Gay Jokes in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Spark Backlash Among LGBTQ+ Movie Critics

Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine is one of the few unqualified hits of the summer, drawing audiences all over the world with its mix of action and R-rated comedy. But one group isn’t having a good time — LGBTQ+ movie critics, who are calling out the movie for its numerous gay jokes.

Deadpool & Wolverine features an abundance of “gay panic” jokes made at the expense of its two male superhero protagonists: the spandex-dressed Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and his extremely muscular buddy Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). Since Deadpool’s sexuality has long been a matter of enjoyable speculation among fans — he is “pansexual” in the original comic — many viewers are interpreting the jokes as something of an in-joke themselves, taking the franchise’s ambiguously gay subtext to another, often raunchier level.

Ryan Reynolds appeared to admit as much when he posted a YouTube promo that was an overt parody of a semen facial.

Gay movie critics aren’t laughing.

The Guardian critic Guy Lodge led the grievance parade, slamming the movie for what he deemed was its “schoolyard homophobia.”

“Same-sex attraction is thus treated as little more than a gag, neither fulfilled nor corrected by the film itself,” he wrote.

“It’s a taunting akin to juvenile schoolyard homophobia, scarcely remedied by Deadpool himself being queer-identified. At this point, the next time Disney dredges up the character, it might be more progressive to draw less attention to his pansexuality. That, or simply let him fuck Wolverine.”

Other gay critics also found the gay jokes to be immature.

Critic Joe Lipsett, who writes for Slash Film and sites devoted to “queer” horror movies,  called out the movie’s “fratboy gay jokes.”

Other film reviewers expressed exasperation with the movie’s gay jokes.

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