Ajax (miniseries)
| Ajax | |
|---|---|
| File:Ajax Text Logo.png | |
| Genre | |
| Based on | |
| Developed by | Jackson Greene Freddie Goodwin |
| Directed by | Jackson Greene |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer |
|
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | Disney+ |
| Related | |
| Mob Cinematic Universe television series | |
Ajax is an American television miniseries developed by Michael Green, James Mangold, Freddie Goodwin for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics character Wolverine. It will be the first television series in the Mob Cinematic Universe (MCU) produced by both Mob Productions and Epic Vision Studios, sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. It follows Wolverine as he becomes the superhero he is and must overcome various struggles to meet back up with an old friend.
Ajax is scheduled to be released on Disney+ on December 17, 2024, with a total of 4 episodes, and is intended to be part of Phase One of the MCU.
Cast and characters
- Ed Skrein as Francis Freeman / Ajax: A Weapon X enforcer turned rogue operative, Ajax resurfaces years after his defeat, consumed by a need to reclaim control over his pain-free existence and settle his unfinished business with Deadpool.
- Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson / Deadpool: Still unkillable, still unhinged. Wade’s chaotic antics mask unresolved trauma and a complicated obsession with Ajax, whom he goads into a rematch using equal parts trolling, violence, and psychological warfare.
- Tanner Buchanan as Tim Drake: Reprising his role from Impulse, Tim monitors Deadpool’s escalating violence, acting as the only grounded figure trying — and failing — to stop the inevitable.
- Dichen Lachman as Ren: A black-market mutant information broker who becomes collateral damage in the crossfire, targeted by both Ajax and Deadpool for her knowledge of buried Weapon X files.
- Milo Ventimiglia as Swift: A former hacker for post-Weapon X factions, Swift holds key intel on Deadpool’s last movements, making him Ajax’s first target in his global manhunt.
- Dylan O'Brien as Velocity (hallucination only): A ghostly manifestation of Wade in Ajax’s mind — cocky, cruel, and untethered from reality — representing the version of himself Ajax refuses to become.
- CCH Pounder as Dr. Hadley: A retired Weapon X neurologist Ajax seeks out for answers about his returning sensations, who instead forces him to confront that his numbness was never emotional immunity — just fear in disguise.
Episodes
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Deadpool Versus Ajax – Pt 1" | Jackson Greene | Freddie Goodwin | December 17, 2024 | |
| Years after his supposed death at the hands of Wade Wilson, Francis Freeman — now fully adopting the Ajax moniker — has resurfaced in the criminal underworld, rebuilt from scars and silence. Living under the alias "Redlock," Ajax operates as a covert superhuman executioner, hired by wealthy syndicates to erase enhanced individuals who have gone off-grid. He no longer feels pain, but that absence has evolved into something else — an emotional numbness that he mistakes for peace. His precision and cruelty are legendary, but he lives in shadow, suppressing memories of the Weapon X facility, Angel Dust, and most of all — Deadpool. When a contract takes him to the ruins of a blacksite outside Berlin, Ajax discovers something chilling: a wall smeared with blood and a crude drawing of a unicorn holding a severed head. Deadpool has been here. Enraged but intrigued, Ajax begins tracking the signature chaos only Wade Wilson could leave behind, starting with a burned-down brothel and a dozen mutilated mercs dressed like Renaissance artists. Meanwhile, Deadpool — fully aware Ajax is alive — begins taunting him through coded graffiti and social media posts written in fake Latin, trolling him at every turn. As Ajax interrogates a hacker named Swift who last interacted with Wade, he’s reminded of how Wade refused to break under torture — and how that failure still defines him. Flashbacks reveal more of Ajax’s early days before Weapon X — a young man obsessed with control, recruited not for his loyalty but for his ability to sever empathy. The episode ends with Ajax standing atop a skyscraper in Warsaw, watching a fireworks display explode into the shape of Deadpool’s mask — and a final text: “Come find me, Frankie.” | |||||
| 2 | "Deadpool Versus Ajax – Pt 2" | Freddie Goodwin | Jackson Greene | December 24, 2024 | |
| Ajax's search leads him to Prague, where whispers of “the red idiot in the mask” circulate through the criminal underground like a myth. He tracks Deadpool’s most recent stunt — the disruption of a tech cartel auction, where Wade dressed as a nun, stole a vibranium thumb drive, and live-streamed a shootout with a kazoo. Frustrated by Deadpool’s erratic behavior, Ajax begins to unravel internally, experiencing phantom pain — something he physically cannot feel. His doctors confirm there's no neurological explanation. As he spirals, hallucinations of Wade begin taunting him in reflective surfaces. Through sharp, disorienting edits, we flash back to Ajax's time overseeing failed experiments at Weapon X, including tortured subjects begging to die — all while he stood unmoved. In the present, he captures a former contact of Deadpool’s, a mutant smuggler named Ren, and injects him with a synthetic neural stimulator designed to replicate pain. When Ren begs for mercy, Ajax hears Wade's voice instead, mocking his obsession. Meanwhile, Deadpool continues to post mocking content online — this time, a musical number parodying Ajax’s name, sung in public next to a child’s petting zoo. Tim Drake makes a brief appearance, monitoring Deadpool’s activity on behalf of a larger task force, though he’s baffled by how much collateral damage Wade leaves without any true purpose. Ajax finally corners Wade in an underground boxing ring built inside an abandoned opera house — but it’s a trap. Wade detonates an explosive painted like Bob Ross and escapes, leaving behind a note: “You're still not interesting without me.” Ajax, humiliated and bleeding internally, begins to question whether Deadpool’s unpredictability is what makes him unstoppable — and whether that scares him more than death itself. | |||||
| 3 | "Deadpool Versus Ajax – Pt 3" | Freddie Goodwin | Jackson Greene | December 31, 2024 | |
| In the aftermath of Wade’s escape, Ajax retreats into isolation, hiding out in a disused facility beneath the Carpathian Mountains where Weapon X once operated. As he rewatches surveillance footage of Wade’s torture — laughing, mocking, refusing to scream — Ajax is confronted by the truth: Deadpool didn’t just survive the pain, he transcended it. That contradiction gnaws at him. While Ajax believes control is strength, Wade’s chaos has exposed his own hollow philosophy. Back in London, Deadpool is tracked down by Tim Drake, who urges him to stop provoking Ajax before the body count increases. Wade, of course, responds by giving Tim a cake shaped like a severed foot. Tim leaves in frustration, warning Wade that he's losing grip on reality — but Wade simply jokes that “grip is for quitters.” Meanwhile, Ajax uncovers a drive containing files from another erased Weapon X branch: experiments involving emotion suppression, not just pain inhibition. He was never meant to feel again. But something changed. Driven by the hallucinations and a creeping fear of emotional vulnerability, Ajax undergoes a brutal ritual of self-mutilation, attempting to purge what remains of his humanity. As thunder rolls, Deadpool arrives — not to fight, but to talk. What follows is a tense, bizarre conversation between two broken men — one who feels too much and masks it in jokes, and one who feels nothing and masks it in cruelty. When Ajax suddenly attacks, Wade lets him land blow after blow, refusing to fight back. "I'm not your mirror anymore, Francis," he says quietly. Furious, Ajax breaks Wade’s jaw and leaves him for dead — but not before Wade whispers one last taunt: “Pain made me. It’s still making you.” | |||||
| 4 | "Deadpool Versus Ajax – Pt 4" | Freddie Goodwin | Jackson Greene | January 7, 2025 | |
| Word spreads that Ajax has returned to North America, and Deadpool is already en route. The series finale opens with chaotic split-screen montages of both men preparing for a final confrontation: Wade sharpens swords while wearing bunny slippers; Ajax loads a prototype pain amplifier while surrounded by surgical corpses. Their duel takes place in an abandoned amusement park in New Jersey, one that used to house a Weapon X off-books recruitment front — and it’s here the memories flood in. As thunder crashes, the two engage in a savage fight, tearing through the dilapidated fairgrounds while recalling everything they became. Wade fights with wild, improvised grace, while Ajax strikes with mechanical brutality. Both take horrific damage. During a pause, Deadpool reveals he knew Ajax was alive the whole time, but wanted him to choose this battle. “I needed to know if you hated me... or yourself.” Ajax nearly kills Wade using a concentrated neural disruptor, but hesitates — he’s suddenly overwhelmed with a flood of memories: laughter, music, even fear. It breaks him. For the first time, Francis feels pain. Real pain. And it terrifies him. Wade, bleeding out and barely conscious, weakly whispers, “See? You’re alive.” Ajax collapses beside him, shaking and crying — unable to process the flood of sensations he spent years suppressing. When the authorities arrive, only Wade is found — alive, barely — but Ajax is gone, vanished without a trace. The episode ends with Wade in a hospital bed, sketching a crude drawing of a smiling stick figure next to a frowning one. In the corner, he scribbles: "Maybe we both won. Maybe not." | |||||
Release
Ajax premiered on Disney+ on November 17, 2024 and consisted of 4 episodes, as part of Phase Four of the MCU.