Deadpool 2 Almost Had A Marvel Crossover That Could Still End Up In Deadpool 3
Few Marvel characters are more qualified to traverse the space-time continuum — and tell a few meta jokes at its expense — than Deadpool. The Merc with a Mouth is notoriously averse to the constraints of reality, and that's just one of the many reasons why his big-screen adventures have been so much fun. Fox's "Deadpool" films have toyed with the anti-hero's wanton fourth wall breaking, nonlinear storytelling style, and affinity for time travel in delightfully irreverent fashion. It's allowed star and producer Ryan Reynolds the opportunity to poke fun at aspects of his career that fans have tried to forget, but it also gives audiences the chance to laugh at some of the silliest parts of the superhero industrial complex.
With the advent of Marvel's multiverse, Deadpool's exploits have only gotten more ambitious. Still, there are some choices too weird (and sometimes, not weird enough) to make it to the final cut. The team behind the "Deadpool" films has been pretty candid about the ideas that never came to fruition, and the multiple sequences that were filmed and later discarded. Given the success that "Deadpool" and "Deadpool 2" have each achieved, there doesn't seem to be all that much regret. But there is one idea in particular that seemed far too good to pass up, and it involves one of Marvel's most famous superhero teams.
A tale of two Torches
Ryan Reynolds' take on Deadpool has always been brazenly meta, but "Deadpool 2" came close to pushing the envelope. Apart from a detour that would have featured the cast of "Night Court" (the original '80s sitcom, not its revival), screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick had also toyed with the idea of a Fantastic Four crossover.
A brief sequence in "Deadpool 2" is dedicated to the formation (and near-immediate demise) of X-Force, a mutant strike team with loose ties to the X-Men. Reynolds' Wade Wilson interviews a handful of prospects in a brief, yet hilarious montage. But when "Deadpool 2" was in its early development stages with original director Tim Miller, Reese and Wernick considered extending the joke with a few familiar faces.
"We had Chris Evans coming in, not as Captain America, but as the Human Torch," Wernick said in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment. The sequence would have seen Evans reprising his role as Johnny Storm after over a decade — and it wouldn't have stopped there. "We had a subsequent scene where all the [2015] 'Fantastic Four' [cast] came in together, including Michael B. Jordan as the Human Torch, to kind of one-up the Chris Evans visit," Wernick added.
Miller also had plans for a big third act moment that featured Jamie Bell's version of the Thing more prominently. Concept artist Alexander Lozano had been tasked with designing a more comic-accurate look for the Thing. He'd even placed the First Family in more recognizable blue suits – a far cry from the muddy grey space suits they'd worn in Josh Trank's 2015 film.
Missed opportunities
The idea of a Fantastic Four reunion, while great, was unfortunately short-lived. When creative differences saw Miller departing the project, "Bullet Train" director David Leitch came aboard, and "Deadpool 2" seemed to undergo a minor creative overhaul. The film's extended coda, which initially included more "bizarre, random" cameos, eventually went in a simpler direction.
"Someone had the idea we actually did and we thought that was better," Reese explained in an interview with Uproxx. In the theatrical cut of "Deadpool 2," Wade goes back in time to thwart his girlfriend's murder, retroactively fix the groan-inducing third act of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," and even stop Ryan Reynolds from signing on to "Green Lantern." It's one of the film's best sequences, so Reese and Wernick are entirely justified in their decision to prioritize it. An extended reference to both Fantastic Four teams would likely be way too distracting, anyway. Granted, it feels like something of a missed opportunity — but just because it didn't fit into "Deadpool 2," doesn't mean it's gone forever.
With Reese and Wernick teaming up with director Shawn Levy for "Deadpool 3," there is a chance that their initial idea could find a second life. Former members of Fox's superhero universe — like Jennifer Garner's Elektra and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine — are set to appear in the film, so it's safe to say that "Deadpool 3" will be taking a very meta approach to the multiverse. Plot details are still shrouded in mystery, but the prevailing theory involves an adaptation of the "Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe" comic storyline. Deadpool may be tasked with tidying up the multiverse himself, bridging the gap between Marvel's Cinematic Universe and Fox's in the process.
Here comes the cavalry
Such an adventure would likely be just as irreverent as the X-Force sequence in "Deadpool 2." With "Deadpool 3" retaining the franchise's R rating, it's safe to expect plenty of blood and guts. Even if Deadpool ends up dispatching variants of forgotten Marvel heroes, though, the threequel still has the opportunity to give Fox's most maligned characters another chance to prove their mettle. Either version of the Fantastic Four would fit that brief perfectly — but would the original actors actually be open to returning?
Chris Evans has technically collaborated with Levy and Reynolds once before, cameoing as himself in "Free Guy," so he's clearly open to poking fun at his legacy as a superhero. He's even expressed some interest in reprising his role as the Human Torch. "That would actually be an easier sell to me than coming back as [Captain America]," Evans told EW in 2022. "Johnny Storm, I feel like he didn't really get his day. That was before Marvel really found its footing."
Time will tell, of course, but it's interesting to see how Miller, Reese and Wernick's original idea potentially evolved into the concept for "Deadpool 3." And hey: even if we don't get a Fantastic Four reunion, at least we won't have to wait very long to see another version of the team in the MCU.
"Deadpool 3" hits theaters on July 26, 2024.