Yahoo Movies Deadpool and Wolverine's difficult journey into the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman will make their official entry into the MCU with Deadpool & Wolverine, but it's been a rocky ride for both of them
It’s been 15 years since Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman co-starred in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, one of many instalments of 20th Century Fox’s seemingly reboot-proof X-Men franchise.
Since 2000, A-list characters like Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man have had three or more film incarnations each, but there’s only one Wolverine and that’s Jackman. And surprisingly, Reynolds has been trying to get Deadpool movies made for almost as long.
The third, this week’s Deadpool & Wolverine, is pitched as a finale to the Fox X-Men era and a crossover into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
So, let’s hit the music and look back at how Deadpool was snatched from the jaws of studio interference.
Deadpool's Marvel debut
In early 2004, Reynolds and his Blade: Trinity director David S. Goyer hoped to set up a Deadpool movie at New Line Cinema but discovered that the character was included in Fox’s X-Men screen rights.
After Fox short-sightedly wrapped its flagship franchise with 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, the studio wanted a series of prequels focusing on the origins of characters such as Wolverine and Magneto. By this time, comics writer and New Line executive Jeff Katz had moved to Fox, and when Deadpool was written into 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine as a supporting character, he brought Reynolds over too.
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In 2009, the star told Collider: "I've always loved the character. I remember reading one of the Deadpool comic books, and somebody asked Deadpool what he looks like. And he said he looks like a cross between a Shar-Pei and Ryan Reynolds. And I was like, I really, really wanna play this guy at some point."
Reynolds plays Wade Wilson in full Merc-With-A-Mouth mode part of Major William Stryker’s Team X in Wolverine’s first act, with a view to spinning him off into a standalone Deadpool feature.
Ahead of the film’s release, Katz told MTV: "At the end of the day, we’ll see where they choose to go, but I think he’s nicely set up to be explored in his own way."
That’s not necessarily reflected in the finished film. A third-act twist sees Wilson further mutated into Weapon XI and his mouth sewn shut by an irritated Stryker. Reynolds plays the unrecognisable character in close-ups, with stunt performer Scott Adkins taking over for much of the final fight, which ends in Weapon XI being decapitated.
Reynolds told Variety: "The first time we worked together on X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it’s easy to say we got some things wrong. Deadpool sewing up his mouth was one of the all-time foolish studio notes."
Deadpool survives stitch-up
Nevertheless, Fox hired screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to write the Deadpool movie in 2010. The next X-Men Origins movie on the docket was Magneto, but this was cancelled and incorporated into 2011’s X-Men: First Class.
Meanwhile, Deadpool seemed dead in the water. Firstly, the film kept bumping against the same problems as more faithful adaptations of Wolverine: Fox didn’t want an R-rated movie. While the 2009 movie and the 2013 sequel The Wolverine could be argued down to PG-13, it proved a deal-breaker for Deadpool.
On top of this, Reynolds had a bruising box-office record as the lead in big-budget comic-book movies after Wolverine, including 2011’s Green Lantern and 2013’s R.I.P.D. Fox didn’t want to make the film with an R rating or the usual X-Men movie budget.
Handily, a still-unknown leaker turned the project’s fortunes around by posting Miller’s VFX test footage online in July 2014. In response to universal fan acclaim for this clip of a red-suited, motor-mouthed Deadpool in action, the studio finally greenlit the film.
Miller, Reynolds and company got the creative freedom to make their R-rated Deadpool movie on a relatively modest $58 million budget, reduced from $65m right before production began. The budget becomes a running joke throughout the movie, as in the scene where Wilson accidentally leaves all of his guns in a taxi before the final battle and a gag about the shortage of available X-Men characters.
It paid off for all concerned when Deadpool became an enormous hit, starting with a record-breaking $132.4m opening weekend and winding up as both the highest-grossing R-rated movie to date and the highest-grossing X-Men movie overall. It comfortably outperformed that summer’s X-Men: Apocalypse too.
Sequels
As mentioned in the Ferris Bueller-like post-credits scene, the sequel was already in the works before the first film was released. But when Deadpool 2 arrived in May 2018, a month or two after Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War, the word was already out about The Walt Disney Company acquiring 20th Century Fox.
Reynolds told Entertainment Weekly that Fox made them cut a direct joke about the potential deal, which wasn’t closed until December 2019. And although the David Leitch-directed sequel was another big hit, it was unclear if Deadpool could continue in R-rated gusto over at the House of Mouse.
A planned X-Force spin-off, again starring and co-written by Reynolds, was one of the various Fox-Marvel projects cancelled in the wake of the merger, and Deadpool 3 was also put on hold.
Elsewhere, the rest of the X-Men franchise was winding down. Logan was designed as the final bow for Jackman as Wolverine, and subsequent movies Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants were both tangled up in delays and reshoots and other problems. In a startling turnaround, Deadpool went from being an unloved project to the most reliable and bankable X-Men off-shoot.
Marvel Studios has since got its ducks in a row and re-teamed Reynolds and Jackman once more. Deadpool & Wolverine will shuffle Wade Wilson into the extensive character deck of its cinematic universe, and with umpteen secret cameos in store, you can bet there won’t be any shortage of available X-Men characters this time either.
Deadpool & Wolverine is in UK cinemas and IMAX from 25 July.
