Deadpool & Wolverine: What Is an Anchor Being in MCU Lore?

Warning: The following article contains major spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine.

Deadpool & Wolverine introduces a new concept to the Marvel Cinematic Universe: anchor beings. So, what is an anchor being according to MCU lore, and who fills this role in Deadpool & Wolverine?

Related: Are Wade Wilson and Vanessa Still a Couple in Deadpool 3?

Deadpool & Wolverine’s Anchor Beings, Explained

As the name suggests, an anchor being is an individual whose mere existence stabilizes their native MCU multiverse timeline. In short: an anchor being’s world – along with the rest of their reality – revolves around them. That’s the upside; the downside is that when an anchor being dies, their timeline slowly starts to decay. Eventually, the crumbling timeline – and everyone within it – will go bye-bye (bummer). Fortunately, this process typically takes hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Unfortunately, that’s too long for Deadpool & Wolverine‘s rogue TVA agent Mr. Paradox, who’s developed a Time Ripper device to ruthlessly eliminate dying timelines.

Related: Which Version of Logan Is in Deadpool & Wolverine?

So, anchor beings are clearly a big deal, even if we still don’t understand the concept’s finer points. For example, what keeps a timeline stable before an anchor being is born? Hopefully, future MCU installments fill in gaps such as this – especially since Marvel’s comics canon is no help. Anchor beings don’t exist in the comics. That said, 2015’s Secret Wars crossover introduced “singularities”: people who exist in each of the multiverse’s alternate realities. Singularities aren’t quite the same as anchor beings, although a singularity’s demise does indeed spell disaster for their universe.

Who Is the Anchor Being in Deadpool & Wolverine?

Given Wade Wilson/Deadpool is Deadpool & Wolverine‘s protagonist, you’d be forgiven for thinking he’s the movie’s anchor being. Heck, Wade himself makes that mistake! Instead, that honor is reserved for Wolverine – specifically, the Wolverine who appeared in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise. And that’s a problem, since this incarnation of Wolvie died at the end of 2017’s Logan. What’s more, he’s still dead (as Deadpool discovers first-hand after digging up Logan’s grave).

Related: Deadpool & Wolverine’s Ending, Explained

As a result, Wade’s world, Earth-10005, is now part of a deteriorating timeline – and Mr. Paradox’s newest target. This discovery prompts the Merc with a Mouth to scour the multiverse for a suitable Wolverine variant to serve as his reality’s replacement anchor being. But that’s not how things work according to Mr. Paradox, who informs Wade it’s not as simple as replacing one Wolverine with another. Yet Wade and the alternate Logan ultimately fulfil the same function as a “true” anchor being in Deadpool & Wolverine‘s finale, using the Time Ripper to save Wade’s timeline.

Deadpool & Wolverine is in cinemas now.