvel initially promised they would not do this for Phastos in Eternals – but once the movie flopped, they acquiesced and cut all scenes of intimacy between Phastos and his husband.

Furthermore, Disney came under fire when they initially refused to take a stance on Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, further proving that looking to companies for meaningful allyship or representation is often unhelpful.