Why Deadpool 2 Is The Best X-Men Movie Yet

3. It Nails The Nineties Zeitgeist, Even If It Doesn't Take Place Then

Though the nineties is often earmarked as a decade that presided over the comics industry's worst excesses, for the X-Men, it was a golden age of sorts. There was the titular animated series, which had the best cartoon theme song going; Chris Claremont's run on the series reached its epic conclusion in 1991; Jim Lee was making waves as an artist, and X-Mania span off into dozens of different titles, including X-Factor, New Mutants, and of course X-Force too.

Intermingled through all of this was the presence of Cable and Deadpool, two characters diametrically opposed to the other who found common ground to form a partnership during the decade's ensuing years. Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza presided over the creation of their Deathstroke parody in 1991, shortly after Liefeld attributed the mantle of Cable to Nathan Summers, who had been introduced by Claremont four years earlier.

To many, Cable and Deadpool are nineties X-Men. They're indulgent, brash and, all too often, chaotic as well. That doesn't mean they're not loved though, and in translating that vibe - that ridiculous, cross-hatched vibe - to the big screen, Deadpool 2's genius is laid bare for all to see.

It's silly, serious and sumptuous all the same, but perhaps the highlight is when Wade breaks the fourth wall to mock artists "who can't draw feet" - a common, albeit less than serious criticism, levelled at Liefeld himself.