Deadpool & Wolverineis arguably the biggest success of the recent MCU, in conflict with the other multiversal tale,Spider-Man: No Way Home, after itbroke numerous box office records. But now that the dust has settled, the focus is beginning to move away from the strengths and weaknesses of what we got,and into examining what could have been.Often, films go through numerous iterations before the final draft is nailed down, and even then,deleted scenes are so common they generate their own fandom. In the case ofShawn Levy’sDeadpool & Wolverine, it feels like the film went through millions of different versions before becoming the product we witnessed and enjoyed, and a scrapped idea thatwould have made it almost the complete opposite of what we got has recently been revealed.
Deadpool Was Almost Part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe the Entire Time
In a recent behind-the-scenes documentary,Assembled: The Making of Deadpool & Wolverine, it was revealed that there was an initial idea to show that Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds)had been in the background of the MCU the entire time,with all of his appearances being left on the cutting room floor. So, rather than a movie that focused on the importance of Deadpool choosing his own universe over 616, as we saw, the entireMCU would have been recontextualizedthrough a Deadpool perspective.
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“Mutant and proud.”
The ideas that spring from this premise are seemingly infinite. Seeing Deadpool alongside the Avengers group shot inAvengers: Age of Ultronor battling Thanos (Josh Brolin) with Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) inAvengers: Infinity Warcould have made forboth fascinating and hilarious gagsthat would have us bellyaching with laughter. Furthermore, this kind of meta take feels similar toShe-Hulk’s introduction of K.E.V.I.N., but whether we would see the all-powerful A.I. representation of MCU bossKevin Feigehimselfwill remain a mystery lost in the cosmosfor now.
‘Thunderbolts*’ Could Have Played a Part in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’s Unused Premise
It’s unclear specifically why this idea was dropped.One could assume there simply wasn’t enough narrative to be mined from what would, in theory, be a bunch of relatively similar gags that, whilst funny, would probablydo little to advance any character arcs.There is also the existence of Sentry (Lewis Pullman), that we will be seeing inThunderbolts*. In the comics, Sentry is revealed to be analmost Superman-level herowho existed throughout the Marvel timeline, yet somehow became forgotten by everyone, even himself.WhetherThunderbolts*will keep to this lore is unclear as of now,but it could have been too close to this scrapped Deadpool idea to include inDeadpool & Wolverine.
Most likely, we’ll never know exactly why the premise,including Deadpool in the MCU’s deleted scenes,wasn’t used in the final film, but perhaps we can infer why from the limited narrative potential of the idea. Perhaps it would have been fun, andthe combination ofReynolds and Levy has yet to let us down,but there must have been a reason not to proceed with the framework. So, in the end, we are left with thescrapped idea of Deadpool’s deleted MCU scenesbouncing around our brains, wondering what might’ve been.
Deadpool & Wolverine
Wolverine joins the “merc with a mouth” in the third installment of the Deadpool film franchise.
Deadpool & Wolverineis currently available to stream on Disney+.WATCH NOW
