Deadpool and Wolverine might mark the first time the titular heroes have officially been in a MCU movie, but the Merc with a Mouth and gruff-talking mutant aren't the only things the film is introducing to the franchise. There's Matthew Macfadyen's rogue TVA agent Paradox and Emma Corrin's Cassandra Nova; there's the word "pegging", and there's also... the term 'anchor being'.
The phrase is uttered early on in the threequel, as Paradox explains to a wide-eyed Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) that his timeline, confirmed to be on Earth-100005, is dying thanks to the death of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine.
It turns out, you see, that Logan – you know, the one we've been watching on the big screen since 2000's X-Men? – was said timeline's 'anchor being', and since he passed away in the character's standalone flick, directed by James Mangold, in 2017, it's been slowly fading away.
Paradox goes on to explain that he's grown tired of waiting for it to vanish completely, and that he and his team have invented a Time Ripper, a new machine that can wipe a timeline from existence in an instant – and he plans to use it on Wade's within 72 hours. (If Paradox weren't to intervene, Wade's universe would have at least "a couple of thousand years" left, which would mean Vanessa, Peter, and co would be fine).
He's not a monster, though, of course, he does offer Wade the chance to be placed on the Sacred Timeline, with the promise that he'll soon be rubbing shoulders with the Avengers if he agrees. Unsurprisingly, Wade does not...
So, what is an "anchor being"?
An 'anchor being' is someone whose mere presence in whichever timeline they belong to stabilizes it. When said being dies, their universe begins to steadily decay until one day, it's disappeared completely.
With that, there's an argument to be made that He Who Remains was the Sacred Timeline's 'anchor being', which is possibly why his death in Loki season 1 resulted in their universe descending into chaos? That said, He Who Remains was aware of the influence he had over all timelines whereas Logan seemingly wasn't aware of anything of the sort, so it could just as easily be a character like Doctor Strange, Black Panther, or someone we've not even met yet.
'Anchor beings' are not to be confused with 'nexus beings', those who are known to harness immense power and be able to travel around the multiverse without assistant in the comics, like Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness's America Chavez.
To save his world in Deadpool 3, the Regenerating Degenerate hops between timelines with the aim of "kidnapping" another Logan and forcing them to be Earth-10005's 'anchor being'. After encountering all sorts of Wolverine variants, from Weapon X to Patch, he finds Hugh Jackman's eponymous character and drags the drunken mutant back to the TVA.
Unfortunately for him, though, it's not quite as simple as that, and even if it was, he's only gone and enlisted the help of the "worst Wolverine" there is. According to Paradox, "this Wolverine failed his entire world". In short? Hero type? He ain't.
Deadpool and Wolverine is in UK cinemas now, and will release in the US on July 26. For more, check out all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way, as well as our guide to how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
