Ryan Reynolds Was Originally Against The 'Deadpool 2' Credits Scene, But Now It's Canon
As soon as Deadpool 2 hit theaters last weekend, fans wanted to talk about the hilarious mid-credits scenes. We took a deep dive into what happened during the credits, mostly because a couple moments raised some big questions about the future of Deadpool. Now some new details have come to light that provide some answers to those questions.
But in order to talk about them, we need to dive into some major spoilers, so proceed at your own risk.
The Return of Peter Was the Only Planned Credits Scene
As we recounted this past weekend, the Deadpool 2 mid-credits scenes are actually a collection of scenes where Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) has Cable's time travel device repaired and refueled by Negasonic Teenage Warhead so he can go back and fix some problems in his timeline. There are a couple gags that are clearly just for s***s and giggles, such as Deadpool killing the terrible version of the character from X-Men Origins: Wolverine and shooting Reynolds in the head before he makes Green Lantern. But the first two scenes could have a huge impact on the future of Deadpool.
Deadpool first goes back in time to save his girlfriend Vanessa from being killed. Then he goes back and stops Peter W. (Rob Delaney) from being killed when X-Force begins their skydive assault on the DMC caravan. It turns out only one of those was meant to be in the credits at all, but then things escalated. Reynolds explained on the Empire Podcast:
"The entire tag to the movie...was actually initially conceived as a scene with Peter. The whole thing was a scene with Peter, just because we loved Peter."
However, director David Leitch came to Ryan Reynolds and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to use time travel for even more than just a gag saving Peter from a grisly death. He wanted to use it to save Vanessa from being killed, despite the fact that Wade Wilson's entire character arc is set in motion because of her death. Reynolds was totally against it at first:
"I was like 'No, we can't bring Vanessa back! That's cheating!' Rhett, Paul, and I thought, 'Fine, if we're going to go back to save Vanessa, then let's bring back Peter, let's kill Baraka-pool, and let's execute Ryan Reynolds.'"
Interestingly, co-writers Reese and Wernick agree that it wasn't the best thing to do, at least from a screenwriting standpoint. Wernick said to CinemaBlend:
"It was one of those things where we all looked at it, and go, 'Yeah, I mean on a purely tactical screenwriting basis it's probably not the wisest thing to do, but it was just too funny and so much fun that I think the audience will forgive us for doing it, because time travel in general is kind of a funky thing. And so we just took our license with it and made it Deadpool."
The Credits Scene Improves Deadpool 2
Using a mid-credits scene to undo Vanessa's death certainly lessens the blow of the decision to kill her. After all, some fans haven't been too pleased that Vanessa is dispatched so quickly in the movie, basically only being used as a plot device to give the main character a more significant journey. It's another addition to the long history of "fridging" that female characters have endured in various forms of media for decades.
Morena Baccarin, who plays Vanessa, agrees that the use of her character in Deadpool 2 is fridging, but doesn't necessarily think that it's a bad thing in this particular instance. She told Bustle:
"It's about [Wade] finding out where his heart is, and without her, he doesn't have that story. The film doesn't happen without her. I think what's great about this movie is that it goes to all these places that people don't dare to usually. To strip away the love interest immediately upon them being together is so devastating, and it's kind of the only way to give [Wade] such a genuine arc in the movie. So I'm glad that they were so bold, and also equally as glad that there's a way out."
However, I think that's only true because she's brought back from the dead in the credits. Otherwise, it's not really going into any new territory. It's just more of the lazy writing that Deadpool openly mocks in the movie. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick were self-aware enough to know that they were doing something unfavorable in their screenplay and chose to undo it. The writing duo apparently wasn't even aware what fridging was, and they didn't think about how killing Vanessa might be perceived. Reese told Vulture:
"We didn't even think about it. And that was maybe our mistake, not to think about it. But it didn't really even occur to us. We didn't know what fridging was.
We always had in our back pocket that we could always bring [Vanessa] back if necessary. So, we ran with that. And maybe that's a sexist thing. I don't know. And maybe some women will have an issue with that. I don't know. I don't think that that'll be a large concern, but it didn't even really occur to us."
That feels a little careless, but since they had the plot device of time travel to undo something so significant and potentially upsetting to fans, I suppose that means that they knew it was something audiences wouldn't have to swallow for very long. Of course, since that credits scene was a last minute addition, it doesn't sound like they originally intended to bring Vanessa back so quickly. That's a little problematic, but it seems like it worked out in the end, because those credits scenes are canon.
Yes, Deadpool 2 Credits Scenes Are Canon
During a Reddit AMA to promote the release of Deadpool 2, writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese were asked whether the credits scenes in question were actually canon to the franchise. And yes, these scenes are, in fact, canon. The writers responded online:
"Yes, the after credit scene is CANON! Don't expect that device to stick around beyond this movie, though."
Thankfully, it sounds like Wernick and Reese know that using time travel in this fashion is a little bit sloppy. It has the potential to ruin the stakes of future movies when any bad situation can just be undone with time travel. So it's good to hear that Cable's time travel device won't be a crutch for them to lean on in the future. I'm not sure it makes how it was used in this instance any easier to swallow, but Deadpool isn't really the kind of franchise you take seriously in that regard, so it's probably not worth getting bent out of shape about it.
So we'll just smile about both Vanessa and Peter W. coming back to the Deadpool franchise at some point in the future. Whether that's an X-Force movie or Deadpool 3 remains to be seen, but we'll find out soon enough.