Even in the midst of superhero movies going mainstream for so long that multiple waves of serious articles have been written about “superhero fatigue,” I remain amazed that a film like “Deadpool & Wolverine” was even able to get made.

Inside jokes and references, sometimes called “Easter eggs” because they’re treats meant for the most devoted of super-fans, have gone from being unexpected to obligatory inclusions in any new superhero movie.

Yet “Deadpool & Wolverine” still stands out by being an Easter egg basket.

Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson, the disfigured but insanely self-regenerative mouthy mercenary also known as Deadpool, has become the last character from Fox’s “X-Men” franchise who still gets movies made about him.

To save his universe from extinction, Deadpool is forced to turn to Hugh Jackman’s Logan, a.k.a. the Wolverine, or more specifically, the “worst” Wolverine in the multiverse.

The vast majority of this story takes place in “The Void” between the multiverse’s timelines, where characters who no longer “count” in current continuity are cast off.

Essentially, this is a metafictional narrative about the fates of the various Marvel Comics multimedia adaptations that predated the Disney-owned Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) of the past 16 years and counting.

This means we get to see the return of a number of familiar faces, albeit not all of them in expected roles.

Despite deliberately immature jokes made at their expense, I was struck by how heartfelt this film was in giving even less-loved would-be (or never-were) heroes a last chance to go out like badasses, serving a suitably glorious purpose.

My sole regret about Emma Corrin’s casting as Cassandra Nova, the historically displaced twin sister of Charles Xavier (from Fox’s “X-Men” franchise) is that we likely won’t see them in the “sacred timeline” of the main MCU.

This is a shame, because Corrin is chillingly effective at playing a sociopathic female version of James McAvoy.

Reynolds remains as Reynolds as ever, playing Deadpool with enough underlying existential angst to leaven what might otherwise feel like an insufferable degree of smugness in his smart-aleck sarcasm, but it’s Jackman who shines brightest in this patchwork cast.

Hugh Jackman was on the eve of his 32nd birthday when he first stepped in front of the cameras as Wolverine when the first “X-Men” film premiered in 2000.

Although he’s played Wolverine in a number of films since then that were not-so-great, he followed the advice of Sir Christopher Lee by always being good at playing the character, no matter how bad the film.

Jackman has played Wolverine for just shy of a quarter-century.

And yet, even as his hairstyle has grown more horn-shaped, and he’s finally donned the signature “yellow spandex” outfit that the dialogue in the first “X-Men” film decried — both visual trends cleaving more closely to his character’s comics counterpart — he’s lost none of the gruff yet soulful pathos that made his take on the inhumanly long-lived loner rebel feel so real emotionally.

The understated subtleties of Jackman’s performance balance out the adrenaline-fueled aggression of Deadpool and Wolverine’s multiple extended rounds of combat.

Those throw-downs lean on both characters’ ridiculously overpowered healing factors to turn their elaborate and inventively staged fight sequences into hilarious live-action “Looney Tunes” gags.

Even this film’s shameless moment of commercial product placement is almost redeemed by one of Reynolds’ unprintably obscene one-liners as Deadpool, which fly fast enough to make this movie worth repeat viewings.

I’m sure I missed a few of those punchlines the first time around.

Yes, there are both mid-credits and post-credits scenes, just in case this is your first MCU film.

While the post-credits scene is mostly amusing for the line delivery of the actor whose identity I won’t spoil, the mid-credits scene honestly made me choke up a bit, simply for compiling a bunch of behind-the-scenes and interview clips from Fox’s Marvel films.

Seeing those films’ casts from years ago — celebrating and getting goofy between takes, all while earnestly expressing their anxieties to the media over how much they hoped the fans would appreciate their efforts — really hammered home how much these people loved bringing some of my favorite comic books to life.

And as laughably sappy as it was, the relentlessly 1990s soundtrack actually hit me harder than it had any right to, right down to Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”

However uneven Fox’s Marvel movies were, for what it’s worth, it was worth all the while, and looking back, I did indeed have the time of my life.

Thanks for reminding me, Wade and Logan.