[THE MAIN EVENT ]

Pete Rock, Rob Markman, and Just Blaze discuss how the newly released blockbuster may shape the MCU's next chapter (no spoilers!)
UpRising: What is the significance of Deadpool and Wolverine being paired together in a movie?
Pete Rock: It's a connection from the Wolverine movie [X-Men Origins: Wolverine] and how Weapon X was portrayed. Wolverine was an integral piece to Deadpool. There's a story to tell.
Rob Markman: This is the only Marvel Studios movie coming out this year. Introducing the X-Men into this Marvel Universe—and how to integrate those Fox movie properties into what Marvel has been building—is super important. So there's a lot riding on this. In terms of their connection, like Pete said, they both came from the Weapon X program. Wolverine is Weapon X. Deadpool is an extension of that, even though Wolverine debuted in the comics in 1974 and Deadpool came in 1991. But when they created Deadpool, they tied him to Wolverine's origin.
You can't tame those two characters. It's going to be feral, berserker Wolverine. And Deadpool is a mercenary, a murderer. He does what the hell he wants. So with this movie being rated-R, pairing those two together on the big screen is going to be a lot of action and a lot of killing.
Just Blaze: It looks like they're gonna be riffing off of the Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe storyline.
What is the Deadpool vs. Marvel storyline from the comics and how might that play into Deadpool & Wolverine?
Rob Markman: Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe was a comic series [that was] so popular they did a sequel. It existed like a [hypothetical scenario] but it wasn't under the What If...? banner.
Pete Rock: Marvel knows they've been making a lot of mistakes. I feel like this is a way to reinvent and come back anew by killing off everyone and starting a whole new universe. It's like being reborn.
Just Blaze: I don't know that it's so much Marvel fixing mistakes. Now they have X-Men and all these other [characters] they gotta [integrate]. This is really a way to introduce the Fox universe—introducing the TVA (Time Variance Authority) and the Cinematic Universe to bring everything full circle. They gotta kill everybody just to get everybody back. It's gonna be interesting to see how that plays out.
Rob Markman: Deadpool is the perfect character to do it because he's such a disruptor. He breaks the fourth wall. He's irreverent. He just doesn't care... I think it's going to lean on what we saw in the Loki series with the TVA and time variants. You're going to see different variations of so many characters. To me, the multiverse is cool, but it becomes a crutch. It's the easy way for them to get out of whatever they messed up, like, “That didn’t really happen.” We're seeing it with Kang [the Conqueror], who’s not going to be the villain anymore. I'm like, what did I invest my time in watching this movie for?
Who do you propose should be the next primary villain in Marvel’s Phase Five?
Rob Markman: It's about time we saw the Dr. Doom adaptation that we deserve. Thanos is an amazing villain, but I don't even know if Thanos is top five in the comic books. They did a great job of elevating him. If they do Dr. Doom the right way, it'll be crazy. There's a Secret Wars comic book from the 2000s where he snatched Thanos’ spine out of his body. Dr. Doom ain't no joke.
The Hulk ain’t no joke either. There are rumors he might play a part in Deadpool & Wolverine.
Pete Rock: I'm crossing my fingers hoping the rumors are true. But I'm going to be critical. He's gotta be the Monster Hulk. He can't be looking like Mark Ruffalo. That shit be pissing me off. I know how the Hulk looks when he's fighting Wolverine—he looks like a monster! That's what I want. I'm iffy about Red Hulk looking like Harrison Ford. That's kinda corny.The best Hulk and Wolverine I saw on screen is in Hulk vs. Thor and Hulk vs. Wolverine. They should make the real movie how they made those animated movies: Bruce Banner on the run and Wolverine looking for him. Wolverine could smell someone from miles away. He finds Banner, Banner turns into the Hulk, and there you go. That's the way they should do it. But since it's a Deadpool movie and not solely based on Hulk and Wolverine, they might have to take shortcuts.
Disney CEO Bob Iger recently said Marvel will release no more than three films and two series per year as to focus on quality and avoid superhero fatigue. Do you think that’s a good approach or have you enjoyed the output in recent years?
Rob Markman: I'm going to see anything they drop. They’ve got my money. Even if I hate it, I gotta go check it out. But they need to do less. They put out stuff that didn't need to be out.
Just Blaze: They've been getting all my money for many years but [The Eternals] was the first time I did not finish a movie in my life. I was just like, “No, I'm cool.” That was when we reached that peak of, like, We're just gonna put anything out and as long as the names attached to it look good, it'll be alright.
At the same time, there's a lot of stuff they've gotten flack for that—look, we're watching comic book adaptations, not Shakespeare. I'm not looking for the holy grail of storytelling. I'm not gonna go crazy over it. A lot of us want them to stick to the original comic book lore. Objectively, if they did that, it probably wouldn't be that good. For every Andor, which was great, we get an Eternals. So I feel the slowdown is necessary. I would much rather have quality.
Pete Rock: I agree.
What events or sagas do you think we might see in the second season of X-Men ’97?
Pete Rock: I loved X-Men ’97. I just wanna see more of an interesting story the same way they did the first [season].
Rob Markman: X-Men '97 was amazing. I knew all of the source material, but they were mixing stuff together to tell a new story. They would tell them a story from the ’80s, then get into Bastion, which is from the ’90s. So there were still surprises and twists while staying true to the X-Men. At the end of the day, it's a story about persecution, about being the minority—and it applies to so many facets of our society.
They did a pretty clear job of setting up that Apocalypse is going to play a major part [in the second season]. I think we'll see more of what happened to Cable. They're going to resolve the death of Gambit. In comic books, nobody stays dead. That death of Gambit episode was a real heartbreaker. Nobody saw that coming in that way. It was shocking. It hit you in the gut. Even though these are cartoons, they did a great job of displaying human emotion. But we're going to see Gambit again. That's going to be dope.
Pete Rock is an all-time great music producer and artist who recently collaborated with Common for the critically acclaimed new album The Auditorium Vol. 1.
Rob Markman is a journalist, musical artist, podcaster, and authority on hip-hop and comics. He currently serves as VP of Content Strategy at Genius.
Just Blaze is a legendary music producer who was instrumental in developing Roc-a-Fella Records’ post-Y2K sample-based sound. He’s worked with Beyoncé, T.I., Kendrick Lamar, and many others.
The UpRising newsletter is a mixtape for your mind filled with information that's intellectual and irreverent—no skips. Whether it's film, music, art, food or the culture full stop, UpRising will serve as the starting point to your deep dives.