Summary
Warning! Spoilers for Weapon X-Traction Part 2 ahead!
DeadpoolandWolverineare tearing up the summer box office, and to celebrate the occasion, Marvel Comics is giving the two heroes all-new costumes that pay homage to the extreme ’90s that gave birth to the Merc with the Mouth. The new looks arrive in “Weapon X-Traction,” which is being run as a back-up story in a host of different titles over the summer.
Appearing as a back-up story inCaptain America#11, the second part of“Weapon X-Traction” sees Deadpool and Wolverinepulled into the multiverse of possibilities, which leads Wade to speculate on future versions of himself and Logan.
Readers first get a glimpse at the 2099 versions of Deadpool and Wolverine, a cyberpunk look that Wade describes as “polymers and smelly leather.” Not willing to stop there,Deadpool speculates what he and Wolverine would look like in 3099 and 4099, as the two heroes become less recognizable and more abstract,with Deadpool becoming a sentient collection of guns and Wolverine is turned into a torso with claws.
Deadpool & Wolverine Get a Glimpse of the Future in “Weapon X-Traction”
“Weapon X-Traction” by Ryan North, Javier Garrón, Edgar Delgado & Joe Sabino
The 2099 versions of Wolverine and Deadpool act as the perfect homage to the2099imprint from the 1990s, which took Marvel characters and refashioned them in a futuristic, cyberpunk setting where America became a police state ruled by corporations. TheMarvel heroes of2099were thus a darker breed, rebels and outcasts fighting against a corrupt system, so the more “extreme” take on Wolverine and Deadpool is appropriate.Wolverine’s laser claws and Deadpool’s floating hoverboard are a nice touch, and very much in keeping with the design aesthetics seen in the2099comics of the time.
The 2099 version of Wolverine was recently revealed to be theLast Nova in the pages ofAnnihilation: 2099#1, and Wade’s daughter Warda Wilson was revealed to be the Deadpool of 2099 in 2016’sDeadpool#6.
The subsequent versions of Deadpool and Wolverine in the years 3099 and 4099 also act as a humorous send-up of the whole idea of futuristic versions of superheroes. The 3099 version of both characters sees them morph fully into cyborgs, withDeadpool becoming an anime-inspired robot and Wolverine apparently having a robotic exoskeleton over his adamantium-laced skull.The 4099 iterations are even more ridiculous, highlighting how little thought can go into such futuristic versions of heroes beyond their most obvious characteristics.
Deadpool & Wolverine Run Amok in the Multiverse This Summer
“Weapon X-Traction” Runs Weekly Through August
It’s a brief gag, but the future versions of Deadpool and Wolverine seen in“Weapon X-Traction” wind up being perfect as both a parody and homage to one of the most turbulentdecades in American comics history.The 2099 setting remains popular with many Marvel fans, so there is always the possibility readers will get to see the futuristic version of both heroes again soon. WithDeadpoolandWolverineon a mission to save the multiverse in the eight-part “Weapon X-Traction” storyline, hopefully fans can expect further, just as hilarious variations on both characters in the weeks to come.
Deadpool
The merc with the mouth first appeared in an issue ofNew Mutantsin 1990, and since then has gone on to get his own series and a massive cult following. With his incredible powers of healing and regeneration, Deadpool was initially depicted as an X-Men villain but went on to become an anti-hero. After getting his own movie series starting in 2016, the third Deadpool movie finally brings the wisecracking, fourth-wall-breaking character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
