It's not a secret that most blockbuster movies these days tend to have some form of paid product placement, with cars usually among the biggest ones.
Audi, for example, has been a mainstay in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) over the past decade and a half. In fact, Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark/Iron Man famously drove the e-tron GT in 2019's Avengers: Endgame before the electric coupe even entered production.
But the new movie Deadpool & Wolverine throws all our car-related expectations out the window and gives us - get this - a normal, if not run-of-the-mill, minivan.
WARNING: Deadpool & Wolverine Spoilers ahead
Two days, one minivan, epic results
In the movie, Ryan Reynold's Deadpool and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine end up in the Void through some multiversal shenanigans.
The pivotal moment unfolds when the pair borrows a beat-up Honda Odyssey, leading to an intense fight scene filmed across two days in the real wilderness.
Deadpool initially showed scorn for the Odyssey, even going so far as declaring it "not a car", although Reynolds explains this is due to the character's past.
"Wade (Deadpool) was a used car dealer before and has this inexplicable hatred for the Honda Odyssey, which happens to be an actually wonderful minivan and something [director] Shawn Levy himself owns," he told Collider.
The film cleverly incorporates this real-life connection, with Levy's own Odyssey, named Betsy, making an appearance in the movie.
But the idea for the scene, Levy explained, was to create a contrast with the open expanse of the Void. The confined space of a minivan provided the perfect counterpoint, resulting in a "knife fight in a phone booth" experience, as Reynolds put it.
Of course, Deadpool eventually reverses his opinion of the Odyssey, telling Wolverine the minivan "f***s hard".
We'll agree with Deadpool on that one.
