Sunday Matinee #137 Deadpool 2
Rules schmules. Justice is justice.
Today we compare an anti-hero with the ultimate hero. Both have a sense of justice. But which one is “authorized” to dispatch said justice? Let’s take a look…
Deadpool 2 | 2018
IMDb | Letterboxd | RRMC
Context: Now one of the heroic X-Men, the merc with a mouth, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), is called in to dispatch a young adult mutant, Firefist (Juian Dennison). Only, the situation is not so cut and dried. He’s clearly being abused, perhaps tortured, as this “school” for mutants and he was crying out for help. While Wade / Deadpool tried to replicate Colossus’s (Stefan Kapicic) speech in the original Deadpool (2016) that it only takes “four or five moments” to be a hero, he can’t help who he is. He shoots one of the abusers dead and tries to take out the other. Colossus pins Deadpool to the ground and raises a fist.
COLOSSUS: Wade, what did you do?!
MEGASONIC TEENAGE WARHEAD: Colossus, no!
DEADPOOL: That kid was abused! You can tell. You can always tell!
COLOSSUS: We have rules! You are not judge, jury or executioner!
DEADPOOL: Fuck your rules! I fight for what's right! And sometimes you gotta fight dirty!
The quote in the above video clip is from a scene at the 2:25-minute mark.
Luke 13:10-17 | EnterTheBible.org
Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost | 08.24.2025
Context: In chapter 13 of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is teaching in the synagogues and towns and villages. Where he goes, he encounters people who disagree with him. He offers parables and life lessons, and here he pauses to heal a woman. When the people in charge say she was wrong to ask for help on this day, Jesus can’t help who he is. He calls them on it.
12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” 13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites!”
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Commentary:
Every time I write about Deadpool, I’m compelled to state right away that I am not saying he is like Jesus!
Even if they both have a point about “the rules.”
First of all, Colossus is 100% correct. Deadpool does not get to be judge, jury, and executioner. And he made a terrible situation worse with what he did. And because of that, it’s going to get a whole lot worse before it get much better. Deadpool’s not known for impulse control. Even if we give him the benefit of the doubt and he knows the long and winding road that comes with trying to prove the abuse that Firefist is enduring and all of the red tape involved with changing the system, he still doesn’t get to shoot his way through change.
We understand his emotion, though. When he says “Fuck your rules!” that isn’t arrogance. That’s anguish. He genuinely wants to end abuse, to save someone, to make the world a better place. He isn’t above “fighting dirty” to make it happen, either. Does this work in the movies? Sure. Does it work in real life? Eh, that’s harder to say. We do have historical examples of people breaking broken systems by defiance, though my favorite is – and big shocker here – nonviolent resistance.
Besides, when Deadpool started to recite the “four or five moments” speech, the one he ignored last time, Colossus should’ve seen what was going to happen coming from a mile away.
Jesus is fed up with the rules. In today’s text, he heals a woman. He brings true change to her life, ends her suffering, makes the world a better place. What is the response from the leader who sees this? Not cool, Jesus. You can be healed on the other six days of the week. You shouldn’t come to be healed on the Sabbath. We have rules here, after all.
Oh, please.
Jesus points out their hypocrisy, as if they don’t do any work whatsoever on the Sabbath. Next, he points out this woman’s suffering has gone on long enough. How many of those 6 days a week has she been ignored by them, anyway?! She was suffering for eighteen years. His opponents don’t have a good answer. The crowd cheers.
You’ve got to love moments like this. When humankind’s rules attempt to stamp out God’s compassion, we can be grateful that God’s compassion finds a way. How have you seen this at work in history? In your own life?
Deadpool is an anti-hero: a “good guy” who goes about it kinda like the “bad guys” do. He maims, he kills, he said naughty swear words. He’s a hero without the heroic qualities of someone with an “S” on his chest or a star on his shield (or a crown of thorns on his head). Do audiences connect more with squeaky-clean heroes who always do the right thing or imperfect heroes who mess up? Is that why the Deadpool movies end up having a little heart despite a lot of bloodshed? Maybe. I also wonder if it’s Jesus’s raw emotions in moments like confronting these other teachers that makes him so real, relatable, and compelling to follow.
Well, I’ve now written about all three Deadpool movies at R-Rated Movie Club, yet not a single entry on Unforgiven, Oppenheimer, or Parasite. Have to work on that…It’s fun to recommend what we enjoy. Please share this with someone who would enjoy it.
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Glad you’re here today. God’s peace and good movies to you!