Wade Wilson’s official introduction to the MCU in Deadpool & Wolverine came via a door to the TVA. Matthew Macfadyen’s Paradox tried to recruit the Merc With a Mouth to join the Avengers since Deadpool’s home universe was dying. Even though Deadpool’s world was fading away naturally, the Time Variance Authority agent was trying to speed up its demise with an unsanctioned plan. Why was that world going to vanish in the first place? And why did Paradox want to destroy it immediately? The film revealed new information about the TVA and the multiverse that could have major implications for the MCU going forward.
What Is an MCU “Anchor Being?”
Paradox told Wade the Wolverine of Logan—the one who sacrificed himself to save X-23 and other mutant children—was an anchor being. That’s an entirely new concept for the franchise.
An anchor being is “an entity of such vital importance that when they die their whole world slowly withers out of existence.” Logan lived on Earth-10005, the same universe Wade calls home.
With Deadpool’s universe set to vanish out of existence (eventually), Paradox’s superiors had instructed him to try and recruit that specific, special Merc With a Mouth to join the Avengers of Earth-616, the prime MCU universe. Only, Wade wasn’t going to let his universe die without a fight. That led him to seek out a replacement Logan to serve as his world’s anchor being.
What Did Deadpool & Wolverine Reveal About the Current TVA and Sacred Timeline?
The slow destruction of Earth-10005 revealed that, despite Loki rearranging the Sacred Timeline into the Tree of Life, entire branches of existence can still vanish. As Paradox explained, an anchor being dying in extraordinary fashion “is how a reality dies.” He also laughed at Wade’s replacement plan. You can’t simply replace an anchor being with a Variant.
However, unlike the old TVA under He Who Remains, the TVA no longer prunes branches, not even ones dying naturally. New TVA boss Hunter B-15 had tasked Paradox and his team with overseeing Earth-10005 during its slow demise. That would happen over roughly two thousand years.
The disgruntled TVA agent was not okay with waiting that long. Paradox yearned for agency’s former cold, brutal efficiency. He wanted to speed up the death of Earth-10005. For that he needed a time ripper.
What Is a TVA Time Ripper and How Does it Work?
A Time Ripper is a powerful machine made up of many Reset Charges. Those small devices, as seen on Loki, can “prune the affected radius of a branched timeline, allowing time to heal all its wounds.” The God of Mischief noted that’s a polite way of saying a Reset Charge can “disintegrate everything in its vicinity.”
A Time Ripper consists of many Reset Charges and can destroy an entire timeline in a flash. Paradox thought that was a far more merciful (and personally less taxing) method compared to a universe slowly decaying. But with the TVA outlawing the machine, thanks to its new no-pruning policy, Paradox had to build his own. That took time and resources, because a Time Ripper also requires a tremendous amount of energy that draws on both matter and antimatter.
When Cassandra Nova escaped the Void, she planned on using that Time Ripper to destroy every universe on the Sacred Timeline. Deadpool and Wolverine were able to combine their powers to overcome her tremendous strength, destroying both the machine and Nova in the process. And that’s not all they did.
What Did Paradox’s Secret Plan in Deadpool & Wolverine Reveal About the New TVA?
Paradox ultimately failed to destroy Earth-10005, but he showed it’s still possible for rogue agents to covertly undermine the TVA and annihilate entire universes. The organization, like all any workplace, is still susceptible to unhappy employees with their own agenda and ideas how things should work.
The Sacred Timeline still needs protecting, including from some people at the Time Variance Authority. Fortunately good people like Hunter B-15 are now in charge and focused on saving world rather than destroying them.
More important than Paradox’s failure was Deadpool’s success. Him and Wolverine not only stopped Nova, they healed Earth-10005. After the Time Ripper exploded that entire universe began to heal itself. It’s no longer going to die of natural causes. Wade’s world, which now has “the best” Wolverine calling it home, will continue existing forever. Hunter B-15 didn’t totally understand how that worked, but she said the TVA will investigate.
Earth-616 might need her report sooner than later.
Did Earth-616 Also Lose Its Anchor Being When Iron Man Died?
Paradox said Logan‘s Wolverine’s death was “an act of self-sacrifice so epic that it sent shivers down the timeline,” setting the universe on a path of self-destruction. That immediately raised a major question about the MCU’s own world, Earth-616.
That world also saw its greatest hero—the one who anchored the entire franchise much like Wolverine did Fox’s X-Men movies—give up his life in an epic act of self-sacrifice. Tony Stark died saving the entire universe from Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.
Was he is Earth-616’s anchor being? Is it now slowly dying because he gave up his life? And if it is, what can the Avengers learn from Deadpool and Wolverine’s team-up? Those are all huge questions the film raised. And those were fair question before Marvel Studios announced Robert Downey Jr. is returning not as Iron Man, but as Victor Von Doom. Could Victor’s story have something to do with Tony Stark being an anchor being? Will Deadpool & Wolverine end up explaining the two seeming Variants connection? It might. And if you think fans are reading too much into that possibility, Kevin Feige is very happy they are.
Deadpool & Wolverine brought two of Fox’s greatest superheroes to the MCU. They mgiht have shown up just in time to save their new franchise’s timeline just like they saved their old one’s.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist who has spent a lot of his life thinking about the TVA. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.