Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine
Deadpool & Wolverine is taking the cinematic world by storm. The chemistry of its two beloved A-list stars, the R-rated action and humor, the many cameos and Easter eggs, and the high stakes are some of the reasons it’s proving to be so popular.
Those high stakes come in no small part due to the movie introducing a powerful new weapon that may even be more potent than the Infinity Gauntlet with all six Infinity Stones wielded by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.
The weapon in question is a device developed by Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Paradox. It’s called a “Time Ripper” and plays an integral part in the film’s climactic scenes, keeping audiences on the edge of their seats. But what exactly is it?
What does the Time Ripper do?
The Time Ripper is a device created to mercy-kill dying timelines using matter and anti-matter. Mr. Paradox planned to use the device to destroy Deadpool’s timeline — which had begun to deteriorate following the death of Wolverine, its “anchor being” in Logan — without his superiors’ permission.
When Emma Corrin’s Cassandra Nova learned about the Time Ripper, which she deemed a betrayal of the deal she had with Mr. Paradox, she hatched a plan to take control of it to destroy every timeline, leaving only the Void, over which she ruled. That’s more power than any entities in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have shown to date, including the completed Infinity Gauntlet. When it activated, it appeared to begin deconstructing this universe in the same spaghetti-like manner as seen in Loki season two
Deadpool and Wolverine wished to stop Nova’s plans to destroy all of reality with the Time Ripper, and Mr. Paradox informed them that one of them could use their body to disrupt it, albeit at the cost of their lives. However, they joined forces to do it, and thanks to their respective healing abilities and combined power, they succeeded in interrupting the device, destroying it, and killing Nova.
Given the multiversal nature of the MCU, we could yet see more Time Rippers introduced in the franchise — maybe one will play a significant part in the events leading up to Avengers: Secret Wars, for instance. For now, however, the only one we’ve been introduced to has been destroyed.