Comparing Deadpool and Deadpool 2 to the new Disney-produced film, it's clear what's missing

Deadpool was created in 1990, so he's technically a millennial—but his snarky, self-aware, pointedly irreverent humor is pure Gen X. While Deadpool & Wolverine is the first film in the Deadpool franchise to be produced in a traditionally family-friendly direction. from the Walt Disney Company, the director and writers (all Gen Xers themselves) obviously wanted to maintain at least the appearance of the transgressive edge of the earlier films.

Deadpool & Wolverine contains some jokes that would probably make Walt Disney blush. "Pegging ain't new to me, buddy," Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) says in the film's first trailer. "But it's for Disney." The sly look at the camera that follows that joke felt like a statement of intent, suggesting that the character would remain uncompromising in his transition to Disney stewardship. Still, as the film goes on, it's clear that there are very clear limits to what director Shawn Levy and the screenwriters (Rynolds among them) could and couldn't do.

[Ed. Note: Spoilers for many specific gags from the entire Deadpool trilogy follow.]