We are so over the homophobic marketing campaign for Deadpool & Wolverine

The IMAX poster for the film show Wolverine's fist with his claws out, as Deadpool gently strokes one of the claws and caresses his hand.

It's not meant to be sexy, only funny, that these two could be doing something even remotely intimate with each other. Furthermore, the marketing doesn't imply that anything serious will actually happen between the two men. It's all jokes. (Male friendship and intimacy, amiright!?!?)

Marvel Studio's parent company Disney also recently released a new illustrated poster (in Portugese) that was clearly inspired by the 2017 live-action Beauty and the Beast romantic poster. Here, Deadpool is in the role of Belle, dancing with Wolverine in the spot of the Beast.

Get it? Deadpool is the girl here. He's the effeminate one, he's the faggy one. Isn't that so funny??

And then there's the popcorn bucket. As soon as the viral Dune II popcorn bucket came out and people immediately started joking (or maybe being serious) about using it as a sex toy, the Wolverine & Deadpool team jumped at the opportunity to make yet another queerbait-y joke.

In the unveiling video for the Deadpool & Wolverine bucket, which is shaped like the lower half of Wolverine's face with his mouth wide open, Deadpool's gloved hands are shown stroking the face before pouring popcorn and butter all over the mouth, obviously reminiscent of semen.

Is this movie trying to convince us that Wolverine sucks dick? This is what queerbaiting actually is. If Wolverine ever sucks dick in the MCU I will happily issue a full apology. But that's never going to happen.

Instead of feeling like a step forward for queer representation in the MCU, this feels like a huge step back.

These jokes don't feel like they're coming from inside the queer community — they feel like the jokes frat guys and jocks used to lob at people like us back in high school and college.

These are the same jokes made in movies like Boat Trip, where Cuba Gooding Jr. and Horatio Sanz pretend to be gay on a gay cruise, and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, where Adam Sandler and Kevin James pretend to be gay to get married.

Even the TVTropes website page for the homophobic trope "Queer People Are Funny" lists the 2016 Deadpool movie and its 2018 sequel as the second example in its Films – Live Action section.

"The titular Deadpool in Deadpool (2016) and its sequel is pansexual," the entry reads. "With his relationship to Vanessa being treated serious but showing him happily molesting other guys for comedy."

Obviously we are not falling for it. As the classic tweet says, getting queerbaited by the MCU is like losing at chess to a dog. And we know all of this dog's tricks.

Wolverine and Deadpool will not share a romantic kiss in the movie, they won't fall in love, they won't have sex. If anything, they might kiss in a joke-y moment, because again, gay is only okay if it's done as a joke...