Ever since Disney purchased Fox some of the biggest questions surrounded the future of the Deadpool franchise. The most successful films in the Fox-Marvel catalog were the Deadpool movies, and while there was an expectation that there would be a third movie initially, there were questions about what that would look like under Disney and if Deadpool would return in his R-rated glory. One possible indication of a major change in direction came when it was announced that Deadpool 3 would have new writers.

Paul Wernick and Rhett Rheese wrote both the first two Deadpool movies, but had initially been replaced by Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin of Bob’s Burgers fame for the new movie. However, Wernick and Rheese have since returned to the project. The Playlist recently asked the writing duo about being fired, and then rehired and while the two aren’t really talking about the details of what happened, they’re clearly happy to be back. Rheese said simply…

Reese and Wernick have also confirmed that Deadpool 3 is still expected to be an R-rated movie and that we should not expect any sort of watered down production simply because Disney is in charge. Everybody involved here knows what has made Deadpool successful and they simply want to create more of that. 

It’s unclear why the initial decision was made to change writing teams on Deadpool 3. There may have been a clash of ideas with Wernick and Rheese initially or it may have simply been that Disney wanted to try something new. Whatever the initial reasoning, fans will likely be happy that the duo is back as it likely means that Deadpool 3 will be more of what fans loved from the first two movies.

The simple fact that there will be a Deadpool 3 is a step forward, and with Wernick and Reese writing it, Ryan Reynolds back to star, and Shawn Levy on board to direct the new Deadpool, the key people are all in place to make the movies happen. Now we just need an actual script so that production can begin. 

There are still some big questions about Deadpool that remain to be answered. We don’t know how the fourth wall breaking Deadpool will fit into the existing Marvel Cinematic Universe, or even if he will. We don’t know who will be joining Deadpool on his adventure. We’ve had a hint that Blind Al may be back, though the fate of Morrena Baccarin’s Vanessa is still up in the air. When we’ll finally see Deadpool 3 in theaters is also still a big question, but at least we know the right people are working on making that happen. 

Ryan Reynolds has been on a hot streak, with the last year being full of successful movies and his 2022 new releases and appearances keeping him in Hollywood’s limelight. His announcement earlier this year of an extended acting break, though, may have worried Deadpool fans who have been waiting for a third movie in the franchise for some time. While there still isn’t word on an actual release date for the film, there have been some promising steps forward lately on Deadpool 3 and the writers have now provided a new, optimistic update about the highly anticipated film.

Fans have been itching for more Deadpool since the credits rolled on Deadpool 2 back in 2018. A lot has happened since then, including the Deadpool franchise and character being bought by Disney when the powerhouse company acquired Fox. Deadpool 3 writer Paul Wernick, in an interview with Den of Geek, made it clear to fans that the change in hands would not be affecting  the crass and ballsy character, saying,

In fact, it kind of sounds like being bought by Disney is going to make Deadpool 3 pretty awesome. Disney now pretty much owns all of Marvel, including characters that didn’t previously exist under the Marvel Cinematic Universe umbrella. Not only will we see this with the Mercy With The Mouth, but also soon the Fantastic Four and the X-Men.

The acquisition opens Deadpool 3 up to a whole new realm of possibilities when it comes to their jokes. We already know that Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy’s Free Guy benefitted from a Disney connection, and since they are working together again on Deadpool 3, we can pretty much assume that more Disney jokes and references will be thrown in the film.

In the same interview with Den of Geek, Deadpool 3 writer Rhett Reese explains that Disney has been supportive of the spirit and personality of Deadpool. He explains that maybe they’ve had to put their foot down about some jokes, but the integrity of Deadpool’s humor will pretty much stay intact in the 3rd film, even under the typically family friendly film company. Said Reese,

We’ve already seen a sneak peek of this “marriage made in heaven” in Free Guy, where Ryan Reynolds was certainly able to give the sass and some pretty awesome references. Still, Free Guy was still quite tame when compared to Deadpool and the quippy character’s previous films. 

Yeah, Deadpool 3 might not be in the grasp (or even sights, really) of fans yet, but it does sound like the film has a solid and proven team behind it who have full faith in the future of the film. This update should put some hearts at ease, too, as it doesn’t sound like Disney will be the death of the Deadpool we all know and love.

As things presently stand, there are few comic book heroes who possess the popularity of Deadpool. The character has been a fan-favorite for years among Marvel Comics readers, but his solo movies starring Ryan Reynolds were not only both box office smash hits, but have created a rabid demand to see more and more of him on the big screen. Unfortunately, that’s a big development that needs a big ol’ “Under Construction” sign at the moment, because everything going on with Deadpool 3 behind the scenes is currently rather complicated.

So what exactly is going on with the project? Well, we’ve put together this feature with the precise intent of sorting all of that out. While this isn’t a project about which we’ve been hearing regular official updates, we do have a decent grasp on what’s going on with Deadpool 3 at the moment, and have worked to detail that information for you below:

Unlike The Previous Two Movies, Deadpool 3 Will Be A Disney Movie

Under normal circumstances, the $785 million that Deadpool 2 earned globally back in 2018 would have led to massive big screen plans for the titular antihero, with not only Deadpool 3 put on the fast track, but also the quick development of the team-up feature X-Force… but the last couple years haven’t provided normal circumstances. The Fox-Disney merger effectively dissolved the existing X-Men universe, and while the Merc With The Mouth has survived that dissolution (more on that in a second), it has also left the character hanging in limbo.

This means that Deadpool is now through-and-through a Disney-owned character, and while that creates its own special complications (again, more on that in a second), it also means that his future is now in the hands of the company that has built what is indisputably the most successful comic book movie franchise of all time: Marvel Studios.

Ryan Reynolds Will Continue Playing The Character

Thanks to the aforementioned Disney-Fox merger, we can expect that the next few years will be filled with all kinds of exciting casting news as Marvel Studios finds new actors to embody iconic characters like Professor X and The Human Torch, but one hero who specifically won’t be getting a new face in the coming years will be Deadpool. We can’t say for certain what the future will hold for any of his previous co-stars, but Ryan Reynolds will be back in his red-and-black suit for Deadpool 3.

This is a “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” situation pure and simple. It’s Reynolds’ particular voice that really makes the big screen version of the character sing – and that’s both on camera and off, as he is also a producer on Deadpool movies and a credited co-writer along with fellow writer/producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

Disney Has Said The Movie Will Still Be R-Rated

When referring to the “special complications” in the relationship between Deadpool and Disney earlier, I was essentially referring to the fact that DP is a character who takes great pleasure in shish kebab-ing his enemies with katana and relentlessly using foul language. That’s behavior that doesn’t quite line up with the image that the Walt Disney Company works to project (a.k.a. The Most Family-Friendly Corporation On Earth), but evidently the serious clash isn’t going to have any kind of effect on the violence-loving mercenary’s future.

Fans have been assured multiple times that even though Deadpool is now a piece of Disney IP, his future adventures will still be R-rated. Unless something else develops first, like possibly Blade starring Mahershala Ali, Deadpool 3 will be the first R-rated superhero made by Marvel Studios. And that’s its own whole barrel of monkeys…

How It Could/May Connect To The Marvel Cinematic Universe Is Presently Unclear

What truly makes the Marvel Cinematic Universe special as a franchise is its interconnectivity – the fact that you can not only enjoy each of the movies individually, but that each of the stories simultaneously acts as a puzzle piece within a bigger picture. But what happens if one of those puzzle pieces is only appropriate to be viewed by audiences 18 or older? This is a conundrum involving the development of Deadpool 3 that hasn’t officially been addressed as of yet.

To throw out another folksy saying, Marvel Studios seems to want to have its cake and eat it too by letting Deadpool 3 have the freedom of the R-rating and also exist in a canon that to date has been exclusively PG-13 (and it never became an issue in the X-Men franchise simply because crossovers didn’t become significant prior to the Disney-Fox deal). Marvel might have to have the Merc With The Mouth exist in a separate label on the big screen, like what Marvel Comics did with the Max Comics imprint, but if that means that DP can’t hang out with all of the other characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that’s going to be particularly disappointing to fans.

Deadpool 3’s Development/Release May Tie To The Re-Introduction Of The X-Men

As has been alluded to here, Deadpool is far from the only character who has seen the future of his big screen existence caught up in the Disney-Fox deal. The reality is that Marvel Studios is now presently tasked with the immense challenge of folding in all of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four into the already expansive Marvel Cinematic Universe, and at present we really have no idea how all of that is going to work. That being said, it would probably come to the surprise of nobody if the ultimate wait times for Deadpool 3 and re-launch of mutants on the big screen are relatively close.

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said back in 2019 that bringing the X-Men into the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not part of the five-year plan that has been mapped out for the future of the franchise, which means that the earliest we will probably see the recognizable characters will be in 2025. As such, one probably shouldn’t expect Deadpool 3 before then either.

A Script Is At The Very Least In The Works

Based on everything you’ve read here, you may be thinking to yourself right now that Deadpool 3 is forever away – but for whatever it’s worth, the project is at the very least definitely in active development. In December 2019, Ryan Reynolds did an interview where he confirmed that the script for the next Deadpool adventure on the big screen is being worked on (presumably alongside Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick) and that working in tandem with the minds at Marvel Studios is “like the big leagues all of a sudden.”

Fans of the first Deadpool movie will remember that the script went through a lot of changes during a long stay in development hell, and it’s definitely possible that what’s being put on the page for Deadpool 3 today will have nothing to do with what we end up seeing in the finished film. That being said, it’s assuring to know that the gears are turning.

In case it isn’t obvious, Deadpool 3 is one of the projects we’re most anticipating in the years ahead, and have remained hungry for updates about the sequel ever since we left the theater after seeing Deadpool 2. Stay tuned on CinemaBlend for all of the latest news about the film, and hit the comments section to share what you want to see in the blockbuster.

There is a tremendous amount to love about the original Zombieland, but certainly high on the list of great things is the legendary cameo made by Bill Murray. It truly comes out of left field, and while relatively brief in the grand scheme of things, it's at the center of one of the movie's most hilarious sequences.

What you may not know, though, is that it wasn't always going to be Bill Murray playing that part. Because screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick weren't entirely certain that they would be able to get the actor for the part, they wound up developing many iterations with many different stars. One, for example, was the late, great Patrick Swayze, and now that version of the script has been revealed in full.

It's never been a secret that Patrick Swayze was written into an early Zombieland script, as Rhett Rheese and Paul Wernick were talking about the potential cameo even before the movie was released back in 2009, but now we know exactly how the alternate version of things was going to play out. With people worldwide stuck inside during Covid-19-related social distancing/quarantine, the writers have done their part to keep movie-fans entertained by posting actual script pages from the Swayze draft.

Prefacing that the version featured some switched-up characters names, as Tallahassee was originally Albuquerque, Columbus was Flagstaff, and Little Rock was Stillwater (fans will note how that creates a little Easter egg in Zombieland: Double Tap), the first page of the draft once again finds Woody Harrelson's character leading the pack in fandom, expressing that Patrick Swayze was his hero going back to his first time seeing The Outsiders as a kid:

Unfortunately, we learn on the next couple pages that Tallahassee/Albuquerque's Patrick Swayze worship couldn't outlive the release of Dirty Dancing. The group searches the house to clear it for zombies, with Columbus/Flagstaff pairing off with Little Rock/Stillwater, and Tallahassee/Albuquerque going with Wichita. They each discover that Swayze is a big fan of his own work, while there is some creepiness happening.

Upon discovering a potter's wheel and some clay, Tallahassee/Albuquerque then gets a special opportunity to reenact a scene from Ghost in Patrick Swayze's house... but things don't exactly go as planned:

Unlike the Bill Murray version, where it turns out that the Ghostbusters star is only pretending to be undead, Patrick Swayze is actually a zombie in this version of Zombieland. A fight scene breaks out, and it's one that manages to include references to Point Break, Dirty Dancing, City Of Joy, and even Father Hood.

Sadly, Patrick Swayze became unavailable to do the Zombieland cameo because he became sick, and he died just a few weeks before the release of the horror comedy.

There story doesn't end there, however, as the Patrick Swayze script wasn't the only drafts that Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick put together as a backup plan. The writers have been continuing posting these alternate versions to social media, and you can follow them to see the posts in real-time, but when they are done we'll also have a full round-up for you detailing how Zombieland could have been very different.

A month ago, Ryan Reynolds noted that he is working with Marvel Studios on the upcoming Deadpool 3, which would be the third movie starring the titular character after his 2016 and 2018 outings. It would also be the first actually set up with Marvel Studios and not Fox, leading to questions about whether or not Deadpool 3 would be R-rated. According to the Deadpool writers, the answer is a strong yes.

There’s a lot of really cool stuff that can now happen thanks to Disney buying Twentieth Century Fox a while back. CinemaBlend has written extensively about the pros of the joint venture between the House of Mouse and the studio that was formerly Fox. However, one of the cons is that some projects have been put on hold and others have been canceled completely.

Thus, hearing Ryan Reynolds confirm that Deadpool 3 was being worked on was excellent news. Yet, a watered down, PG-13 Deadpool who fits in the MCU is probably not what anyone reading this article is looking for and, according to Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, Deadpool should remain as foul-mouthed as ever. As they told Screenrant:

Now, it’s worth pointing out a couple of things here. First, although they wrote the first two Deadpool-oriented movies, it’s worth pointing out Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have not been announced for Deadpool 3, as the movie is still in the early stages, so it's unclear how much info the two writers have. In addition, Fox isn’t even a banner anymore. Recently, Disney announced it would be dropping Fox from its brands, meaning Fox Searchlight is now just Searchlight and Twentieth Century Fox Studios is now just 20th Century Studios. Less catchy, but it makes sense from a brand perspective.

Still, this comment squares with what Disney head honcho Bob Iger said previously about continuing in the business of making R-rated movies when it makes sense for the company. Look, Disney has always released some R-rated movies, but the reason Deadpool gets a little weird and convoluted is because MCU movies have always been PG-13. The Marvel movies that have been R-rated have been housed at Fox, where Logan and Deadpool were produced. Tonally, Deadpool is not a character that fits in and there are lots of questions about other X-Men characters and how they could fit in the MCU, including the long-gestating Gambit project.

Ultimately, everything is a little in the air at this point, but it is telling that Ryan Reynolds met with Disney and has seemingly played ball and been on board with moving forward with another movie, which is an encouraging sign. (OK, he has joked about the merger a little.)  We know Reynolds is heavily involved with the Deadpool movies, and he probably wouldn’t be keen to move forward with Deadpool 3 if he didn’t think it made sense for his character.

Obviously, we'll keep you posted if any more news related to the movie breaks and keep an eye on what's going on with Marvel here at CinemaBlend in the meantime.

Being a sequel coming out a decade after its predecessor, Zombieland: Double Tap is hitting theaters with a particular amount of pressure on it, but it’s actually a pressure with which the movie’s writers are already familiar. Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick faced similar stakes just last year with the release of Deadpool 2, as there was an immense burden to make a film as good or better than the first.

As many will remember, everything worked out quite well for the writing/producing duo, as Deadpool 2 was both acclaimed and made just as much money as the original – so it was very much a positive learning experience. It was something they brought with them into the making of Zombieland: Double Tap, as I learned sitting down with them this past weekend during the movie’s Los Angeles press day.

During our interview I specifically asked what they took from their time making Deadpool 2 into the development of the Zombieland sequel, and Rhett Reese explained,

Continuing, the writer explained that the process requires a bit of imagination, but the ultimate goal is to try and totally dismiss all of the pressure, and just follow the same instincts that resulted in a successful movie the first time around:

As noted by Rhett Reese, ignoring the pressure doesn’t make it not exist – and it is very real, as disappointed can be extremely vicious. But nothing about it is a benefit to the creative process, so it all just needs to be put aside. Ultimately Reese and Paul Wernick found magic working with Ryan Reynolds and David Leitch in the making of Deadpool 2, and so they let the same thing happen with director Ruben Fleischer and stars Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, and Abigail Breslin in the making of Zombieland: Double Tap.

It’s notably a successful effort too, as the new movie very much recaptures the spirit of the original Zombieland – coalescing as a fun and freaky 10 year reunion (as I wrote in my review of the movie). Fans will be able to see it for themselves this weekend, as Zombieland: Double Tap will be playing in theaters nationwide.

It's been 15 years since Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl hit theaters, launching a film franchise that far exceeded the popularity of the Disneyland attraction that first movie was based on. With five movies under the proverbial belt, Pirates of the Caribbean is the 12th highest grossing film series of all time, and since the release of Dead Men Tell No Tales last year, there's been talk about churning out a sixth movie. However, now word's come in that Disney is mulling over hitting the reboot button instead, with writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick handling the new story.

Best known for penning the Deadpool movies, Zombieland and Life, Deadline reports that Rheet Reese and Paul Wernick are in early talks with Disney about penning a Pirates of the Caribbean reboot. To clarify, this particular project hasn't received an official green light yet, but in addition to Reese and Wernick tackling the script, Jerry Bruckheimer would remain as producer. What's uncertain, however, is if Johnny Depp or any of the other actors from the first five movies would be involved in any way.

Given how loosely the term 'reboot' is thrown around Hollywood, there's two directions I imagine Disney is considering for the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The first is that this next movie would be set in the same continuity as the previous movies, but ditch Captain Jack Sparrow and his crew in favor of new/previously minor characters.

The second is that Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick would truly start from scratch and ignore the other Pirates of the Caribbean movies. This option paves the way for either another actor to play Jack Sparrow or, like the first option, spotlight a new cast.

Although Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was both a critical and commercial hit upon release in 2003, its sequels have had a tougher time in the critical reception department, drawing in mixed-to-negative reviews. Commercially, these movies have fared much better, although Dead Men Tell No Tales only made $794.9 million worldwide last year, making it the second-lowest grossing entry in the film series, with Curse of the Black Pearl ranking last.

Development of a Pirates of the Caribbean 6 was confirmed around this time last year, but apparently now Disney is considering taking the franchise in a different direction after a decade and a half. Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick certainly have plenty of blockbuster cred, so one would hope that they could put a fresh, invigorating spin on these swashbuckling pirates. It's also worth noting that this wouldn't be the only reboot the duo tackles, as they're also writing a new Clue movie.

We here at CinemaBlend will be sure to keep you updated on the latest concerning the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, whether this reboot goes forward or a traditional sequel comes out instead. For now, find out what movies are coming out over the next year in our 2018 and 2019 release schedules.

Real life friends and co-owners of an Academy Award, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have worked together multiple times over their storied careers. These two haven't worked on something together in some time, but given their respective talents in front of and behind the camera, any collaboration is worth paying attention to when announced. Now the duo are teaming up again, and this time Ben Affleck will be directing Matt Damon in a true crime story about a rigged McDonald's Monopoly game, which will be adapted for the screen by Deadpool 2 writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

Studios were lining up like kids trying to score a rare Happy Meal toy to snag this hot ticket property. Fox ultimately secured the rights to the project that was the subject of an intense bidding war, according to Deadline. Matt Damon will star in the film with Ben Affleck attached to direct, and when you hear the story, you can see why it was so in demand and so ripe for cinematic adaptation. Deadpool and Zombieland scribes Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese will adapt a story that appeared in The Daily Beast just a few days ago, titled How an Ex-Cop Rigged McDonald's Monopoly Game and Stole Millions by Jeff Maysh.

Jeff Maysh's article tells the stranger than fiction true story of Jerome Jacobson, a former police officer known as "Uncle Jerry" that worked for the marketing company that printed the McDonald's Monopoly game pieces. Eventually that temptation became overwhelming and Jacobson wound up as the head of a criminal conspiracy that had fraudulently claimed $24 million in cash and prizes from the popular game. Jacobson's access allowed him to deliver winning game pieces to his co-conspirators in exchange for a portion of the winnings. The sprawling tale seemingly checks off every criminal underworld box and a few unlikely ones, as the conspiracy involved strip-club owners, convicts, mobsters, drug traffickers, psychics and a family of Mormons. There's a lot more to this story that is full of craziness and serendipity. You can read the whole thing at The Daily Beast.

Ben Affleck has proven his directorial chops numerous times and has already done crime dramas, but this sounds like it will be a little different than what he has done before. It wasn't stated what tone this as-yet-untitled movie will be going for, but with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on scripting duties, I can already imagine what a blast this will be. The story is obviously about crime, but the nature of it should suit it to having a darkly comedic tone. Matt Damon as the ex-cop at the center of the conspiracy who was both criminal and philanthropist (he gave a winning piece to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital) is also great casting, and it will be cool to see Damon and Affleck working together as an actor and director duo.

No release date has been given for this movie at this time, but we'll keep you updated. Matt Damon will next star as Carroll Shelby in Ford v. Ferrari for director James Mangold, and Ben Affleck's next directorial effort is the Agatha Christie adaptation Witness for the Prosecution. For all of the biggest movies heading to theaters this year, check out our release schedule.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Deadpool 2. If you have not yet seen the film, please bookmark this page, and save the read until after your screening!

While the trailers for Deadpool 2 made fans think that the film was building an X-Force lineup consisting of characters like Bedlam, Shatterstar, Zeitgeist and Peter, the movie instead reveals their inclusion as a rather hilarious false start. A plan to parachute down and intercept a prison convoy goes horribly wrong, and all of the heroes mentioned above (plus Vanisher) wind up meeting gruesome ends. It ultimately makes for one of the best sequences in the entire blockbuster -- and it's one that I had a chance to talk about with writers/producers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese. Said Wernick,

It seems kind of crazy to introduce a team of popular characters from the comics and kill them off almost immediately, but that's exactly what Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese successfully pulled off with Deadpool 2. The subject came up when I interviewed them last week during the film's New York press day, and they were ebullient as they described the fun trick they played on audiences with the movie's trailers.

The shooting day began with Terry Crews, Lewis Tan, Bill Skarsgard, and Rob Delaney gathering on set not to film real footage for Deadpool 2, but instead to just battle stunt guys and film the extra material that would end up in just the trailers. After that, though, came all of the work in the helicopter, and per Rhett Reese, the whole cast and crew had an incredibly fun time:

Of course, it should be noted that the duo did have their concerns about the sequence. Specifically, there was worry there would be some backlash about killing off characters who actually do have their own niche fanbases. At the same time, though, Wernick is clearly very happy with the finished result, and even referenced the awesome end credits scenes as a caveat for anyone stressed out about it. Said the writer/producer,

Fortunately, things were copacetic with the actors as well -- despite the fact that they were being given very little room to develop characters in a major growing blockbuster. In fact, most of them came to the production because they were already friends with those involved. During my interview with director David Leitch, he put together the puzzle pieces for me, noting that he had the chance to work with Terry Crews on The Expendables, and that Bill Skarsgard had a supporting role in his previous directorial effort, Atomic Blonde. As for Lewis Tan, Leitch has actually known the actor since he was a kid, having a long working relationship with his father, stuntman/stunt coordinator, Philip Tan.

When Drew Goddard's X-Force eventually comes together it will include a very different lineup than the one in Deadpool 2 -- but we will not soon forget the OG lineup. They were sacrificed to the comedy gods, and their deaths are not in vein. They may not have a future with the franchise, but they will be forever remembered for their part in the sequel's funniest sequence.

Deadpool 2 is different from most superhero sequels in many ways -- and one example is runtime. While there are many big blockbusters that are happy to go over 135 minutes nowadays, the R-rated follow-up clocks in under two hours long -- largely thanks to its modest scale and tight narrative. As is, it's a great movie and ton of fun, but those of you wishing it could have been longer will soon get a special treat. I can confirm that a Deadpool 2 Extended Cut is currently in the works, courtesy of my recent interview with director David Leitch:

I had the pleasure of sitting down with David Leitch last week during the Deadpool 2 junket in New York. We were discussing the longest assembled cut of the film, and it was as part of that discussion that he revealed the new edit that is currently in the works. And while it sounds like the precise distribution method has not yet been decided, at the very least it should get a Blu-ray release.

The "Director Cut" that David Leitch is referring to in the above quote is an early version of the film that the filmmaker put together shortly after production to show Ryan Reynolds and the other producers how everything was cutting together. Surprisingly, the assembly clocked in at only two hours and 12 minutes long -- the length you can expect for the Deadpool 2 Extended Cut -- which actually came as a total surprise to the film's star. Said Leitch,

David Leitch described "nips and tucks" that were done that wound up cutting 12 minutes from the assembly -- but also offered a taste of some sequences that the Deadpool 2 Extended Cut will be bringing back for fans. For example, there will be a montage of the titular anti-hero trying a wide variety of suicide methods after being devastated by the death of Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). But that's not all, as the director says the alternate version of the film will use a lot of lines that were not included in the theatrical edition:

My conversation with David Leitch then turned to a discussion about bringing the Juggernaut to life, but I was fortunately able to get the skinny on the extended X-Mansion scene from writers/producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. For starters, there was a bit that has a payoff that's still included in the theatrical cut of Deadpool 2, and it's pretty disgusting:

Not everything about the sequence was as disgusting as ejaculating into a soap dispenser, however. Deadpool was actually going to start acting like a respectable member of the X-Men and start following Colossus' rules -- starting with labeling all of his own food:

As alluded to earlier, the exact distribution and schedule details for this new version of Deadpool 2 are currently unknown. The film will surely have a home video release date in the early fall, and it's possible that the Extended Cut will be included. That being said, it doesn't sound like theatrical distribution is totally off the table, and there also exists the possibility that 20th Century Fox will give it its own special Blu-ray release (a la the Rogue Cut of X-Men: Days of Future Past). Time will tell.

For now, fans can enjoy the original cut of Deadpool 2, which is out in theaters everywhere -- and be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more from my interviews with the cast and filmmakers behind the blockbuster!

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Deadpool 2. If you have not yet seen the film, please bookmark this page, and save the read until after your screening!

To quote Dean Pelton from the television show Community, time travel is really hard to write about. Sure, there are a lot of fun narratives to play with, but things get super complex really quickly when you start dealing with alternate timelines, chaos theory, and paradoxes. A perfect example can be found in the end credits scenes of Deadpool 2, where the titular antihero is shown going back in time to stop the event that started the entire story. Does this mean that nothing in the movie actually happened as depicted? Screenwriters/producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick recently told me...

The thought of the entirety of Deadpool 2 not occurring because of the end credits time travel may have occurred to you when you were walking to the parking lot after your screening -- and now you know the reality. This was one of the many things I had the chance to speak with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick about last week during their movie's New York junket, and they confirmed that Deadpool's antics will have an effect on the X-Men franchise timeline.

Reflecting on the whole thing, Paul Wernick did throw some regret into the mix, noting that it probably wasn't the best thing for them to do from a storytelling standpoint -- but that the big laugh and the nature of Deadpool as a character just made the whole thing too irresistible. Said Wernick,

Because of the lead character's fourth wall-breaking ability, future stores about Deadpool can easily address these alterations to the timeline, and even directly confront all of the canonical issues. That's simply one of the best things about the Merc With The Mouth as a protagonist. What would have been significantly harder, though, would have been repairing the timeline after another idea that the Deadpool 2 filmmakers contemplated including. Said Rhett Reese,

With Deadpool 3currently being a big question mark, we have to assume any of these developments and/or the issues they create will be addressed the next time the lead character appears -- which will be in Drew Goddard's X-Force. That film doesn't have a release date, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens, but for now be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest updates.

Now that Deadpool 2 has finally hit theaters, audiences have had a chance to see all of the violent hilarity for themselves. The film packs a ton of jokes into its relatively lean runtime, and as a result, some of the gags from the script and trailer don't actually appear in the movie. That's something that CinemaBlend's own Eric Eisenberg asked Deadpool 2 screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick during Deadpool 2's recent press day, and they opened up about some of the most interesting sequences cut from the original Deadpool that also didn't make the cut this time around. Reese explained:

So, it sounds like there was an attempt to put a suicide montage and a gag about the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants being "pure pornography" in Deadpool 1. Both gags ended up on the cutting room floor, so the screenwriting team behind the sequel tried to bring them back. Nevertheless, they once again got cut from the final cut of the movie -- though it is worth noting that the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants gag (a riff on a similar Cocoon gag from the first film) did make it into a recent trailer.

Of course, don't take our word for it. Check out Eric's interview with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, below, to hear what the Deadpool 2 screenwriters had to say about the jokes that didn't make it into the latest X-Men film.

Deadpool 2 continues the story started in 2016's Deadpool. It follows Wade Wilson as he attempts to protect a teenage mutant named Russell from the mysterious time-traveler known as Cable. The film arguably looks bigger and bolder than the one that preceded it, with a substantial portion of the narrative devoted to laying the groundwork for the introduction of X-Force. With all of those plates to spin, it kind of makes sense to see why some jokes couldn't make it.

Deadpool 2 is now in theaters, so make sure to check it out! If you are looking for more information related to the X-Men franchise spinoff, then head over to our full review, as well as our review roundup, to get a better sense of the film's critical consensus!

MAJOR spoilers ahead for Deadpool 2. If you haven't seen it in theaters, look away!

After two years of waiting, Deadpool 2 has finally arrived in theaters. The superheroic sequel features Wade Wilson in yet another fourth wall breaking adventure, and it greatly expanded the scope of the franchise. Deadpool 2 was chock full of shocking moments, although there was none quite as brutal as Vanessa's death in the film's first act. It was shocking and brutal, and revealed that the sequel was going to have some very real stakes. But the post-credits scene saw Deadpool going back in time for a few reasons, the first of which is saving Vanessa's life. So is she really alive, or was this just a joke? Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick recently answered just this, saying:

It looks like Deadpool 2's post-credits scene wasn't just a final gag for the audience. Wade actually traveled through time, and saved Vanessa from being killed on their anniversary. And just like that, one of the franchise's leading characters is reborn.

This definitive answer comes from Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick's recent Reddit AMA. The writers fielded a variety of questions about Deadpool 2, including some more nit picky ones related to the franchise's official canon. While Vanessa's death seemed legitimate and possibly an opening for Zazie Beetz' Domino to begin a romantic plot line with the protagonist, we should probably expect Morena Baccarin to reprise her role in the X-Force movie.

Vanessa's resurrection means that almost all of the character deaths in Deadpool don't really matter. The title character seemingly died in the film's conclusion, ready to reunite with his true love in the afterlife. But Vanessa told him it wasn't the right time, and he eventually returned to the world of the living. Now it seems she was right, as their true reunion happened via Wade traveling back in time to save her life. The couple can presumably keep living their happy life, and start having kids.

Aside from Vanessa and Wade's returns from the dead, there is one more character who got out alive: X-Force member Peter. Most of the team perishes after jumping from a helicopter, and Peter was one of the members who died gruesomely in front of our eyes. During the post-credits scene, Wade is also sure to save him, as the poor guy probably shouldn't have been involved in the first place. As for the rest of the OG X-Force? They're probably dead for good.

Deadpool 2 is in theaters now, with character deaths and resurrections in spades. Be sure to check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Massive spoilers ahead for Deadpool 2. If you haven't seen the new sequel, turn away!

It's a very exciting month for Marvel fans. While the MCU was altered forever with Avengers: Infinity War, this weekend brings another blockbuster years in the making. Deadpool 2 has finally arrived in theaters, bringing the Merc with a Mouth back to the silver screen for more action, comedy, and heart. The contents of Deadpool 2 have been kept under wraps by 20th Century Fox, and hardcore fans will notice that quite a few shots from the trailer don't make it into the final product. In particular, the shots of the X-Force kicking ass and taking names. As you'll remember, the team's first mission doesn't exactly go as planned. As co-writer Rhett Reese told CinemaBlend's own Eric Eisenberg,

In addition to signing up for small roles in Deadpool 2, it seems that the members of the X-Force were extra generous with their time. While on break they shot extra footage for the trailers, to keep the fandom off the scent of the team's true fate. And it definitely worked, as the X-Force jump from the helicopter resulted in horrifying deaths nobody in theaters was expecting.

Rheet Reese's comments to Eric Eisenberg prove how methodically Deadpool 2's marketing campaign truly was. While the franchise is known for its commercials and short videos, there was still a ton of secrecy surrounding Wade Wilson's second solo film. The fandom picks apart new trailers with care, taking note of every single frame of footage. Fans might have noticed that the X-Force were never shown actually in battle, and deduced they might be short lived characters. As such, cool fight scenes were shot and edited into the trailers just to throw us off.

The gag ultimately worked out, too. After recruiting the colorful members of the X-Force, the audience (and Wade Wilson) are mortified as their helicopter jump resulted in the horrifying deaths of Bedlam (Terry Crews), Zeitgest (Bill Skarsgård), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan), Peter (Rob Delaney), and Brad Pitt's surprise character Vanisher. They all died in unique and gruesome ways, and succeeded in one of the most unexpected moments of gore in the sequel.

While some Marvel fans will be bummed to see the X-Force die without actually engaging in battle, there will be a new team assembled when the X-Force gets a movie of its own. For now, we can enjoy the brief life of the original team.

Deadpool 2 is in theaters now. Be sure to check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Deadpool 2. If you have not yet seen the film, please bookmark this page, and save to read until after your screening!

There are many crazy, surprising moments in David Leitch's Deadpool 2, but few are quite as amazing as the blink-and-you-miss-it cameo by Brad Pitt. While you don't know it at first, it turns out that he is the invisible mutant who goes by the name Vanisher on the debut X-Force team... but sadly we don't discover his true identity until he is getting fried on bunch of utility wires. It's a hilarious couple of seconds, and one I learned all about recently speaking with screenwriters/producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Said Wernick,

When I sat down with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick earlier this week during the New York press day for Deadpool 2, one thing we talked about extensively was the number of cameos in the film. This included the extremely brief appearance by Brad Pitt, as they broke down how the whole thing came together. I followed up Wernick's answer by asking how, when and where they managed to film the scene, and I was treated to a story as funny as the big screen moment itself.

As it turns out, Brad Pitt didn't ask for a ton of money to do the Deadpool 2 scene, getting only his minimum pay allowed by the union, but he did have a special request. In agreeing to do the scene, according to the producers/writers, Ryan Reynolds really had to go the extra mile for his would-be co-star:

The moment with Vanisher appearing on the big screen was actually the last thing that was shot as part of Deadpool 2, during what Paul Wernick described as "additional additional photography" (about a month and a half prior to release). The whole thing was done very hush-hush, and thankfully the story didn't break before the movie hit theaters. Said Rhett Reese,

It's an amazing moment in a fantastic film, and one that audiences everywhere can now enjoy. Deadpool 2 is out in theaters everywhere -- and be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for a whole lot more from my interview with Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and the other filmmakers and stars behind the blockbuster!

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Deadpool 2. If you have not yet seen the film, please bookmark this page, and save the read until after your screening!

There are many wonderful and hilarious cameos in Deadpool 2, from the X-Men to Brad Pitt, but there is one A-lister so incredibly well hidden that you probably didn't even notice him. He appears in the scene where Cable first travels back in time, and encounters two farmers discussing the best way to clean yourself after using the toilet. One of these men is very clearly Firefly/Rogue One: A Star Wars Story actor Alan Tudyk, but you will probably be shocked to learn that his co-star in the scene is none other than Matt Damon -- as I learned from my recent interview with Deadpool 2 co-writers/producers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese:

In case you couldn't tell, I was surprised to learn about this special cameo as well, as I had no idea that Matt Damon was in Deadpool 2. I sat down with Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese earlier this week during the New York press day for the blockbuster, and it was while discussing the amazing Brad Pitt cameo that we stumbled into the Damon discussion. They told me that nobody had figured it out before our conversation -- though one person on the internet apparently did begin to decode the "Dickie Greenleaf" hint (it's the identity that Damon's character assumes in The Talented Mr. Ripley, though Jude Law plays the real Dickie Greenleaf in the thriller, and there was apparently some debate about who the trick credit was really masking).

You might be kicking yourself for not figuring out this cameo while actually watching Deadpool 2, but you really shouldn't be too hard on yourself. Not only is the lighting in the scene not exactly optimal, but Matt Damon is both using a fake accent and is under extremely heavy makeup. According to the writers, he was so unrecognizable that you might not have even known it was him if you were standing by his side on the day of production. Said Rhett Reese,

Part of what makes Matt Damon's cameo so humorous is the fact that this is actually his second Marvel cameo in about six months: he also memorably plays an Asgardian actor in Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok. That being said, the funny still goes one step further than that. It turns out that Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese had no idea that MCU appearance had been filmed, and they were as surprised as anyone to see him playing Fake Loki in the third Thor feature. Wernick commented,

This is just one of the many wonderful things about Deadpool 2 -- and just one of the many wonderful things I talked about with Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and the other actors and filmmakers behind the blockbuster. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for a whole lot more of my interview coverage, and see the film in theaters now!

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Deadpool 2. If you have not yet seen the film, please bookmark this page, and save the read until after your screening!

The surprise appearance of the Juggernaut in Deadpool 2 is certainly one of the movie's most excellent surprises -- but in that department the film also leaves audiences with a bit of a mystery. After all, the end credits don't actually say who plays the character, instead just saying that he stars as "Himself." Fortunately for you, I wasn't comfortable with this lingering question, so I went hunting for the answer. When I spoke with director David Leitch on the subject earlier this week, he revealed that he himself played the Juggernaut along with Ryan Reynolds in performance capture -- with Reynolds also performing the dialogue. The filmmaker told me,

I learned a lot about the Juggernaut when I sat down for a one-on-one interview with David Leitch during the Deadpool 2 press day in New York, starting with the fact that he and Ryan Reynolds switched off doing the performance capture work during production. Apparently it was really a matter of convenience, as they felt that they didn't need outside help bringing the character back to the big screen for the first time since X-Men: The Last Stand.

Clearly the convenience factor worked out extremely well on set, with David Leitch and Ryan Reynolds always being around during the making of Deadpool 2, but it also extended to recording sessions of the voice during post-production. According to Leitch, his star occasionally came in to record some additional dialogue for Deadpool anyway, do during those sessions he was able to get all of Juggernauts lines as well. Said Leitch,

Much like Deadpool and Colossus, Juggernaut is yet another fan-favorite Marvel character that this branch of the X-Men franchise has managed to buy back to a certain degree. Vinnie Jones' version of the character from X-Men: The Last Stand is far more infamous than it is popular, mostly because of one terribly embarrassing meme-inspired moment. Fortunately, Deadpool 2 creates a new version of the famed villain who is much more like his comic book counterpart than the previous interpretation.

Not only is Juggernaut, a.k.a. Cain Marko, physically more accurate (much bigger than just a normal human), the movie even manages to dig a bit into his important backstory. Specifically, while we don't get the full explanation of his backstory -- which is fairly complicated --we do at least learn that he is Professor Xavier's brother. While talking with screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, they told me that getting into more of the character's history wasn't something that was really on the table, but that they definitely wanted to give fans a treat. Said Reese,

At the end of Deadpool 2, Juggernaut suffers a fairly embarrassing defeat, as he gets a live wire shoved up his butt before being dumped in a pool -- but you shouldn't be too concerned about him. Not only did David Leitch suggest in my interview that Juggernaut survived the battle, but he also explained that he is excited to potentially play around with the character a lot more in future films. Said Leitch,

We'll have to wait and see if Juggernaut gets his chance to truly wreck some shit in a future film -- but for now we can definitely be happy with the version that Deadpool 2 delivers.

A couple weeks ago, Ryan Reynolds made some surprising statements about the future of the Deadpool franchise. Rather than being eager to complete a trilogy, the actor/writer/producer offered that Deadpool 3 isn't a guarantee, as you can't just keep stripping everything away from the protagonist. It was a quote that startled fans looking forward to a long cinematic future with the Merc With The Mouth -- but thankfully Deadpool/Deadpool 2 co-writer Rhett Reese has gone on the record saying why Deadpool 3 should still happen:

That's certainly a lot more optimistic, no? I had the pleasure of sitting down with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick this week during the New York press day for Deadpool 2, and while most of the interview was a dive deep into spoilers, it was at the start of our two-on-one interview that I inquired about Wade Wilson's future. I brought up Ryan Reynolds' quote about repeatedly stripping the character of everything he cares about, but Reese retorted offering that there are many different ways to tell a story with this character.

As suggested by Rhett Reese, the key to future success may just be to slow things down a little bit. Ryan Reynolds has been on a crazy campaign these past few months promoting Deadpool 2, wearing a suit he likens to a big, red body condom, and that kind of exhausting exercise would make anyone question the future. That being said, right now the only project with the character currently in development is Drew Goddard's X-Force, and they haven't even announced a release date for that one yet.

When I spoke with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick last year when they were doing press for the sci-fi thriller Life, they told me that X-Force and Deadpool 3 were being developed as parallel projects -- but an official time table has not yet been confirmed. Given Ryan Reynolds' recent comments and Reese's follow-up, there's definitely reason to believe that there could wind up being a beat between the two would-be blockbusters. We'll just have to wait and see how 20th Century Fox chooses to play it in coordination with the star and filmmakers.

In the meantime, Deadpool 2 hasn't even gotten here yet, as it will be in theaters this Friday, May 18th. Be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for a whole lot more from my interview with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, as well as the film's director and stars!

After spending many, many years in development hell, Deadpool proved itself to be a monster hit. While there were some doubts surrounding the film, specifically the R-rating, it wound up being a big success with critics while also becoming the biggest domestic hit in the X-Men franchise. Naturally, a sequel is on the way, and the Merc With The Mouth is bringing two key characters from to comics to join him in the madness.

So what is Deadpool 2 going to be all about? Who is going to be involved? What characters will be returning? How will it connect to the larger X-Men universe? We're going to go over all of that in this latest edition of our What We Know So Far guides! Read on to learn everything about the highly anticipated sequel.

What Have We Seen From Deadpool 2?

Well, after months of teases we finally have a full trailer for Deadpool 2 that shows off just how nutty the second installment in the franchise is going to be. And, we wouldn't have it any other way! The trailer finally explains the story for the film, along with giving us a good look at some new characters.

What Is Deadpool 2's Release Date?

Deadpool had a crazy amount of success when it was released with what isn't typically considered a blockbuster release date. Arriving for Valentine's Day weekend 2016, it didn't have much in the way of competition, and, as a result, managed to crush at the box office. As it happens, however, Deadpool 2 won't be one of those sequels that gets a release date in the same window as its predecessor. Instead, Fox is giving the follow-up a major spot in their early summer lineup, and are prepared to have the film released on May 18, 2018.

It was set to be an interesting theatrical release for Deadpool 2, partially because it would have been part of 20th Century Fox's first year with three X-Men franchise titles. Josh Boone's The New Mutants was scheduled to hit cinemas a few months earlier, coming out on April 13, 2018, but was recently pushed to February 22, 2019. The Merc With The Mouth sequel will still be followed by X-Men: Dark Phoenix on November 2, 2018.

Of course, the big news with the Deadpool 2 release date is that it puts the film in direct competition with Solo: A Star Wars Story, which drops a week later. We can see in a few months how these two films battle it out in the theaters.

What Is Deadpool 2's Rating

Prior to the start of Deadpool's production, the film's rating was one of the most contentious elements of development. Director Tim Miller, writers/producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and star Ryan Reynolds were all insistent on the comic book feature being R-rated, but this approach was met with resistance by the executives at 20th Century Fox. Eventually a deal was struck that allowed the R-rating in exchange for a smaller budget, but it most definitely worked out in the project's favor: It is now ranks as the most successful R-rated movie of all time. And if you think they're changing course for Deadpool 2, you're crazy.

The MPAA doesn't actually assign a rating to a film until there is a cut that is ready to head to theaters, but we already know what the filmmakers will be aiming for in the making of Deadpool 2. There will be plenty of bloody violence, an abundance of cursing, and maybe even a bit of sex and nudity. Count on it.

The Director

It was all the way back in back in April 2011 that director Tim Miller was hired to direct Deadpool - and he was ultimately an integral force in getting the movie made. Because of his background in visual effects (he's the founder of Blur Studio), Miller was able to make the Merc With The Mouth solo film for a fraction of the price of a normal superhero feature, and still give it high production value. Unfortunately, creative differences led Tim Miller to walk away from Deadpool 2 in October 2016, and leave Fox and the producers searching for a new name.

The search didn't take long. Only a few weeks after Tim Miller announced his departure, we started hearing rumors about John Wick co-director David Leitch taking the gig (those stories were confirmed in mid-November 2016). Leitch, an experienced stunt man and stunt coordinator, made his debut as a director alongside Chad Stahelski with John Wick, but since then worked on his own solo feature with summer 2017's Atomic Blonde. Much like how Miller brought an expertise in visual effects to the making of the first Deadpool, it's expected that it was Leitch's gifts in the action department that primarily appealed to the more comedy and character-centric talents of star Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

The Story

In this day and age, a hero's first solo film is typically dedicated to the origin story. While it's a bit tired at this point, it does make a good degree of sense given that it's the best way to introduce these super characters to a wider audience. This was the approach taken by Deadpool, as the movie told the non-linear tale of how mercenary Wade Wilson went through experimental treatments to cure his cancer and wound up with incredible healing abilities and a revenge mission. Now that that's all out of the way, however, there are an infinite number of possibilities for screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to explore in Deadpool 2.

Two significant presences were confirmed for the sequel pretty early on: Cable and Domino. Both characters are tightly connected to Deadpool, having played significant roles in the issue where he was first introduced, New Mutants #98. The basics of the plot for Deadpool 2, though, were quite a secret until the late March 2018 debut of the trailer. In it, we were shown that Deadpool will be trying to stop Cable, who's arrived from the future, from killing a child with some awesome mutant powers. In his efforts to keep the kid alive, Deadpool will get help from friends old and new, as he'll be relying on assistance from members of the, newly formed, X-Force.

Deadpool

Thanks to Tim Miller's Deadpool, now all of you know the legendary story of the motor-mouthed, sociopathic Wade Wilson (played by Ryan Reynolds). In hopes of continuing a life with his one true love, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), he chose to undergo experiments that would cure cancer that had spread to every vital organ in his body. Instead, the horrific treatments designed to turn him into a mutant led to the skin all over his body becoming incredibly scarred (making him incredibly self-conscious), and it activated a stunning healing factor that left him both invincible and basically immortal. At the end of the movie we saw him get sweet, bloody vengeance against those who tortured him, and reunite with his love... so what's next?

Having been one of Marvel Comics' most popular characters of the last 26 years, there is plenty of material from which Deadpool 2 can draw -- and some of it is very, very strange. In his time on the page, the Merc With The Mouth has saved the world from aliens that wish to rid the Earth of free will, stopped a horde of zombified former American presidents, and even found occasion to travel around the multiverse to kill every single version of himself in existence (or at least one version of Deadpool did). As Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick confirmed to CinemaBlend, fans shouldn't expect things to get too weird or complex, but given the characters involved, we should at least expect some degree of bizarreness. Case in point:

Cable

Cable is a character who possesses one of the most complicated backstories in all of Marvel Comics. First introduced to the world in 1986, he was retroactively established as the child of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor (a clone of Jean Grey), and due to machinations involving the villainous Apocalypse and Mister Sinister he was infected with a deadly techno-virus. With no other options available to save the baby (named Nathan Summers), it was agreed that he would be sent to the future where a cure was available. Being a mutant with incredible telekinetic and telepathic abilities, he grew up to be incredibly strong (taking on the name Cable), and eventually time traveled to the past in order to try and right the world and prevent a horrific future. Now that we know he's come back to our time in Deadpool 2 to put a stop to a young mutant, it's possible that the child leads to the very future Cable is desperate to change.

After months of speculation, it was officially announced in April 2017 that Josh Brolin has signed on to play the part of Cable in Deadpool 2. And if the thought of the Oscar nominated-actor being in a comic book movie feels familiar, there's an extremely good reason: he's been in a ridiculous number of them. Not only does his filmography include Jonah Hex, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Men In Black 3, and Oldboy, but he is currently playing the incredibly important role of Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (he already worked on Guardians of the Galaxy, and has been working on his part in The Avengers: Infinity War). Still, Brolin's proven talent has us very excited that he will bring a different energy to Cable that will surprise and delight us all.

The first official image of Cable in Deadpool 2, featured above, was released in August 2017, and has earned wide-spread fan approval. Die-hards were hoping for a metal arm, a cybernetic eye, a gigantic gun, big muscles, and a whole lotta' pouches, and that's exactly what the movie is delivering. We still have some big questions about the teddy bear attached to his hip (as seen in this image), but we'll patiently wait for something this exciting.

Domino

While not quite as complicated as Cable's, Domino has an interesting origin in the comics as well. As a character, she debuted alongside Deadpool in New Mutants #98 - though it was eventually revealed that readers didn't actually meet the REAL Domino at that time. Instead, the public and the heroes in the book series were duped by none other than the shapeshifter Copycat a.k.a. Vanessa (the character played by Morena Baccarin in Deadpool). It was only after that revelation that Marvel fans got to meet the real Domino - and we've been in love with her ever since.

The result of a government breeding program trying to grow the ultimate mutant weapon, Domino has a special gift that on the surface looks like dumb luck. In actuality, she has a special subconscious telekinetic ability that changes things in her environment to best work out in her favor (enemy guns jamming, ricochets hitting perfect angles, heavy stuff falling down, etc.) It's a super power we've never really seen portrayed on the big screen, and it will be actress Zazie Beetz bringing Domino to life.

While you could measure a football field with the list of names mentioned as being up for the part of Domino, Zazie Beetz emerged as the winner in March 2017. The 26-year-old actress doesn't have much of a filmography, with only a few years of professional acting under her belt, but she has already earned some critical acclaim - specifically from her time as Van on the award-winning FX series Atlanta. The most recent trailer seems to indicate that Domino will be helping Wade Wilson protect the mutant child that Cable is after in Deadpool 2, and from the fantastic action sequences we see her in it looks like she's ready to kick ass.

Vanessa

As Deadpool explains to the audience in the opening scene of his movie, his story is entirely driven by love -- specifically his relationship with the lovely prostitute Vanessa (played by Morena Baccarin). His feelings for her drive every element of the plot, from the fact that Wade undergoes experimental procedures to have more time with her, to his revenge plot being compelled by his need to look normal before seeing her again. Fortunately, Deadpool ends on a happy note, with Wade and Vanessa kissing and swooning to WHAM!'s "Careless Whisper."

We can't say exactly where Deadpool and Vanessa's relationship will go in Deadpool 2, but it has been confirmed that she will be back and she and Wade look to be together for at least some of the film. When we spoke to screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, we learned that making the character more like her comic book counterpart -- the aforementioned shapeshifting mutant Copycat -- is still on the table, so it's possible that will come into play.

Weasel

In Deadpool, T.J. Miller played the first big screen adaptation of Weasel, known to fans of the comics as Wade Wilson's best friend and arms dealer. The character was slightly changed for the big screen, as the comic book counterpart is merely a frequent attendee of Sister Margaret's School For Wayward Children, as opposed to the proprietor. Still, Weasel had Deadpool's back and ear right up until the final fight -- which he basically wussed out of to hang with Blind Al.

Weasel will be back in Deadpool 2, ready to provide some guns and harsh insults. We don't know any specifics about his part at this time - he was only briefly featured in the first trailer, and the most recent one only shows him trading jokes with Wade - but if T.J. Miller gets his way, than we will see him get involved in the action a bit more. In an interview, the actor talked about his character's desire for money over bullets in Tim Miller's film, and noted that he'd like to fire off a few rounds in the sequel. We have to wait and see whether or not he gets his wish - though that aforementioned single shot from the debut footage does have him cocking a pistol.

Negasonic Teenage Warhead

Unlike Vanessa, Weasel, Ajax and Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead was actually a late addition to the Deadpool lineup of characters -- specifically included to show off some cool mutant powers. Though she is a psychic in the comics, Brianna Hildebrand's performance changes the mutation and instead has her able to focus and generate explosive forces (which is an ability more in line with her name anyway). At the end of Deadpool, she wound up killing Angel Dust while saving Colossus, and the two walked off at the end to return to Xavier's mansion.

Because she survived the plot, Negasonic Teenage Warhead was always a candidate to return in Deadpool 2, and her part in the sequel has been confirmed. While we don't know anything about the part she will have in the larger narrative, actress Brianna Hildebrand has said that she will be slightly matured while maintaining her punk kid edge (the haircut certainly sells that), and the debut trailer definitely suggests she hasn't lost her attitude. And who knows? While the newest trailer shows her in a traditional costume for one of the X-Men, perhaps she could one day be used as a core member of X-Force.

Blind Al

The relationship between Deadpool and Blind Al was certainly one of the comedic highlights of the 2016 blockbuster. Portraying the mercenary's hostage/roommate, Leslie Uggams put on a fantastic performance and had wonderful back-and-forth with Ryan Reynolds. And while Blind Al isn't a character that has been around for Deadpool's entire run in the comics, she will be back and playing a part in Deadpool 2.

Leslie Uggams has personally confirmed that Blind Al will be back in action in Deadpool 2 - but it's not quite clear what kind of role we can expect her to play. After all, one would guess that Wade Wilson would probably want to live with Vanessa now that they are reunited, and that means he doesn't really need a roommate. Perhaps Vanessa will refuse to kick her to the curb, and they will all just bunk together in Al's place.

Dopinder

To this point we've entirely focused on the characters in Deadpool who originated from the comics, but Deadpool 2 has also made room for one of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick's original creations. While Dopinder, played by Karan Soni, only appeared in a couple scenes, fans instantly grew attached to the feckless cabbie, and that love earned him a place in the sequel. Last time around he basically operated as a wheelman for Deadpool, but the first trailer looks like he will wind up being more involved with the action in the follow-up. Hopefully we will also learn how he wound up avoiding jail time for kidnapping his cousin Bandhu and locking him in the trunk of his taxi.

Julian Dennison's Mystery Character

Deadpool 2 will obviously be introducing a number of interesting characters to the canon of the X-Men universe, but few are more enticing than the role played by young actor Julian Dennison - particularly after the movie's first trailer. The young actor, who delivered his breakthrough performance opposite Sam Neill in Taika Waititi's Hunt For The Wilderpeople, came aboard the film in late June 2017, and while his character has not yet been identified, our first look at him (seen above) is intense. He looked like some kind of demonic villain setting fire to some kind of church, but the second trailer revealed that he's likely a young mutant, and that Cable is absolutely out to get rid of the kid, probably in the hopes of stopping a terrible future from coming to pass. We still don't know the character's name, though, or why Cable is convinced he needs to die.

The Budget

Deadpool was made for a reported $58 million, which is a fraction of what most superhero blockbusters cost these days (The Avengers: Age of Ultron, for example, was a $250 million movie). Because of this, the movie's box office totals are even more significant, as more of the dollars rolling in are pure profit. You'd think that this would inspire 20th Century Fox to throw a whole lot more money at Deadpool 2, but according to the screenwriters/producers, going bigger with the sequel isn't really something in which they're interested. Rhett Reese has said in interviews that the next film won't be chasing a $150 million budget because it doesn't really fit the eponymous anti-hero to put him in a giant blockbuster.

From a creative standpoint, one could also see a more limited budget being a strong tool for the brains behind Deadpool 2. After all, the less money the project has, the less pressure and attention it's going to receive from meddling studio executives who may or may not have what's best for the character and fans in mind. By staying on the smaller side and making smart decisions, Deadpool 2 can remain true to its source material.

X-Force

When Marvel fans think about the team-up of Deadpool, Domino, and Cable, they typically think of them as members of the team known as X-Force. This is in large part due to the fact that it was the New Mutants line of comics in which they were all introduced that eventually became Marvel Comics's first X-Force title. Given that we know 20th Century Fox has an X-Force movie in development, it makes sense that Deadpool 2 would take steps in that direction - but don't expect it to be a two-hour commercial.

When I spoke with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, they told me that they don't have any plans on overloading Deadpool 2 with a lot of future planning - but X-Force most definitely is something that is coming together down the pike in a few years (along with Deadpool 3). Fox has been working on the project since San Diego Comic-Con 2013, when it was announced that Kick-Ass 2 director Jeff Wadlow was putting the team-up movie together. The work has changed a whole lot since then, and now it is Reese and Wernick who are helping design how it all comes together - with Cabin in the Woods director Drew Goddard attached to helm.

Luckily, the most recent trailer for Deadpool 2 revealed that we are, in fact, getting even more members of X-Force in the film, and the fact that Deadpool himself appears to put the team together to try to stop Cable. In addition to Domino and Cable (who, for obvious reasons, won't be a member of X-Force during the main events of this movie), we're also treated to Terry Crews as Jesse Bedlam, Rob Delaney as a potential member named Peter and Bill Skarsgard, who looks to be playing Shatterstar.

Connection To The X-Men Universe

In Deadpool, the fact that there are only two X-Men characters around is openly mocked by the Merc With The Mouth, as he is shocked by just how empty Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters seems to be. Given that the budget for Deadpool 2 is going to stay limited, we don't expect Professor X's full team to show up in the sequel, but we do anticipate that it will continue to have ties to the rest of the X-Men universe. And, the newest trailer does show off a character who appears to be X-Men member Surge, so it's clear that the movie is using its X-Men ties as much as possible.

Deadpool proved to be the X-Men franchise film with both the biggest opening weekend and highest domestic gross, and this fact will surely not be lost on the heads at 20th Century Fox. Though their PG-13/R ratings may clash a bit, the studio will surely want to use all of the positivity surrounding Deadpool and have it more closely associated with the other X-Men titles on which they are working. Exactly how far this will go probably won't be revealed until the film is actually in theaters, but it's not hard to expect a significant connection.

The "No Good Deed" Short Film

While Ryan Reynolds didn't get the opportunity to play Deadpool in any 2017 feature films, he did work with the Deadpool 2 filmmakers to deliver fans a special treat. When Logan opened in theaters nationwide, screenings were preceded by the David Lietch-directed short film "No Good Deed," which features Wade Wilson/Deadpool trying to be a superhero following a not-so-quick costume change in a phone booth. It's not specifically Deadpool 2 related, as it exists as an entirely separate thing, but it is still a hell of a lot of fun!

Deadpool wouldn't be the same movie without director Tim Miller. It was his impressive and amazing experience in visual effects as well as a skilled eye for action that allowed the R-rated blockbuster to look so impressive while operating with a fraction of the typical superhero movie budget. Because he's not coming back for Deadpool 2, there exists the opportunity to radically change the definition of what a Deadpool movie is... but as I recently learned from director David Leitch, that's definitely not part of the game plan. He explained,

David Leitch told me about this approach to the style of Deadpool 2 when I talked with him earlier today on a press line at CinemaCon -- the annual convention for theater owners held in Las Vegas -- where he was promoting his new movie, Atomic Blonde, starring Charlize Theron. Recognizing the contribution made by Tim Miller to the 2016 film, I asked the director to what extent his style would branch off from Deadpool, and he noted that a part of the gig is recognizing what people loved while also adding his own unique touches.

Watch part of our interview with David Leitch right here:

As we've seen many, many times before, one of the worst things a sequel can do is just try to ape exactly what came before it -- but David Leitch certainly seems to have the right approach in mind with the project. In the same way that the story really shouldn't scale up just because there's an opportunity to have a bigger budget, the film also really shouldn't go too far in changing the way the titular anti-hero fights and the world he lives in. That being said, the fact that the film is introducing new and impressively complex characters in Cable and Domino means that Leitch will certainly have the opportunity to put his own stamp on important elements within the universe as well.

Of course, given David Leitch's past work, his special contributions are a big part of what gets us excited for Deadpool 2 and his team-up with star Ryan Reynolds and writers/producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Not only did he co-direct one of the best action movies in recent memory with John Wick, but his upcoming film Atomic Blonde has already earned incredible buzz and looks completely amazing:

Be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend in the coming months to learn a whole lot more about Atomic Blonde­ -- which will be coming to theaters July 28th. As for Deadpool 2, we will continue to keep you apprised on all developments as the film makes its way through pre-production, and to get the full lowdown on the project, be sure to check out our What We Know So Far guide.

In November of last year, Ryan Reynolds admitted that the making of Deadpool was not without its fair share of behind-the-scenes conflict. Thanks to the extreme passions of himself, director Tim Miller, and writers/producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, things occasionally got heated in the group, with the ultimate understanding being that each person's largest contribution should come from their greatest strength. With filmmaker David Leitch replacing Miller behind the camera for the upcoming Deadpool 2, the question is raised how that balance will work for the sequel... and Leitch himself actually addressed that very idea earlier today:

I had the pleasure of meeting David Leitch earlier today during a Focus Features press line at CinemaCon -- the annual convention for theater owners held in Las Vegas -- and after talking about his new movie Atomic Blonde (stay tuned for more on that front), we dug a bit into his work on Deadpool 2. I directly asked him about his collaboration with Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, and Paul Wernick and how they will be approaching the action and the comedy, and he explained that there will be open discussions about all aspects of the blockbuster, but also that the concept of playing to strengths clearly makes sense.

As the foundation of his own visual effects studio clearly proves, Tim Miller's greatest strength coming to Deadpool was in the digital realm. And as he himself noted above, David Leitch's greatest asset is his eye for action. In addition to having an extensive background in stunt work, Leitch also co-created the action design production company 87Eleven 20 years ago, and also co-directed one of the greatest action movies of the modern era: 2014's John Wick. It's the fact that this prowess will be meshing with the comedic skills of the Deadpool writers and star that makes Deadpool 2 such an incredibly exciting upcoming project.

Watch part of our interview with David Leitch right here:

Right now we don't know exactly when it will be that Deadpool 2 arrives in theaters, but production is scheduled to gear up in the next few months. Before the action/comedy gets made, however, fans will be able to get a preview of David Leitch's skills as a director when the hotly-buzzed about Atomic Blonde starring Charlize Theron arrives in theaters on July 28th.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains massive spoilers for Life. If you have not yet seen the film, please bookmark this page and save it to read after your screening!

While Life marks the first time that director Daniel Espinosa and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have collaborated, they do share one thing in common: past work with Ryan Reynolds. The actor worked with the former on the thriller Safe House, the latter two on the superhero comedy Deadpool. Given these relationships, you'd think that the actor would be the one to survive to the end of their new science-fiction thriller Life... but the truth is that he's the first one killed off. It's a surprising move, but as Reynolds recently explained to me, it's a choice that he really loved:

I spoke with Ryan Reynolds about his characters' untimely demise during the Austin, Texas press day for Life, having personally been legitimately surprised by the fact that his character in the movie, Rory Adams, is the first casualty at the hands of the alien menace known as 'Calvin.' As Reynolds explains, however, that shock is most definitely intentional, as you do legitimately think that his relationships with the filmmakers would keep him around for longer in the story (it's also most definitely weird when one of the headlining stars spends more of the film's runtime dead than alive).

In addition to speaking with Ryan Reynolds -- who was having a blast sitting beside co-star Jake Gyllenhaal -- I also had the pleasure of spending part of the press day with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who were more than happy to talk about their collaboration with Reynolds. Wernick noted that the part of Rory was always written with the Canadian actor in mind -- joking that he is their muse -- and stressed that he feels everything they write would suit Reynolds well. Continuing that thought, Reese told me that they were also able to get his immediate attention with the script, telling me the story of the star's first reading experience:

Following up and diving into spoiler territory, I asked the writers about having Ryan Reynolds die early in the film, and Rhett Reese explained that it was always part of the plan -- as it both surprises the audience and serves the character. Said Reese,

You can watch Ryan Reynolds talk about the death of Rory Adams and his collaboration with Daniel Espinosa and Rhett Reese in the video below:

Life is now in theaters everywhere nationwide -- and stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more from my interviews with the cast and filmmakers!

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Deadpool went from cinematic zero to hero. Thanks to a critically-beloved solo feature, he is arguably now the most popular character in the X-Men franchise, and therefore has the brightest of futures ahead of him on the big screen. With those projects still in the early stages of development, however, we don't know a great deal about what to expect at this time... but I recently was able to pick up a few details from two of the big brains running the entire show.

This past weekend I caught up with Deadpool screenwriters/producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick during the press day for their new movie Life, and we spent a portion of our time discussing the future of the superhero franchise that they helped launch last year -- including Deadpool 2 and beyond. So what did I learn? Read on below and across the next few pages to find out!

Don't Expect A Lot Of Future Planning In Deadpool 2

Tim Miller's Deadpool was a comic book movie made in a very different atmosphere than most in the genre. While most franchise projects are developed while thinking two or three steps ahead, Fox was just hoping the Merc With The Mouth would make its tiny budget back. Now that we know there is a big future planned for Deadpool, however, how will that affect Deadpool 2? According to Rhett Reese, the answer is "not much." The writer/producer told me,

While not identified by name, those characters are Domino (played by Zazie Beetz) and Cable (TBD), who are expected to be big players in the X-Force team-up movie that Fox now has in development. Going by Rhett Reese's comments, however, it doesn't sound like we'll be seeing that unit form in Deadpool 2, and it also doesn't sound like the film will be used to introduce the project's central antagonist. Reese continued,

Still, one of the challenges of making Deadpool 2 will be taking major players like Domino and Cable and fitting them in a narrative that also includes characters audiences fell in love with the first time around. And that brings us to Major Thing We Learned About Deadpool's Future Movies #2...

How Deadpool 2 Will Be Balancing Its Old And New Characters

Ryan Reynolds is clearly the number one star of Deadpool, but part of that movie's magic is its treasure trove of awesome side characters. Weasel, Vanessa, Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and Blind Al all have fantastic moments to shine in the film, each possessing a different attitude that evokes something unique out of their interactions with the titular character. With the addition of Cable and Domino there may be an understandable concern about overstuffing, but Paul Wernick told me that their approach to this potential issue is maintaining focus on the star:

This certainly sounds like a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality. While Deadpool does have a nifty non-linear structure, it's also impressively straight forward in its storytelling, and a big part of that is because Wade Wilson/Deadpool is almost every single scene. If Deadpool 2 does the same thing, you once again have the opportunity to just play with the special way the character interacts with the people in his life, and that could very well result in more spun gold.

Clearly the focus of the moment is on Deadpool 2, but Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick simultaneously made it understood that they are very aware of the potential possessed by the adored R-Rated anti-hero, and also provided me some insight about what is being worked on for the future of this branch of the X-Men franchise.

X-Force And Deadpool 3 Are Being Designed To Be Entirely Different

Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Ryan Reynolds have repeatedly stressed their desire to keep the Deadpool movies unlike other comic book blockbusters, in that the nature of the character demands small scale stories rather than world-saving adventures. This will change a bit by the time he's ready to suit up as a member of X-Force, but Rhett Reese also noted that they are simultaneously developing Deadpool 3 to directly contrast the size of that project. Discussing the introduction of Cable and Domino to the Deadpool family, Reese explained,

To apply yet another colloquialism, this is a clear cut example of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick having their cake and eating it too. They certainly recognize how fun it would be seeing a fuck-up character like Deadpool trying to save the world (as many comic book writers/artists have over the years), but they also don't have to betray the specialty brand that he brings to his own solo movies. Naturally, we fully expect that Deadpool 3 will directly reference how different it will be from the team-up project.

With Deadpool 2 still not having a release date, we don't quite know when we will next see the eponymous maniac back on the big screen, but production is expected to start before the end of the year. In the meantime, fans can go see the latest work from Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on the big screen this weekend, as Life arrives in theaters this Friday.

Back in November, a report came out saying that 20th Century Fox was not only already moving forward with plans for a Deadpool 3, but that it would be a film that would essentially be orchestrated around the team of mutants known as X-Force. As it turns out, however, this is entirely false. Deadpool 3 is definitely in very early stages, but it's actually being planned as a film built to operate in contrast to the X-Force movie that is being developed simultaneously. Talking with producer/co-writer Rhett Reese this weekend about Deadpool 2, he told me,

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Rhett Reese and his writing partner Paul Wernick this past weekend during the press day for their new movie Life, and it was at the end of our conversation that we talked a bit about the follow-ups being planned for their incredibly successful Deadpool movie. One topic of discussion was the implementation of new characters like Domino and Cable alongside the beloved ensemble in the first film, and Reese explained how the character balance within Deadpool 2 is something that will feed into their future work on X-Force.

Following up on the comment made by Rhett Reese above, I specifically asked if that meant X-Force and Deadpool 3 are entirely separate projects, and he confirmed by acknowledging that the former is going to function as a big-time team-up blockbuster, while the latter will be much more scaled down, similar to the 2016 hit. Reese explained,

Some of the most encouraging things we've heard about Deadpool 2 have been about the fact that the filmmakers know that scaling up isn't the best idea for the series, and this is really an excellent extension of that. Those members of the audience craving the opportunity to see the Merc With The Mouth save the world (which has indeed happened a few times in the comics) will have the chance to see just that when he unites with Cable, Domino and others for X-Force; but the character will meanwhile still have another title in his own series to continue the trend of more intimate narratives. This is the exact news that Deadpool fans want to hear.

Of course, the timeline for all of these developments is currently up in the air. While no release date has been set for Deadpool 2 yet, it's been said production could start ramping up before the end of the year. If that's the case, it's not entirely outside the realm of possibility that we could see both Deadpool 3 and X-Force before 2020 (though if that does happen, we hope that it's not because Fox is rushing things).

In the meantime, fans will able to see the next work from Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on the big screen this weekend when Life hits theaters on Friday -- and be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more from my interview with the writers!

The X-Men franchise started off as a standard series, one movie after another. Then the Wolverine spinoffs took some minor detours, and with last year's Deadpool release, now 20th Century Fox essentially has their own superhero cinematic universe. However, both Deadpool and the upcoming Logan feel much different from the other X-Men movies, and with the former paving the way for an eventual X-Force movie, it begs the question of if that project will feel more at home with the mutant superheroes or in the Merc with the Mouth's corner of this world. According to writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, it sounds like X-Force will follow more in Deadpool's footsteps tonally.

Rhett Reese acknowledged to THR that the superhero cinematic universes have their own unique tones, and the X-Men world has generally been somewhere in the middle of Marvel and DC. Deadpool, however, found a new tone for the franchise, and X-Force will keep that lighthearted, but still edgy, feel. Reese explained:

Considering how involved Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are in getting the X-Force set up in this universe, it's not too surprising that they want it to resemble Deadpool more than the X-Men installments. Plus, in the comics, the X-Force is a blacks ops team of mutants that is more willing to take brutal action against any enemies against mutantkind. Extra violence is called for. The "sillier" tone will be harder to pull off if Deadpool isn't part of the team, but like Reese said, the goal with X-Force isn't to merely be another cog in a giant machine. They want the militaristic group to help expand the X-Men universe, but they also want them to lead an enjoyable, self-contained adventure; one that's packed with plenty of action, but is also self-referential and humorous at times. That helps make it more of a unique product.

X-Force hasn't been officially assigned a release date, though it's been reported that the team could officially assemble during Deadpool 3. Two of its members, Cable and Domino, will make their big screen debut when Deadpool 2 is released sometime in 2018.

In a year where many might have thought Captain America: Civil War would be the first comic book film to score some big time nominations for Oscar gold, a new contender has emerged with a lot more clout than anyone had thought. Wade Wilson's mouth has gotten him into the big time, as Deadpool has been racking up nominations at the Golden Globes, as well as the Writers and Producers Guilds. Tell us you saw that coming!

It's not hard to see why the film has been steaming ahead on a train that's blazing a trail no other four-panel film adaptation has been down. In fact, there are some safe cases that can be made for various major Oscar nominations to fall into the laps of those responsible for Deadpool and all of its nutty glory. And we're going to make a case for each and every one of them, as we're totally behind Ryan Reynolds and company being honored for the work they've done in redefining the comic film landscape.

The Case For Best Adapted Screenplay

Best Adapted Screenplay is almost a given, considering the writing is what's probably the strongest point of Deadpool's total package. Everything lives or dies by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick's script, as it not only has to make sense of the fourth-wall breaking/smart-assed humor Deadpool is know for, it also has to keep up with the cast's fast mouths. It pokes fun at comic films without having to remove itself too much from the comic book fray. Also, it's drop dead funny, and humor should count for something in a screenplay.

The Case For Best Visual Effects

Our justification for Best Visual Effects kind of ties into another category we're going to argue for. But for now, the nomination for Deadpool's visual effects prowess is centered around the fact that its main character's appearance called for a lot of effects trickery. Just the gags with Wade's limbs being bent, removed and mangled out of shape should be a golden ticket for the VFX teams that worked on this film. But on top of that, the actual film proper has some impressive effects designs, in particular the wrecked helicarrier that's mocking/referencing Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

The Case For Best Makeup Effects

So back to that whole "main character's appearance" subject: Ryan Reynolds looks ugly in Deadpool. Of course, that's the entire point, as Wade Wilson's deformities leave him looking like an avocado had sex with an older avocado. But to get the chiseled and normally stunning Reynolds to look like a walking nightmare of mutation is something that took some serious makeup chops. The team succeeded with flying colors, and the hysterically haunting results deserve some recognition by their peers.

The Case For Best Director

To put together a good parody, a good action movie and a good comic book movie are all singular feats on their own. But to somehow roll all three genres into one extremely solid package is a hat trick that director Tim Miller brought to Deadpool's table. Though admittedly, to give a nomination and possible win to Miller would be both bittersweet and a bit awkward, considering the director won't be coming back for Deadpool 2. Now there's an acceptance speech we're eager to hear.

The Case For Best Actor

Ryan Reynolds. What do you say about his involvement with Deadpool that isn't already public knowledge? We all know he spent almost a decade trying to get another turn as the character he originated in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It's been known that he's a genuine smart ass, who has the ability to charm and disarm, while also being a total smarm factory. But both the physical and professional dedication to making Wade Wilson's life a motion picture count in spades towards his investment and performance in the lead. The man was born to play the part, and he gave it more than his all.

The Case For Best Picture

It's not easy to peg a film as a possible nominee for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Films that you'd think would be sold from day one don't end up on the list of honorees, and the reverse is just as true, as we saw with last year's nomination of Mad Max: Fury Road. So if we can nominate a high octane action film with feminist overtones, a lot of practical effects and some solid acting work, then shouldn't Deadpool be a worthy successor? The Academy loves to nominate popular wild card films to even out the field, and this one fits the bill so well, you may as well call it a duck.

This week, the production of Deadpool 2 was struck a blow. It has been reported that Tim Miller, director of the first Deadpool, is leaving the project due to creative differences. This is unquestionably a setback, as it's a key vacancy that will require time and proper vetting to fill -- but now is not the time for fans to panic about the anticipated sequel. Yes, Miller's presence on the project will certainly be missed, but there's every reason to be entirely confident in the three remaining members of the brain trust behind the big screen Merc With The Mouth: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Ryan Reynolds.

While there's no denying that Tim Miller was an important member of the Deadpool team for an incredibly long time -- first signing on as director in April 2011 - he only came on following years of work from Reese, Wernick and Reynolds, who truly laid the foundation of the post-modern, exceptionally funny, eternally faithful comic book adaptation. With the exception of a few characters and sequences that were ultimately cut for budgetary reasons, the script that made the film soar was mostly in its finished form at least as far back as 2010, including the impressive non-linear structure, and full pages of dialogue.

Unlike most superhero blockbusters that get $150 million to wow audiences with ridiculous spectacle, the limited budget and smaller scale of Deadpool made it truly depend on the sharpness of its script -- and it was that sharpness that kept the project fighting through years and years of development hell until it finally got made. The film could never feature a giant battle against an army of aliens... or really an army of any kind, but it succeeded by focusing on character -- which made it uproariously funny thanks to the sheer awesomeness of its titular hero, but also unique within the genre. Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Ryan Reynolds were the three men responsible for that, and given that the plan is to once again keep Deadpool 2 tight and small-scaled, it's hard not to remain confident in what the sequel can deliver.

Absolutely none of this is meant to diminish Tim Miller's contributions on the first Deadpool, as the movie probably couldn't have been made and exist in the form that it does without his particular expertise. Coming from the world of visual effects as the founder of Blur Studio, the director's background meant that the small production was able to push its budget far further than most filmmakers would have been able to do, and that clearly turned out to be massively important (in terms of the quality visuals in the film, but also just in 20th Century Fox giving the project the green light). Incredibly significant as that contribution was, however, the fantastic box office numbers mean that particular skill won't be as significant when it comes to making Deadpool 2. The first Merc With The Mouth movie is now the most successful title in the X-Men franchise, and while the sequel won't change things much scale-wise, the studio will surely be giving the production all the money it needs to be a success.

The news of Tim Miller leaving Deadpool 2 is definitely disappointing news for fans. We will miss the particularly fun and appropriate style he brought to the 2016 blockbuster, and who ever winds up sitting in the director's chair will have some absolutely massive shoes to fill. That being said, fans have no reason to worry about the upcoming sequel, as it is still very much in appropriate and capable hands. And if you need assurance of that, all you need to do is remember who's described as "The Real Heroes Here" in Deadpool's opening credits.

Writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese found a lot of success through Deadpool, a movie they'd been working on for years before Fox finally gave up and let it happen. Now the duo is hard at work on ironing out Deadpool 2, but there's actually another sequel that they've been sitting on for almost as long Deadpool: Zombieland 2. The horror comedy sequel has been in the works since the original hit theaters, but progress has always been one step forward and two steps back. Wernick and Reese have opened up about the project and it seems like things are finally about to take off.

Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese appeared on Geeking Out (via ScreenCrush), AMC's geek-centric talk show hosted by Kevin Smith and Greg Gunberg, last week and finally confirmed that Zombieland 2 was in development. The two said they were getting ready to pitch some ideas to Woody Harrelson, who played the Twinkie hunting, zombie killing badass Tallahassee in the first one. Meeting with Harrelson seems as good as any way to get the ball rolling on this. It also sounds like the rest of the cast (Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin) will be involved too, though there isn't any official announcement on that.

Zombieland 2 is one of those "I'll believe it when I see" movies. Sony Pictures has been trying to get this sequel going practically since Zombieland was released in theaters back in 2009. Little spurts of news surface every few years reminding people that the project isn't dead before someone immediately backtracks and says they don't think it's happening or relevant anymore. A Zombieland TV series was even in the works at some point over on Amazon, but that fell quietly into the night shortly after it premiered. The project finally seemed to pick up some serious steam when a surprise announcement was made at Cinema Con with a nifty new logo. This is really our first bit of news since that announcement.

There probably isn't a completed draft for the film but it will most likely see the return of Columbus (Eisenberg), Tallahassee (Harrelson), Wichita (Stone), and Little Rock (Breslin) as they try to survive in a world overrun by zombies. The first film was a big hit with fans and, with the same creative team attached, the sequel could have similar results. That being said, the lack of Bill Murray cameos will definitely sting.

Zombieland 2 is definitely happening probably at some point in the future, so keep it here at CinemaBlend and we'll keep you updated with new information as it becomes available.

The cost-cutting actions enforced by 20th Century Fox on Deadpool have already become the stuff of legend. Not only did the blockbuster have a miniscule budget in comparison to its other comic-book brethren, but various characters and scenes were forced to be cut because of the lack of money provided. It has now been revealed that this even stretched to having the film's writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese on the set, but rather than going without them, Ryan Reynolds decided to pay for them to be there himself.

Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese made this admission on the latest episode of AMC's Geeking Out (via ComicBook.com). The pair revealed that Ryan Reynolds knew how integral they'd been in bringing Deadpool to the big-screen, and wanted them along for the ride in case there were any hiccups during production. They remarked:

This isn't the first time that Ryan Reynolds' generosity on the set of Deadpool has been revealed. Because of the restrictions put on the blockbuster's production, Reynolds also decided to spend $10,000 of his own cash just so the film could use an image of Bea Arthur from the Golden Girls, a character that Wade Wilson is obsessed with in the comics.

There were some aspects of the film that Ryan Reynolds and his wallet couldn't save, though. As writer Paul Wernick explained to Cinemablend at the time of the film's release, the character of Patch, who in the comics hands out the mercenary assignments to Deadpool, was folded into T.J. Miller's Weasel just so there were fewer characters and fewer scenes to budget for.

The biggest alteration, though, came just before production on the blockbuster was due to begin when 20th Century Fox suddenly decided to pull $7 million from the budget. This translated to Deadpool losing nine pages worth of action from the script, and so out of the window went a motorcycle chase between Deadpool and Ajax on the freeway and a huge gun fight in the final act, too. That's why Deadpool forgets his guns going into the battle, and instead leaves them behind in the taxi.

Fortunately, rather than being overly perturbed and furiously angry about the huge reductions and changes that they needed to make to the film at such short notice, Ryan Reynolds is the first to admit that it allowed them to mold the film in the exact way that they wanted without the studio overly interfering in its tone. Considering that Deadpool went on to gross $782. 6 million at the box office, I'm guessing that they'll be allowed to splash the cash any which way they want for Deadpool 2, though.

The popularity and success of director Tim Miller’s Deadpool means that Deadpool 2 has become easily one of the most anticipated films of the next few years. Sadly, we don’t know too much about the film just yet, as writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have only just begun scripting the sequel – but one very important inclusion has been confirmed: the movie will introduce the first live-action version of the famed X-Men character Cable.

Introduced to Marvel Comics in 1986, Cable has a long and storied history in the comic book world – but his name doesn’t exactly carry a great deal of clout or awareness outside of those sequels. As such, we thought it might be helpful to put together a handy little guide that will help those completely unfamiliar with the character get better acquainted. What do you need to know about Cable before Deadpool 2? Read on to find out!

He has some very well-known parents

Cable’s non-mutant name is Nathan Summers, and that’s a surname that should be very familiar to X-Men fans. While it wasn’t information that was immediately introduced with the character, Cable is actually the son of Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops, and Madelyne Pryor – a clone of Jean Grey created by the genetics-obsessed villain Mister Sinister. Given that young versions of Cyclops and Jean will be introduced in the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse (played by Tye Sheridan and Sophie Turner, respectively), it’s entirely possible that the movie franchise will eventually include this detail, though we don’t know at this stage if it’s information that will be put into continuity in Deadpool 2.

He’s from the future

You may now be asking yourself, "If Cable is the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, how could he also be from the future?" – and the answer rests in the character’s massively complex backstory. Nathan Summers’ birth was actually part of a grand plan by Mister Sinister, who believed that the child could be used as a weapon against the god-like Apocalypse. This wound up not going so well, as young Nate was eventually captured by The First Mutant and infected with a deadly techno-organic virus. With the child facing death, it was decided that he would be sent into the future where he could be cured.

He has a very specific mission in the past

Separated from his family, Cable grew up 2,000 years in the future, but didn’t wind up staying in that era for his entire life. Instead, the character is a notable time traveler, and has specifically be known to have one very important goal while in the past. Above all else, he serves a mission to stop the actions of the Mutant Liberation Front started by his clone, Stryfe, and also prevent Apocalypse from coming to power and leading the world into chaos. It has been confirmed that Cable will be a time traveler when we’re introduced to him in Deadpool 2, but exactly what his plans are in the past aren’t exactly clear.

He’s technically a cyborg

You’ve probably noticed from images of Cable that the guy isn’t entirely covered in fleshy bits. Specifically, his entire left arm is bionic, and he also sports a cybernetic eye. Not only are these parts more durable than standard human appendages, but their also quite useful. As you’d imagine, his special left eye allows him to see much better, and the arm is actually packed with futuristic technology that allows Cable to hack into computer systems and such. We expect that Deadpool 2 will have the character sporting these elements aesthetically, but whether or not we will see the full extent of their use is up in the air.

He’s built like a brick shithouse and digs ridiculously oversized guns

Artist Rob Liefeld has a notable reputation for what can be politely described as "exaggeration" when it comes to the various characters that he’s designed, and Cable is really a perfect representation of his style. Admittedly the mutant is part of a generation of bulky comic book heroes – which also includes the likes of Venom and Spawn – but Cable really exists in his own category. Not only is the guy monstrously muscly, but his tendency to wield guns that are practically as big as he is only accentuates his extreme size. It should present an interesting challenge for the production of Deadpool 2 casting the role.

His mutant abilities have been known to fluctuate in terms of power

Born of two mutants, Cable is a full-on member of Homo superior - possessing both telepathic and telekinetic powers – but there has never been a great deal of consistency in terms of exactly how strong these abilities are. Partially because of the aforementioned techno-organic virus, there have been times when the guy could basically pass for human, but there are other stories where he can keep an entire city floating over the Atlantic Ocean while simultaneously entering the subconscious of everyone on the planet. In all likelihood, Deadpool 2 will probably find a middle ground in this department.

He’s teamed up with Deadpool a lot in the past

In case you couldn’t already put this together, Cable has a very complex and interesting history in Marvel Comics, and a lot of it has nothing to do with Deadpool. That being said, the two characters have been regularly teamed up in the past – which explains why introducing the live-action Cable in Deadpool 2 makes sense. They first crossed paths in the Merc With The Mouth’s first appearance (as DP was hired to assassinate Cable), but their association has grown only deeper since then – with not only a shared on-going series called "Cable & Deadpool," but multiple miniseries (most recently "Deadpool & Cable: Split Second.")

He’s the original leader of X-Force

Cable will be making his grand entrance into the world of comic book movies with Deadpool 2, but there’s a key reason why we expect him to play a significant role in the future of the larger franchise. In the same way that Professor X is the classic leader of the X-Men, Cable has long been recognized as the original leader of the X-Force – a team of mutants known for handling their enemies/targets with a much less of a "peace and love" approach. 20th Century Fox has been talking about making an X-Force movie for a few years now, and it’s possible that Cable could find himself a part of that project in the future after Deadpool 2.

While director Tim Miller’s Deadpool is very much connected to the larger X-Men universe, it also doesn’t really feature that much mutant action. While the franchise’s team films tend to feature a wide variety of special abilities demonstrated by various characters, the most recent solo film really only features two mutations on display: the titular anti-hero’s healing, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead’s explosions. This won’t be the same in the forthcoming Deadpool 2, however, as the writers/producers recently revealed to me that mutant powers is one area that will be expanded on in the sequel.

When I first spoke with Deadpool’s Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick at the start of the month, they explained that the inclusion of Brianna Hildebrand’s Negasonic Teenage Warhead in the movie was particularly driven by the desire to have the blockbuster feature more superpowers. I had this in mind when I followed up with the filmmakers last week, and asked them if we would be seeing more varied power sets in Deadpool 2. Rhett Reese’s answer was fairly blunt, as things are still in early stages and there aren’t many details to be provided, but he did answer in the affirmative:

Deadpool includes a number of characters with mutant abilities, but the problem is that they aren’t necessarily the most on-the-surface powers. On the villain side, for example, are both Ajax and Angel Dust – but severed nerve endings and adrenaline control are powers that don’t really have a visual panache. And while Colossus is certainly a mutant, the fact that we never see him transform in and out of metal form lets the audience forget that to a certain extent. It’s nice to know that we will get to see a lot of different stuff in Deadpool 2 - particularly thanks to the inclusion of Cable.

Over the years, the total strength of Cable has most definitely varied, but when he’s at the top of his game he is really one of the most powerful beings on Earth. The son of Cyclops and a clone of Jean Grey, he has absolutely extraordinary telepathic and telekinetic abilities – to the extent that at one time he kept a fully populated island floating in the air while simultaneously subconsciously manipulating the minds of everyone on Earth. So yes, he will be very different from every character featured in Deadpool - and that doesn’t even factor in his history with time travel and his big, hulking bionic arm.

With knowledge of the characters who run in Deadpool’s circles in Marvel Comics, who would you like to see arrive as new supporting characters in Deadpool 2? Hit the comments with your thoughts!

The huge financial and critical success of Deadpool over the last few weeks has had a big impact, or at least it has started people talking. There’s been chatter of more superhero movies making use of an R rating, where the Merc with the Mouth will show up next, and how he fits into 20th Century Fox’s mutant-centric superhero universe. All that is up in the air, but one thing that appears fairly certain is that Deadpool writes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick will likely continue to be involved moving forward, and that they will at least have some say in the upcoming X-Force movie.

The two scribes have been all over the place lately, and when they stopped by The Playlist for a friendly chat, the subject of their involvement in X-Force came up. While it doesn’t sound like Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick will be hugely involved—it sounds like they’re too busy to write the script—they’ll still have a hand shaping the picture. Wernick said:

It makes a lot of sense for Fox to keep Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick around for X-Force. Along with star Ryan Reynolds and director Tim Miller, they were part of the driving force behind Deadpool, which, if you’ve been paying attention, was an exhausting, six-year process to get where we ware. They obviously love this franchise, and them being involved in some capacity is reminiscent of other growing cinematic universes, like how Zack Snyder’s DNA is all over the burgeoning DC Extended Universe, and how J.J. Abrams’ influence will still be felt in the Star Wars realm.

It also sounds like, though they exist in the same universe and some characters may cross over—like with Colossus—Deadpool and the X-Men will, by and large, be their own separate franchises. With that, again, keeping Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese in the fold is a good idea. We already know that Cable will appear in Deadpool 2, and the time travelling badass soldier from the future has also been the leader of X-Force. So with all of these elements swirling around in the realm that Reese and Wernick helped kick off, it’s only logical that they’ll be involved at some point.

We don’t know when we’ll see either Deadpool 2 or X-Force, but with as much momentum and attention as Deadpool has generated (it’s earned more than $520 million worldwide and will likely be the box office champ for a third straight week), don’t be shocked if the ball gets rolling sooner rather than later.

Whenever a surprising movie hits it big in Hollywood, the industry becomes obsessed with dissecting its success and figuring out exactly why it worked. Right now, that’s the big conversation surrounding Deadpool - an R-rated superhero movie that was stuck in development hell for five years before becoming the highest grossing title in the X-Men franchise domestically. Everyone is determined to figure out the lesson learned from the box office hit, whether it’s the restricted rating or humor that made the blockbuster so popular, but according to the screenwriters, what people should really take away from the situation is that taking bigger and bigger risks is very important.

In the wake of Deadpool’s incredible success, I hopped on the phone with writers/producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and part of our conversation was dedicated to the consequences of their movie’s success, and what Hollywood should take away from it. They could have chosen any of the areas that pundits have been discussing the past two weeks – including the two mentioned above – but instead they stressed just the importance of taking a chance on projects that don’t necessarily look like big winners on the surface. As Wernick explained,

Of course, part of greater risk taking means less imitation – which we all know the movie industry loves (think about how 3D blossomed after Avatar, and how the Suicide Squad trailer is reminiscent of Guardians of the Galaxy). In the coming months, we expect more than a few trade reports to describe newly developing projects as "Deadpool-esque," but Rhett Reese believes that the people that inevitably find themselves behind these projects are completely misinterpreting the impact that the new superhero movie should have:

As has been said time and time again, the key to the future of comic book movies is variety within genre – and that’s exactly what Deadpool brings to the table. It’s not about people wanting a ton of violent and funny superhero films; it’s about showing audiences something that can surprise them.

There is a large number of comics out there featuring the adventures of Deadpool and Cable – be it the occasional issue of X-Force, the series they shared starting in 2004, or various miniseries. They’re all worth reading just for entertainment value, but don’t expect that Deadpool 2 will be a direct adaptation of any of these stories. Instead, the writers are looking to absorb what they have to offer, and produce their own spin on things.

Writers/producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are now developing the script for the highly-anticipated Deadpool 2, and it was earlier this week in an interview that I asked them about their particular inspirations in the narrative. I asked them if we could expect the sequel to be based on any particular issue or storyline, and Wernick explained that their methodology in that arena will be similar to their approach to the first movie:

The script that Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick for Deadpool was heavily based on the origin story crafted by Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness back during the character’s first on-going series. Elements from the movie like Ajax, Vanessa, Blind Al, Weasel, St. Margaret’s and more are taken from this run – though the story was modified. For example, Dr. Killebrew was actually the lead doctor in The Workshop where Wade Wilson was mutated (the character was in early versions of the script); Vanessa was a shapeshifting mutant named Copycat; and in the comics Ajax wound up hunting Deadpool down instead of the other way around. So it seems we should expect something along those lines for Deadpool 2.

Right now, the only thing we know about the plot of Deadpool 2 is that Cable is going to be involved, and that doesn’t really give us much to work with. Of course, because 20th Century Fox is excited for Deadpool’s franchise potential, it probably won’t be very long before we start hearing updates about its progress – including a release date. As we always are, we will be on top of every big story as it breaks – and be sure to stay tuned to the site for the rest of the week, as I have a lot more to share from my interview with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick!

Cable isn’t the kind of character that you can just drop into the middle of a story. Sure, he looks like a badass with his giant muscles, big guns, glowing eye, and bionic arm, but he also was a wickedly complex backstory that involves him being born as the mutant son of Cyclops and the clone of Jean Grey and being sent to live in the future after being infected with a deadly techno-virus. Since we learned earlier this month that Cable was confirmed for Deadpool 2, we’ve questioned how this origin would be handled in the movie… but thanks to a recent conversation with the writers/producers, we now have a much clearer idea.

While interviewing Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick earlier this week, I asked them about the complexity of Cable’s origins and how they were planning on adapting his strange and wild tale on the big screen. Agreeing that it’s a lot of material to try and bring to the big screen, they admitted that some elements will have to change – but stressed that they have no interest in dumbing down the character. As Reese explained,

Following up, Paul Wernick noted that he and his writing partner basically have two rules when it comes to writing Cable’s role into Deadpool 2:

As Deadpool 2 progresses and we learn more about Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick’s approach, it will be interesting to see which elements of Cable stay and which ones go. Off the bat, one can at least assume that it will just be the son of Cyclops and Jean Grey – cutting out the whole clone business – and it probably won’t be Apocalypse who infects the child with the techno-virus (as he does in the comics). Really, as long as they don’t change his incredible power set (a mix of telepathy and telekinetic skills), the identity of his father, and the classic look, fans will probably be pretty stoked to see the first live-action version of Cable.

How do you think they should simplify Cable in Deadpool 2? Who do you think should play him? Hit the comments with your thoughts!

After one final Wolverine film set to come out in 2017, Hugh Jackman will be retiring his claws for good… and his timing really couldn’t be any worse. In the comics, Wolverine has an absolutely fantastic, brutal, and hilarious relationship with Deadpool (the characters both possessing healing abilities and violent tendencies), and Jackman’s retirement of the character suggests that we will never see him interact with Ryan Reynolds’ redeemed live-action version of the Merc With The Mouth (allow the ability to fully put X-Men Origins: Wolverine behind us). Some are ready to give up the hope of seeing Wolverine in Deadpool 2 or beyond, but the good news is that writer/producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick aren’t quite ready to close that door just yet.

It was at the very end of an interview with the filmmakers earlier this week that I asked the duo for their thoughts on the end of the fact that the "Hugh Jackman as Wolverine" era was ending just as Deadpool was getting popular on the big screen. Together, they certainly expressed disappointment about the timing, but they also weren’t entirely ready to throw out the idea of Wolverine and the real Deadpool coming face to face. Or as Paul Wernick put it:

At the same time, of course, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick also entirely support Hugh Jackman’s decision to leave the part as Wolverine – noting that 17 years is a long time to play a single role, and that if the time has come, then the time has come. Said Reese,

Of course, it’s worth noting that Reese shortly thereafter let the Deadpool part of his brain eke out a bit, saying,

Hell, maybe the opening scene of Deadpool could be just that - with Wade Wilson kidnapping Hugh Jackman and locking him in a closet with a store-bought Wolverine get-up. Just an idea.

Do you think we could see Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Deadpool on the big screen together at some point, or do you think that the dream is dead? Hit the comments below with your thoughts!

Even though Deadpool is a Marvel comic book, the recent movie is not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The rights to the character fall into the mutant realm that is currently under the control of 20th Century Fox (that’s why there are no X-Men or their ilk in the MCU). Still, though the comic book giant didn’t have any creative control over Deadpool, there was one thing Deadpool needed Marvel’s approval to do, to change Negasonic Teenage Warhead’s powers.

Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have been all over the place following Deadpool’s substantial box office windfall. The two stopped by The Q & A podcast (tune in to about the 29-minute mark), and over the course of their conversation, the subject of which characters they included, and why, came up. There are only really two other X-Men involved, Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, who Reese said they included because of her name. They didn’t even know what her powers were, and changed them drastically. This alteration, however, was the one thing they needed Marvel to sign off on. According to Wernick:

Named after a Monster Magnet song, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, the mutant alter ego of teenager Ellie Phimister, has telepathic and precognitive powers, and can see the future in haunting dreams. If you’ve seen Deadpool, you’re well aware that the cinematic incarnation of the character, portrayed by Brianna Hildebrand, has a very different set of skills.

According to Rhett Reese, they "changed her into a literal warhead because we thought it was funnier." Not only that, but in the grand scheme of the movie, the ability to telekinetically explode came in much more handy for the Merc with the Mouth and his goals than having a sidekick who can see the future. That’s useful and all, but in a knock down drag out brawl the likes you find in Deadpool, blowing shit up is way more valuable in the present tense.

Though it was expected to be popular, very few people anticipated Deadpool being as massively successful as it has already been. In just two weeks of release, it is already nearing the $500 million mark worldwide, and it’s broken records in the process. There is even the very real possibility that it could wind up the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time, both domestically and globally, though it has some ground to cover on that front. The Passion of the Christ hit $370 million in the U.S., and The Matrix Reloaded brought in $742 globally. Still, the way Deadpool has been performing both at home and abroad it’s within the realm of possibility.

Do you think they made right choice changing Negasonic Teenage Warhead’s powers in Deadpool? Let us know in the comments.

Those of you that have seen Deadpool know that the superhero flick is littered with profanities, sex scenes, and rather gory sequences of violence and death. Because of the film’s content, Deadpool was given an R-rating, but the writers, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, have now come out and insisted that it actually wouldn’t have been overly difficult to change Deadpool and make it PG-13. 

Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick made this assertion during their appearance on the Q&A With Jeff Goldsmith, revealing that their first draft for Deadpool was actually PG-13, as ordered by the studio. Rather than being completely different from the released version, the pair declared that it wasn't that difficult to make Deadpool more audience friendly. Reese said:

It’s easy to say this now after the monumental success of Deadpool since it was released just over a week ago, but it’s highly unlikely that a PG-13 adaptation would have thrived at the box office or received the same critical acclaim. 

Deadpool was able to chime and connect with an audience partly because it feels like an outsider. Much in the same spirit of Guardians Of The Galaxy, but with a more beta and biting humor, Deadpool’s R-rated jokes, riotous tone, and even its measly budget all gave it a different appeal than many of its comic book rivals. 

Something that’s plainly obvious now that Deadpool has gone on to gross $491.9 million at the box office already, and it’s even been predicted that the superhero adaptation could ultimately go on to become the highest grossing R-rated film domestically and worldwide.

In order to reach this achievement, Deadpool will have to beat The Passion Of The Christ’s domestic total of $370 million, and then The Matrix Reloaded’s $742 million global gross. All of which, considering its stunning box office haul so far, seems within the realm of possibility.

That’s not too bad for a film that 20th Century Fox never really seemed too comfortable with green-lighting, and even once they did only gave it a budget of around $58 million. 

Deadpool has more than proven the doubters wrong with its box office success, and 20th Century Fox has already rewarded it with a sequel. No doubt Deadpool 2 will be just as proudly vulgar and R-rated as its predecessor, especially since audiences would be furious if it wasn't.

SPOILER WARNING The following article contains spoilers for Deadpool. If you haven’t had a chance to see the film yet, and don’t wish for any part of it to be ruined, please click away to one of our other wonderful articles!

By normal superhero movie standards, things certainly do get quite weird at times in director Tim Miller’s Deadpool - but if we’re being entirely truthful, the film doesn’t get half as weird as the titular character’s adventures in the comics, which are regularly filled with truly odd-ball characters and ridiculous plotlines. Of course, now that a Deadpool 2 is on the way, you might think that the floodgates will be wide open to make things as bizarre and weird as possible, but writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have stressed that those kinds of things ultimately require small steps as a franchise grows.

It was while on the phone with the two writers/producers earlier this month that I learned about this more conservative direction for the big screen future of Deadpool. Noting comic book elements like the existence of the inter-dimensional holding company Luckman, Landau and Lake (which once upon a time plucked Deadpool out as humanity’s savior), I asked just how weird we might see things get in Deadpool 2, and Paul Wernick explained that getting to that kind of level of odd in the movies will require a bit of time. He said,

It’s worth noting that Paul Wernick said this before Deadpool managed to shock the world by making $150 million in its first four days in domestic theaters. It’s pretty clear that movie-going audiences are fully willing to embrace the bizarreness that makes the titular character so strange, and surely the two screenwriters will take full advantage of that in Deadpool 2. That being said, one could hardly blame them for not wanting to go too crazy with it too fast, making the incredible risk of alienating the audience.

Right now we really don’t know much of anything about Deadpool 2, but surely one thing that will help keep things a bit strange will be the promised presence of Cable. The son of Cyclops and the clone of Jean Grey, the mutant character has one of the strangest backstories in Marvel Comics, involving getting infected with an organic techno-virus at birth, requiring his parents to send him into the future in hopes that a cure will be found. He is a guy with a glowing left eye, a bionic arm, incredible telekinetic and telepathic abilities, and does a bit of time traveling. It will definitely be an interesting experiment to see how he’s translated for live-action.

How bizarre and twisted do you think things should get in Deadpool 2? Do you think Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are making the smart move by playing things conservatively, or would you rather see them go buck wild with it? Hit the comments section below with your thoughts!

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Deadpool. If you haven’t had a chance to see the film yet, and don’t wish for any part of it to be ruined, please click away to one of our other wonderful articles!

While both certainly pop culture figures, Deadpool and Ferris Bueller don’t exactly share a lot in common. One is a psychopathic, motor-mouth mercenary, and the other is a lazy high school student who gets his kicks tricking his parents and touring around Chicago. One key thing that they do share in common, however, is that both are fictional characters with the ability to break the fourth wall – and it was this important piece of key information that led to the birth of one of the funniest comic book movie post-credits sequences that we’ve had the pleasure of seeing.

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of chatting with screenwriters/producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick about all things Deadpool, and it was while diving into spoiler territory that the two men discussed the initial inspiration for the film’s special post-credits sequence. Essentially, the idea came from the aforementioned connection between The Merc With The Mouth and the man responsible for the best day off ever, and when the idea struck, it struck like lightning. As Reese explained,

Perhaps even more interesting than the inception of the Deadpool post-credits scene, however, is the fact that Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick found that the extra ending actually helped people finally understand what it was exactly that they were trying to create with their screenplay. In fact, Wernick told me the story of one particular executive who had an authentic "A ha!" moment after reading the very end of the script:

As you probably could have guessed, the post-credits scene for Deadpool has not yet been officially released online by 20th Century Fox, but at the very least you can enjoy the classic coda from John Hughes’ 1986 classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off:

What did you think about Deadpool’s post-credits scene? Did you find it funny, or do you wish that there was more room in the budget for some kind of big Deadpool 2 tease? How quickly did you catch that it was created as a reference to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? Hit the comments below with your thoughts!

Over the last few days Deadpool smashed February box office records, and it now looks as though it's going to be Ryan Reynolds' highest ever gross as an actor. Because of this success, thoughts have turned to the next stage of Reynolds’ career. Deadpool 2 is already a certainty, and now it looks as though the actor will turn to Life, written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the scribes behind Deadpool.

According to Deadline, Ryan Reynolds was actually in discussions with Skydance Productions about appearing in Life before the release of Deadpool. Obviously, Deadpool’s $282.2 million gross over its opening weekend has solidified Reynolds’ hold on the part and upped his cache as a star.

They’ll need Ryan Reynolds’ star-appeal to be working overdrive, because Life has been described as a big-budget blockbuster that revolves around a crew from the International Space Station, who, after retrieving a sample from Mars, discover signs of intelligent alien life. But the crew’s joy at making this discovery immediately turns to dread when the intelligent life proves to be much smarter and more cunning than they realized. One can only imagine that this is going to end badly for the crew.

Our best hope is that it will be a perfect merging of two of Ridley Scott’s finest films: 1979’s Alien and his 2015 entertaining disaster epic The Martian. The latter, although it’s far from a comedy, despite what the people over at the Golden Globes think, was an intelligent, dense, and still thoroughly captivating exploration of how someone could survive, alone, on Mars.

There’s still not too much for us to really work off from this minimal information regarding Life. However, it has the raw ingredients to be something truly captivating, with a promising young director, top-notch leading lady, and, now, Ryan Reynolds attached.

Life is pretty far along in the development stage. Daniel Espinosa, who previously oversaw the Ryan Reynolds-led Safe House, is already attached to direct, having agreed terms with the studio last November. Sure Child 44 was a flop, but Espinosa’s Snabba Cash (Easy Money) and Safe House showed enough potential, and Life certainly has an intriguing premise that he can hopefully make tense and thrilling.

Life's female lead is already secure too, with Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation’s Rebecca Ferguson having signed up to participate. Ferguson chose the role after shooting straight to the top of casting lists following her performance opposite Tom Cruise in last summer's mega-hit. Ferguson recently worked opposite Michael Fassbender on the crime drama The Snowman, while she will also film the mystery thriller The Girl On The Train with Emily Blunt, and hopefully be back for Mission: Impossible 6.

In the end, despite the recent flops that Ryan Reynolds has been attached to (Green Lantern, R.I.P.D.) the decision to re-team Deadpool’s writers with its leading man was probably a simple one for Skydance Productions. As the studio will undoubtedly see the potential for Life to piggy-back off Deadpool’s monumental success come its release date, which is likely to be in either late 2017 or 2018.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Deadpool. If you haven’t had a chance to see the film yet, and don’t wish for any part of it to be ruined, please click away to one of our other wonderful articles!

In crafting the relationship between Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) and Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick did what they could to stay as close to the source material as possible… but fans will likely recognize one significant change to Vanessa’s identity. In Marvel Comics, her character is actually better known as Copycat – a mutant with shapeshifting abilities similar to Mystique’s. Fans may wonder why this alteration was made, but there actually is a very straight forward explanation: it just made things too confusing.

After seeing Deadpool, I was one of the fans curious about why Vanessa wasn’t revealed as the mutant that she is in the comics, so when I hopped on the phone with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick a couple weeks ago I took the opportunity to ask about it. While they didn’t quite remember if there was ever a specific version of the script that featured Copycat, they did mention that it was something they considered including before deciding that it would simply be too much for the audience. Or as Reese put it,

Now that we know Deadpool 2 is officially a go, this statement definitely only increases our interest in the next movie. Right now, nothing is known about the sequel other than the fact that it will feature the bionic arm-sporting, time traveling mutant known as Cable, but what if the film featured Copycat as well? Learning that Vanessa has mutant abilities would certainly take some leg work on the part of the writers following the events of Deadpool, but there are surely many creative options that could work.

Vanessa/Copycat was actually introduced in the very same Marvel Comics issue that brought us Deadpool - Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld's The New Mutants #98 - but her first apperence wasn't actually as herself. Instead, she spent a good amount of time disguised as the probability-altering mutant known as Domino in an attempt to infiltrate the X-Force. It wasn't until almost exactly two years later, in X-Force #19, that Copycat revealed her true form. On beyond those comics, she was also featured in some of Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness’ brilliant Deadpool issues in flashback.

Would you like to see Vanessa reveal herself as or become Copycat in Deadpool 2? Or do you think it’s best at this point to just keep her as a normal human? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Deadpool. If you haven’t had a chance to see the film yet, and don’t wish for any part of it to be ruined, please click away to one of our other wonderful articles!

During the big climactic battle scene in the third act of Deadpool, the titular anti-hero finds himself face-to-face with an old colleague named Bob (played by actor/stuntman Rob Hayter). For most, this is probably seen as just another silly moment in a long line of silly moments in the film, but it’s actually a special moment for fans who have followed The Merc With The Mouth in Marvel Comics, and a reference to DP’s frequent companion/adversary, Bob, Agent Of HYDRA. It’s a pretty cool little Easter Egg, but what makes it extra special is the fact that the blockbuster didn’t actually have the rights to use that character.

Given that Marvel Studios owns the rights to the evil organization HYDRA (as seen in the Captain America movies and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), this means that 20th Century Fox could not legally include Bob, Agent Of HYDRA in Deadpool. This little technicality didn’t really wind up slowing down writers/producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, however, as they revealed to me in an interview before the movie’s release that they couldn’t technically use Bob, but found a way to do it anyway. Explained Wernick,

In the X-Men Cinematic Universe, we meet Bob while he is employed as a henchman for Ajax (Ed Skrein), but apparently he has a special forces background that led to him meeting Wade Wilson while on a mission in Jacksonville, Florida (which apparently has a T.G.I.Fridays to die for). Given how short the cameo is, it’s hard to say how similar he is to Bob, Agent of HYDRA (who was created by Fabian Nicieza and Reilly Brown in 2007 and is generally cowardly and stupid), but we do know that both characters are married.

Including Bob, Not An Agent Of HYDRA could be seen by some as a poke in the ribs to Marvel Studios, but it’s hardly the only one featured in Deadpool. Jeremy, the pizza delivery boy at the beginning of the film, works for a company named Feige’s Famous Pizza (a reference to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige), and you may have noticed that the entire third act takes place on and around what certainly looks a hell of a lot like a decommissioned Helicarrier. Plus, the post-credits scene even takes a swipe at Samuel L. Jackson’s legendary appearance at the very end of Iron Man, showing up in a saucy little leather number and an eyepatch. Of course, all of these jabs seem to come from a place of love rather than spite.

Did you pick up all of the Marvel Studios references in Deadpool? Are you a big enough fan of the titular character that you immediately identified who Bob really is? If the answer to those two questions is no, then the good news is that Deadpool is out in theaters and ready and waiting for you to watch it again.

Humor has always been a huge part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe brand and is an expected part of every upcoming Marvel movie, but expectations are high for hilarity in the franchise to increase tenfold in the coming years with the introduction of Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson and hopefully an endless torrent of memorable Deadpool quotes. Those expectations were are set pre-MCU by the fact that both Deadpool and Deadpool 2 (both available to stream with a Disney+ subscription or a Hulu subscription) are laugh-out-loud funny movies, and the release of Deadpool & Wolverine kept the zippy and hilarious lines coming.

To celebrate the absolute hilarity of Deadpool, we’ve put together this feature celebrating the character’s most gut-busting lines – which you can effortlessly hear in your head with Ryan Reynolds’ excellent timing and delivery.

Deadpool

"Bad Deadpool... Good Deadpool!"

Possessing only 12 bullets to take down a cadre of armed bad guys, managing to waste a few on a slippery motorcyclist is certainly not Deadpool's best moment in the movie, but the good news is that he makes up for that mistake fairly quickly with two deadly headshots.

"Dad?"

It can't be explained why feeling up Colossus' chrome crotch makes Deadpool think of his father (and I don't ever want to know), but it certainly does make for an amazing start for the two characters' confrontation.

"If I ever decide to become a crime-fighting shit swizzler, who rooms with a bunch of other little whiners at Neverland Mansion with some creepy, old, bald, Heaven's Gate-looking motherfucker... on that day, I'll send your shiny, happy ass a friend request."

There are many epic, insult-filled rants on which Deadpool finds himself going in the movie, but the Merc With The Mouth's comparison between Professor X and Marshall Applewhite make this the best one in the movie.

"All the dinosaurs feared the T-Rex."

From now on, this will be my go-to phrase after smashing both of my hands punching a giant metal mutant in the face.

"McAvoy or Stewart? These timelines are confusing."

Given the way it completely ignores the way certain characters were developed in previous X-Men movies, it's only fitting that Deadpool would contain a perfect line about timeline generated-confusion.

"Ever see 127 Hours?"

Because of his healing powers and general insanity, nobody in the Marvel Universe fights quite like Deadpool. So what does he do when he gets manacled to an X-Man trying to take him in? Of course he saws off his hand and leaves it flipping the bird.

"I want to die a natural death at the age of 102 - like the city of Detroit."

One can imagine fans up in Michigan taking a bit of issue with this particular line of dialogue, but that doesn't stop it from being a really great line. Plus, Deadpool is notably Canadian, so does seem right to have him take some pot shots at one of America's less put together cities.

"Please don't make the super suit green... or animated!"

Green Lantern gets a quick shout out in the Deadpool's opening sequence, but it feels like it's when entering The Workshop that Ryan Reynolds is legitimately able to air his grievances about his experience making live-action DC Comics movies. We're still trying wondering who thought it was a good idea to give the character a CGI costume.

"Fourth wall break inside of a fourth wall break? That's like... 16 walls!"

This line just got me thinking: exactly how deep can you take these fourth-wall breaks? Perhaps Deadpool 2 will be an Inception-esque investigation into exactly how far it can be taken.

"You're about to be killed by a Zamboni."

Admittedly this one is on the same glorious level as "Tell me where your boss is or you're going to die... in five minutes," so just take your pick from this particularly fantastic sequence.

"I bet it feels huge in this hand."

There are a good number of silly-but-great masturbation jokes in Deadpool, but this one takes the top spot if not just for the way Wade uses his baby hand to play with Blind Al's chin.

"Listen Al, if I never see you again, I want you to know that I love you very much. I also buried 1,600 kilos of cocaine somewhere in the apartment – right next to the cure for blindness. Good luck."

Given that she is technically his permanent hostage, the relationship between Deadpool and Blind Al is a fascinating one, and their bizarre dynamic is perfectly summed up in their last interaction in the film.

"It's a big house. It's weird I only ever see two of you. Almost like the studio couldn't afford another X-Man."

It's kind of a shame that Deadpool is the film that breaks the X-Men franchise streak of having Wolverine in every feature, but the fact that it means we get this hilarious line kind of makes it worth it.

"You were droning on!"

Colossus deserves a lot of credit for his patience. Most characters think of Deadpool as a lost cause, but he still believes Wade Wilson can be a real hero. Unfortunately for him, DP keeps proving just how wrong Colossus really is.

"You're still here? It's over. Go home! Oh, you're expecting a teaser for Deadpool 2. Well, we don't have that kind of money. What are you expecting? Sam Jackson showing up in an eyepatch and a saucy little leather number? Go!"

Taking a shot at Marvel Studios while also perfectly recreating one of the best moments from one of the best fourth wall-breaking films of all time? Quite the perfect send-off for the first Deadpool movie.

Deadpool 2

"Passion of the Christ, then me – at least domestically. We beat them overseas, where there's no such thing as religion."

It’s only appropriate that Deadpool would make a fourth-wall-breaking comment about the box office success of his first movie, but the cherry on the sundae is comparing himself to Jesus (and it’s fitting that he later refers to himself as a god twice in the film).

"What am I supposed to do around here anyway? Sit in a share circle, talk about my feelings? And how would I do that, exactly, cause… where the fuck is everyone? It’s always just you and Negasonic Teenage Longest Name Ever."

It feels like it’s just not a Deadpool movie without a shout-out to the fact that barely any other mutants are seen around the X-Mansion. Of course, the great stinger to this bit is that the members of the X-Men are actively hiding from Wade.

"Oh, shit! That fucking does it. Put your hands on your knees and get down on your head now!"

This is Deadpool’s reaction to Firefist blasting Colossus, and while it’s a line that you may not properly register when you first watch the movie, it’s wonderful chuckle on rewatch. Obviously it’s a play on the standard police request to “put your hands on your head and get down on your knees,” but the image of anyone attempting Wade’s suggestion is delightful.

"You know something? A wise bully once said to me, ‘Speak up. I can’t hear you with that pity dick in your mouth.’"

“Speak up. I can’t hear you with that pity dick in your mouth” is a terrific line as delivered by Leslie Uggams’ Blind Al early in Deadpool 2, but the Merc With The Mouth’s decision to pass it off as sage wisdom to the enraged Firefirst turns out to be a massive mistake.

"I can’t protect you. With this collar on, my superpower is just unbridled cancer. Give me a bow and arrow and I'm basically Hawkeye."

There are a number of potshots taken at various superheroes in Deadpool 2, but this is most definitely a favorite. Hawkeye is kind of an easy target (no pun intended), but Wade is still able to strike with an effective zinger.

"And I'd like the McRib to be available year round, but sometimes dreams don't come true! I spent 10 years in Special Forces! You think we didn't jump out of the plane because of a light breeze? YOU'RE IN THIS SHIT NOW, MUSTACHE! [whispering] I’m only yelling to impress the other guys; I’d never let anything happen to you, sugar bear."

Deadpool is a sociopathic murderer with a moral code all his own, but there is no denying that he has a soft spot. Obviously he loves Vanessa, but he also has room in his heart for Dopinder and Blind Al, and in Deadpool 2, it’s Peter who, unlike all of the other X-Force members, earns DP’s affection.

"Seriously, I don't get it! What, you shoot luck lasers out your eyes? It's just, it’s hard to picture, and certainly not very cinematic. I mean, luck? What coked-out, glass pipe-sucking freakshow comic book artist came up with that little chestnut? Probably a guy who can't draw feet!"

One could say is that the ultimate breaking of the fourth wall is a character viciously roasting their creator, which is exactly what Deadpool is doing here. It’s aimed as a shot at the co-creator of Domino, but the comical ricochet is that Deadpool was imagined by the same artist: Rob Liefeld.

"You killed Black Tom, you racist son of a bitch!"

The running joke about Black Tom Cassidy’s name makes for a number of great lines (such as his superpower being cultural appropriation), but the best bit is the last one, as Deadpool laments his murder with a weird level of earnestness and further adds to the confusion about Tom’s race.

"Well, as Scoutmaster Kevin used to say... ‘There's a first time for everything, son.’ Give me your best shot, One-Eyed Willy."

This quote is a winner because it’s a two-fer. At the start, you get a tremendously dark joke that is intended to put Cable off his game, but then Deadpool sucker-punches with an out-of-left-field reference to Josh Brolin’s past in The Goonies.

"Oh my God! Juggernaut! I thought that was you! I should've worn my white pants."

Sequels to comedies can sometimes fall into a trap delivering the same jokes as their predecessor with slightly different angles, but I would call this an exception to what is generally an unfunny practice. While not highlighted above, the gag about “brown pants” in Deadpool is hysterical, and DP’s reaction to seeing Juggernaut serves as a terrific callback that is its own kind of gross.

"What's Juggernaut got that I don't have? Don't you say legs! I know you're gonna say legs!"

Of course, Firefist says legs. And as Deadpool responds, “It still hurts to hear out loud.”

"No, I'm sorry that you said that while making heavy eye contact and applying lip balm."

It is certainly quite a choice for Cable to reach into his fanny pack for some ChapStick before remarking that Deadpool reminds him of his wife… and Deadpool’s clinical observation of that fact gets a big laugh every time.

"And that is just the first five steps to a prostate-assisted orgasm."

The journey that Deadpool, Domino, Cable and Dopinder take to the X-Mansion is filled with ridiculous and wonderful banter, but it’s the line that opens the scene that my mind obsesses over. I want to know how the conversation came up and how Wade was actually able to get through five steps… but I also very much don’t want to know the answer to those questions.

"I made mistakes! I wanna take them back! You trusted me. I took that trust... and turned it into a glory hole in an airport bathroom. The one in Minneapolis. You know the one."

The charm of Deadpool is the fact that he just can’t help himself (again, the dude is totally nutter-butters). Even when he is being heartfelt and sincere, he can’t hold himself back from making some kind of disgusting, X-rated aside. It’s a big part of what makes him so loveable, violently insane as he may be.

"Can you see it? Do you see that beautiful bright light? There it is. [pause] Oh, that's the sun. Don't stare directly into that."

Deadpool’s multiple “deaths” at the end of the movie don’t have quite the comedic impact when you know he’s not actually dead and going to reanimate for some additional comments, but this line is my favorite of his many, many goodbyes.

Deadpool & Wolverine

"Look, we know the title of this thing so I know what you're wondering: how are we gonna do this without dishonoring Logan's memory? Well, I'll tell you how. We're not."

When Logan was released in 2017, Hugh Jackman felt it was a perfect ending to his run as Wolverine. Deadpool & Wolverine obviously canceled that specific retirement… and the film took advantage of the special opportunity to mock it.

"Is that supposed to be scary? Pegging isn't new for me, friendo. But it is for Disney."

It’s pretty crazy that we’ve reached an era when one of the biggest Disney movies of the year has a joke about pegging in it… but that’s where we are!

"I smell what you're stepping in. The power in the Marvel Universe is about to change forever. I am the Messiah. I am Marvel Jesus."

This is a great line for two reasons. For starters, it’s a jab at Dwayne Johnson and what turned out to be empty promises about Black Adam in the DC Extended Universe. The extra bonus is the commentary about Deadpool & Wolverine being released right when the MCU needs a big hit.

"Fucking A! Uh! It's perfect! F.Y.I.: your tailor is a predator, but I love it!"

The costuming montage features so much groping that it becomes ridiculous, and it turns out not to just be a crude visual gag – Wade Wilson also directly points to the fact that the tailor needs to attend some kind of TVA sexual harassment seminar.

"Welcome to the MCU. You're joining at a bit of a low point."

While the Marvel Cinematic Universe is arguably still the most popular blockbuster franchise in the world, the canon hasn’t been at its best in recent years, and it’s pretty amazing that Deadpool & Wolverine got the green light to directly point at that fact.

"One anchor being coming right up! On your left, babygirl! This Logan is the same – he can do anything, even musicals, look! And bonus: He's actually wearing a costume like he's not embarrassed to be in a superhero movie for once."

The fact that Logan finally wears his classic yellow and blue costume in Deadpool & Wolverine is one of its most wonderful qualities (and a detail that will be highlighted multiple times in this feature). It indeed always felt like the lack of colorful costumes in the X-Men movies came from a place of shame, and it’s funny that Deadpool would directly reference it.

"My brain could taste your fingers and they tasted like hate! And where in God's name is the intimacy coordinator?"

Cassandra Nova’s knack for sticking her entire hand inside a person’s head to make a psychic connection is gnarly as hell – but what sells this line is Ryan Reynolds’ commitment to Deadpool’s outrage about the violation.

"Fox killed him. Disney brought him back. They're gonna make him do this till he's 90."

It’s very likely that the Marvel Cinematic Universe will ultimately be populated with a new ensemble of actors portraying familiar X-Men characters… but the franchise is clearly having trouble letting go of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, so would anyone really be shocked if the Australian star kept playing Logan until he was 90?

"This isn't a car! This is a Honda fuckin' Odyssey. Throttle response sucks a cock, dated infotainment system. When Honda saw that untreated chlamydia was making a comeback, they invented the Honda Odyssey to compete!"

Deadpool eventually comes around on the Honda Odyssey by the end of Deadpool & Wolverine, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard a car get so verbally eviscerated in a movie before, so I have to give credit where credit is due here.

[To Gambit] "Who is your dialect coach? The Minions?"

In the failed development of Channing Tatum’s Gambit movie, one big question lingered over the production wondering whether or not the star could actually provide the character with his traditional Cajun accent… and it’s hilarious that Deadpool repeatedly pokes fun at the way Remy LeBeau talks.

[To Blade] "You never did."

For those who don’t know their superhero movie history, Ryan Reynolds and Wesley Snipes didn’t exactly get along famously during the making of Blade Trinity, so the fact that Deadpool would respond to Blade’s “I don’t like you” with a “You never did” is meta gold.

"Want to talk about what's haunting you, or should we wait for a third act flashback?"

This line is funny for general “point at typical screenwriting structure” reasons, but I suppose the punchline is that Deadpool & Wolverine does indeed feature a third act flashback with its latter titular character – albeit one conjured by the psychic hands of Cassandra Nova.

"I made an educated wish!"

Admit it: you’re now wondering if you might ever be in a situation where you can excuse your actions by saying that you made an educated wish. Be honest with yourself!

"They call me 'The Merc with the Mouth.' They don't call me 'Truthful Timmy, the Blowjob Queen of Saskatoon!'"

Personally, I’m happy that they don’t call Wade Wilson “Truthful Timmy The Blowjob Queen of Saskatoon,” as that’s really hard to slip in as an alternative pronoun when you’re sick of writing “Deadpool” over and over again.

"Holy shit. You save the good stuff for special occasions?"

This is just Deadpool saying what we’re all thinking. Fans waited literal decades for Hugh Jackman to finally wear the Wolverine mask, and that special occasion finally arrived in Deadpool & Wolverine.

We don’t yet know exactly what the future holds for Deadpool in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but wherever he appears in the coming years, it’s a fair bet that he’ll say some very funny things, and this feature will continue to grow and grow.

Armed with a fairly limited budget (for a superhero blockbusters, anyway), Deadpool is a rather small scaled film, but it does provide some serious antagonists for its titular character in the form of Ed Skrein’s Ajax and Gina Carano’s Angel Dust. Together they are a formidable force to face against for the Merc With The Mouth, but there were actually early drafts of the scripts that had a larger crew of baddies – including the trio of Wyre, Garrison Kane, and Sluggo.

I learned about this special triumvirate while recently interviewing Deadpool screenwriters/producers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Discussing a need to make the script tighter both for the story and due to the budget, the filmmakers explained that Ajax originally had a much bigger crew than what we see in the finished cut of the movie. Said Reese,

Those of you unfamiliar with Deadpool’s time in Marvel Comics are probably saying "Who?" right now, so allow me to give you a quick crash course in who these three guys are.

Identifiable by his constant shirtless-ness and pointy spines on his upper torso, Wyre is an assassin and mutant who first appeared in Alpha Flight comics in 1992. He is a powerful dude, with the ability to produce tendrils of inorganic fibre from his body that he can control with mental commands. As a trained killer, he is also proficient with many weapons, which would have made him a formidable foe for Deadpool.

Garrison Kane – sometimes known by the name Weapon X – was one of the first characters to enter into a showdown with Deadpool, featured in the mercenaries’ first miniseries: "The Circle Chase." We actually first learned about his almost role in the Deadpool movie in August 2015, but what’s news is that he would have been one of Ajax’s cronies and fighting alongside some other major heavies. A cyborg created in the Weapon X program, he is built with not only robotic limbs and parts that are tremendously hard to destroy, but also numerous projectile and bladed weapons that he uses with skill.

Real name Bernard Hoyster, Sluggo is yet another result of the Weapon X program, and was introduced to comics in a 1993 issue of X-Force. He has a pretty intense and formidable mutant ability in that he is basically invulnerable to all forms of physical injury. As you can see from the panel above, he has some comic book history with Wade Wilson/Deadpool – as they were trained together as mercenaries – but the fact that both characters are amoral killers pretty much means that it would have been totally fair to have Sluggo be an antagonist in the Deadpool movie.

Are you guys upset that Wyre, Garrison Kane and Sluggo didn’t make it into Deadpool, or are you happy that the production ultimately went with Angel Dust instead? Would you like to see those characters in a future X-Men universe film? Hit the comments with your thoughts!

Deadpool hits theaters tomorrow (this evening in some areas), but the Merc with the Mouth's big screen follow-up is already being planned. Earlier this week, it was reported that 20th Century Fox greenlit Deadpool 2. No details have been provided about what the sequel will be about (though Cable is rumored to appear), but if the early reviews of the first movie are any indication, then it will be most welcomed. Conversely, Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot failed to impress last year, resulting in the studio taking away Fantastic Four 2’s 2017 release date. Does that mean Deadpool 2 might take that coveted spot? Not if the writers have their way.

Deadpool scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are returning to pen the sequel, but when asked by HeyUGuys whether the sequel might take Fantastic Four 2’s place on June 9, 2017, Reese said they’d like as much time to work on it as possible. As he put it:

It sounds like these two are amenable to pumping out a script if Fox wants it posthaste, but for the sake of telling the best story possible, let’s hope that’s not the case. Wernick also mentioned that it literally took them six years to write Deadpool, though that probably had more to do with the movie languishing in development hell than their creative process. Realistically, getting Deadpool 2 out by summer 2017 (less than a year and a half away) doesn’t seem plausble, especially if Reese and Wernick aren’t far along in the writing process. 2018 seems more likely, if not 2019. Two to three-year breaks are much more common when it comes to these massive blockbusters.

Months before Fantastic Four hits theaters, Fox announced Fantastic Four 2’s release date, but after the first movie’s critical and commercial failure, the sequel was taken off the slate. The sequel hasn’t been cancelled yet, but the chances of it still being made aren’t looking good. For now, it looks like, on the superhero side of things, Fox is focused solely on the X-Men movies. In addition to Deadpool 2, Gambit, New Mutants, and Wolverine 3 are in development, along with possibly more entries in the main X-Men series. Whether any of them end up nabbing Fantastic Four 2’s old release date, we’ll just have to wait and see.

What do you think? Do you want to see Deadpool 2 as soon as possible or would you rather there be a longer gap between the entries? Let us know in the comments below.

As we specifically wrote about earlier this week, part of the charm in director Tim Miller’s Deadpool is the fact that it rights some previous wrongs of the X-Men franchise, specifically by making characters like the titular Merc With The Mouth and Colossus much more like their comic book counterparts. What’s notable, however, is that the film also simultaneously introduces a brand new mutant, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and completely changes her power set. Before you raise your pitchforks and torches in anger, however, know that writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick had some very good reasons for the choice: specifically that her new abilities are much more in-sync with her name, and the fact that she has a general lack of presence in Marvel Comics history.

I had the chance to chat with the screenwriters late last week, and it was while discussing Negasonic Teenage Warhead as a later addition to the script that Reese and Wernick explained why she was included and why what we see in the performance from actress Brianna Hildebrand in Deadpool doesn’t resemble what comic books remember about the character from the page. Opening up about the character, Reese told me,

Named after a song by Monster Magnet, Negasonic Teenage Warhead’s first comic book appearance came in an early issue of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men run – featured as a mutant student of Emma Frost’s in the mutant-dominated city of Genosha. In her debut, she demonstrates psychic abilities, as she describes to her teacher dreams of eminent death and destruction. It turns out that she is absolutely right, and winds up dead just a few panels later. In Deadpool, however, she is shown to be an X-Men trainee being instructed by Colossus, and has the ability to basically generate giant explosions (somewhat reminiscent of the Marvel villain Nitro). Or as Rhett Reese put it,

It’s true that Negasonic Teenage Warhead was brought back twice after her death in Genosha – first as an illusion of Emma Frost’s, and again when she was resurrected only to be killed again. But even those passionate about the collection of panels in which she’s featured probably won’t really take issue with what’s featured in Deadpool.

You’ll be able to see this brand new version of Negasonic Teenage when Deadpool arrives in theaters this Friday, February 12th.

Tim Miller’s Deadpool is definitely set within the universe created by the larger X-Men franchise, but it doesn’t exactly pay a ton of attention to continuity. The version of Colossus that’s featured is entirely different than the one played by Daniel Cudmore in X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men: Days of Future Past; and despite being played by the same actor (Ryan Reynolds), the Wade Wilson character is entirely different than the one featured in the 1980s-set X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Fans may question this decision, but writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have some pretty solid excuses for it: their desire to fix mistakes of the franchise’s past, and create a film entirely representative of its insane titular lead.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Reese and Wernick about all things Deadpool late last week, and it was right at the top of the conversation that I brought up the subject of the movie’s connection to the larger X-Men universe. Discussing their approach, they explained that a significant part of their earliest work focused on doing right by characters that had been done wrong by the movies of the past – and many of those ideas simply stuck around as the screenplay went through six years of development. Said Rhett Reese,

Obviously the goal is that fans appreciate the better versions of the character more than they dislike the continuity alteration… but as backup the writers also made an interesting point about Deadpool as well. The Merc With The Mouth is a rare comic book hero who has the awareness that he is a comic book hero (constantly portrayed in regular fourth wall breakage), and as such doesn’t really have to play by the same laws as everybody else. Or as Paul Wernick put it,

The perfect example of this is Deadpool’s comic book origin story… or rather his confusing lack-of-one. While comic writer Joe Kelly was the first to script the anti-hero’s history with The Program that Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick adapted for the Deadpool film, that story has been called into question multiple times in the comics, and there’s even been some suggestion that Deadpool actually stole the identity of Wade Wilson and is really a mercenary named Jack. The guy is basically a hyper-violent cartoon character, and his altered perception on everything means that basically every story we hear, read or see about him comes from an unreliable narrator’s perspective.

If you’re concerned that Deadpool will always drift a bit away from the larger X-Men world, however, I wouldn’t fret too much. Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick recognize the potential in the future for the main X-Men movies to catch up with their deadly anti-hero, and are mentally preparing to take on the narrative challenges that will be presented. Reese told me,

Deadpool arrives in theaters this Friday, February 12th, and I would highly recommend staying tuned to CinemaBlend for more from my interview with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick!

Unlike some other comic book movies, Tim Miller’s Deadpool is a film that stays very close to the tone and look of its source material, and includes many of the great supporting characters that circulate in and out of the Merc With The Mouth’s life. This is a list that includes Weasel (T.J. Miller), Blind Al (Leslie Uggams), Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) and Ajax (Ed Skrein). The movie is pretty great in this respect (particularly for fans), but I recently learned that the big screen adventure nearly feature two more key individual’s from Deadpool’s history: Patch and Dr. Emrys Killebrew.

It was during an in-depth interview with Deadpool screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick last week that I learned this interesting bit of trivia about the film, which should perk the ears of everyone who knows and loves Deadpool from the comics (especially the long, early run by writer Joe Kelly). So who are these two characters? Allow me to break it down.

Patch

Patch, a.k.a. Bob Stirrat, was one of the first supporting characters introduced in Deadpool comics, arriving in issue #1 back in 1997. He is the diminutive, mustache-sporting proprietor of Hellhouse, a bar and hangout for mercenaries that was built into the remains of what used to be Sister Margaret's School for Wayward Children. In addition to serving drinks, he also gives out jobs to the various freelance tough guys in the join… which becomes the role that is played by T.J. Miller’s Weasel in the Deadpool movie.

Speaking to the need to combine characters, Paul Wernick explained,

Patch was probably a fairly easy character to write out of the Deadpool script, if not only because his removal would just make the whole thing a lot simpler – but the second character that wound up getting axed was originally going to be part of a big twist.

Dr. Emrys Killebrew

In Deadpool, Ed Skrein’s Ajax is shown to be the director of The Program where Wade Wilson is institutionalized for cancer treatment – taking it upon himself to make sure the future anti-hero is tortured as much as possible. This is a slight change from the comics, where Ajax is actually the number two to a guy named Dr. Emrys Killebrew. This relationship wasn’t just included in an early version of the movie’s script, but was actually being planned as a big third act reveal. Said Paul Wernick,

In the comics, Dr. Killebrew actually winds up getting some degree of forgiveness for his torture of Deadpool and the creation of the hero’s scarred skin/increased healing factor – but that doesn’t stop him from meeting a terrible end. After basically coming back from the dead with a powerful new suit of armor, Ajax winds up killing his former boss in hopes of finding and taking revenge on Deadpool (pictured above). It doesn’t seem like we’ll ever see this play out on the big screen, however.

Watching the movie, it’s easy to see why Dr. Killebrew and Patch didn’t make the cut, so I wouldn’t worry too much about missing their inclusion. Instead, prepare just to have a lot of fun when Deadpool arrives in theaters this Friday, February 12th.

When it comes to modern comic book movies, it has become standard to include post-credits scenes that tease big events to come in the future of the franchise. Marvel Studios has clearly been big on it, and 20th Century Fox has gotten in on the fun as well – attaching special scenes to The Wolverine and X-Men: Days of Future Past. Following in this tradition, director Tim Miller’s Deadpool has gotten in on the tag action as well… but while one of the post-credits sequences is being shown to critics, the other one is being kept for the film’s theatrical release.

I had the opportunity to chat with Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick recently, and while discussing the film’s post-credits scene (which I won’t be spoiling here), they revealed that critics are only seeing one of two sequences that were put together for the movie. Said Reese,

Having seen and loved Deadpool, I can tell you that the sequence that’s being shown to critics shows up at the very, very end, which means that the "second coda" is probably what’s been described as a "mid-credits" scene. Obviously at this point we have no idea what will be included, but one can hope that it’s a) a very cool cameo, b) an interesting tease for Deadpool 2, or c) both.

It’s commonplace these days that post-credits scenes in superhero movies are shown to critics during press screenings, but it hasn’t always been the case. For example, back in 2011, early showings of Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger didn’t include the special teaser for Joss Whedon’s The Avengers. And speaking of the 2012 team-up blockbuster, the premiere and other showings did not include the final scene where all of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are noshing on shawarma (though that was mostly because the sequence wasn’t put together until after the press junket).

So, if you’re going to be going to see Deadpool this weekend - and I hope all of you are - do yourself a favor and stick around until all of the names of those involved with the movie have rolled on the big screen (which is typically good practice anyway). In the meantime, what do you guys think is featured in the post-credits scene that 20th Century Fox has decided to hide from critics? Hit the comments below with all of your thoughts, opinions and ideas!