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This article contains major spoilers for “Deadpool & Wolverine,” so proceed with caution!
“Deadpool & Wolverine” isn’t just the entry point for Wade Wilson into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it’s not just an excuse for Hugh Jackman to collect a paycheck for his return as the beloved mutant from the “X-Men” franchise. You might be surprised to see that the third entry in the “Deadpool” film series is also a love letter to the Marvel movies that came before it from 20th Century Fox (and to a lesser extent, New Line Cinema).
Not only are there Marvel cameos by a myriad former superheroes, including Jennifer Garner as Elektra, Wesley Snipes as Blade, and Chris Evans as a foul-mouthed Johnny Storm from “Fantastic Four,” but Channing Tatum finally gets to live out his dream of playing Gambit, with a look straight out of the X-Men comics of the ’90s. Each of them, banished to The Void from “Loki” by the Time Variance Authority, gets the chance to be heroes once again (well, not Johnny Storm, who meets a hilarious but grisly end), as they help Deadpool and Wolverine take down Cassandra Nova. But that’s not the only tribute to Fox’s Marvel movies of the past.
Once the credits starts to roll on “Deadpool & Wolverine,” there’s a lovely reel of footage from behind the scenes of all the 20th Century Fox movies adapted from Marvel Comics, beginning with “X-Men” in 2000 and moving right on through “Fantastic Four,” “Deadpool,” “The New Mutants” and everything in between. During that montage of footage, Green Day’s familiar song “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” plays to provide some touching nostalgia.
There’s just one problem with that: Green Day’s beloved song, which has become a staple of proms, high school graduations, weddings, and general nostalgia for years behind us, was never meant to be genuinely reflective in a fond fashion.
I hope you had the time of your life
In the book “Nobody Likes You: Inside the Turbulent Life, Times, and Music of Green Day” by journalist Marc Spitz, it’s revealed that the song “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” was written by frontman Billie Joe Armstrong in 1993. At the time, Armstrong wrote it about his girlfriend, who had just moved to Ecuador, and he wrote the song to express his anger for her moving away and leaving their relationship behind. The seemingly touching and nostalgic lyrics, “I hope you had the time of your life,” were meant to be sarcastic, not a saccharine memory of the best days of our lives. In fact, the original version of the song (first intended for the album “Dookie”) actually had a faster tempo without any of the strings that make it feel even more heartfelt:
That version actually appeared as a B-side to the European single for “Brain Stew/Jaded,” but eventually, Armstrong wanted to record the song again, producer Rob Cavallo suggested they add strings to the track, and the song was released on the album “Nimrod.” The rest is history.
However, despite the intention behind the song, it would eventually go on to surprise Green Day by becoming a hit at high school proms, not to mention graduations. Armstrong admitted (in an archived CBS article back in 2012, via Wikipedia) that he understood where the popular perspective on the song came from, “The people that you grew up and braved the trials of high school with will always hold a special place. Through all the BS of high school you hope that your friends had the time of their life, and that’s what the song is talking about.”
But I gotta say, I think it’s time we start acknowledging that the song itself is a little more cynical than the zeitgeist would have you believe.
Good riddance, Fox Marvel movies
The alternate interpretation of “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” has become so ubiquitous that it was even used in the “Seinfeld” episode titled “The Chronicle,” the second to last episode before the series finale in the show’s ninth season, where it played over a montage of bloopers, behind the scenes footage, and clips of the show, not unlike how it was used in “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Beyond that, it’s been used in various forms of media to reflect on the good times we’ve lived in previous years. Even Rolling Stone named it as one of the 20 Best Graduation Songs of the Past 20 Years (from 1995-2015).
But don’t you think it’s time we let Green Day’s song exist as the cynical anthem it was supposed to be? “Good Riddance” should be one of the best break-up songs, not one of the best graduation songs! It’s right there in the title, folks! You don’t say “good riddance” to the things that you’re happy to look back upon with rose-colored glasses.
*gasp* Wait! What if that’s the point?
Deadpool is a smart ass, and he’s always irreverent and subversive. What if “Deadpool & Wolverine” is using the song with an additional layer of irony? The song makes people think that everything about the Fox Marvel movies is worth looking back on with a smile and warm embrace. But maybe now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken over, they’re saying good riddance. After all, as we recently covered on the /Film Daily Podcast, half of those movies are garbage anyway.
Honestly, we’re sure director Shawn Levy, star/producer/co-writer Ryan Reynolds and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige intended for “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” to give longtime Marvel fans fuzzy feelings. But it’ll take more than a Green Day song to make me look back fondly on “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” That movie almost single-handedly tanked any hopes of seeing Deadpool properly brought to the big screen. Good riddance! But we’re glad it all worked out in the end. I guess for what it’s worth, it was worth all the while. Ah, crap.
