It’s hard to have stakes in a superhero movie. They try! But, after hundreds of adventures playing out in similar ways, it can be difficult to swerve expectations and make audience members think something… bad might happen. The skybeam is going to be shut down. Gotham’s citizens will survive the umpteenth attempt on their lives (but they’ll never move). Most importantly, our hero is likely going to survive.
There have been a few exceptions to that rule! Infinity War is probably the most notable example, where half the heroes in the MCU were turned to dust. No one was thinking there wasn’t going to be another Avengers movie, but plenty of audience members were caught off guard by the sudden loss. In a genre filled with predictable success, our heroes lost. But you can’t do that every time.
So, how do you give an audience an exciting experience with a genre that has (arguably) been done to death? The most obvious (and less likely) answer is you stop doing them for a while. Even a global pandemic didn’t completely halt the release of superhero movies. There are profits to be had! Since the caped and spandex-clad heroes must keep the great wheel of capitalism spinning, you must go a different route. You must pretend.
That was the case for Deadpool Ampersand Wolverine. The hit superhero comedy certainly found fun meta ways to differentiate itself, but it still falls into the same old story beats these films often do. That included a third-act set piece that could be fatal to our heroes unless they finally unite to save the day. The filmmakers weren’t going to add any pretense to the moment. Our heroes would emerge triumphant and that would be that. Blake Lively shut that s*** down.
Director Shawn Levy revealed on a commentary track for the film that Lively had a major impact on the end of the film. “It used to be that there was no suspense, that the power room blew up, and our heroes had survived. And it was Blake Lively who said to us, ‘You know, I’ve been with you this whole movie. I want to sit in the fear that they’re lost. Let me be in that place of suspense so the triumph of their survival is more emotional and visceral.’” Levy continued, saying, “That was a Blake [Lively] note, and it really opened up a new way of thinking about this part of the movie, and it’s why we did this reshoot … and, here, the payoff is so much more satisfying.”
I love the idea of Blake Lively watching the movie and essentially asking “Don’t you want me to give a s***?” I thought Deadpool & Wolverine was good not great and a big reason why is that the emotional beats of the film fell flat. That isn’t helped by the fact that we know (or at least assume) victory is guaranteed. Did Lively’s added bit of suspense change that? No. But I’m glad somebody pitched that. In the words of Fleetwood Mac, “Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies.”
