“Deadpool & Wolverine” is obviously out in the world; it’s grossed $900 million-something so far and is projected to surpass the coveted $1 billion mark this weekend with a total that could end around $1.3-$1.4 billion, depending on its box office legs. And yes, as you’ve heard or seen from various leaks all over social media—plus official reveals from Ryan Reynolds’ on his social channels, who basically unveiled every cameo and who was starring in the role—the film is filled with surprise guests (not to mention Marvel released a new TV spot yesterday that revealed all the cameos which you can see below).
*Spoiler warning* from this point in if you haven’t seen the movie yet, but according to two of the key “Deadpool & Wolverine” writers, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick—who have been with the franchise from the beginning—revealed there could have been so many more cameos if all their wishes and dreams came true.
For one, the pair admitted that Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark was initially written into the film in the scene where Deadpool (Reynolds) goes and meets with Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and tries to apply for Avengers membership.
“We had wanted him to do a cameo. We had written that scene [to start] with Happy and Downey,” Wernick said in a just-released interview with IndieWire.
“Ryan Reynolds read the scene with both of them, so in the hopes we could get Downey,” Reese admitted. “But he also wanted Favreau because they’re a great combo, and they were all in the scene together.
Wernick said that Reynolds gave Downey “the hard press” to be in the movie and that the actor actually “read those scenes” too, “but what we didn’t know behind the scenes was this Doctor Doom thing.”
It seems like the “Avengers: Doomsday” plan (Downey Jr. playing Marvel villain Doctor Doom), still secret to them, scuttled their idea.
The writers also admitted they originally conceived the same scene with many of the Avengers in the room. Deadpool tried to pick up Thor’s hammer (and then Peter casually does it in the background as a gag), and when Wade Wilson was rejected, he was going to dress down the Avengers in a “vicious” manner. Alas, the idea became too expensive and impossible to schedule, so it didn’t really get past the conceptual stage.
The writers also admitted that Daredevil was initially on the early wish list, but “I don’t think it ever came into script pages or actually asking [Ben Affleck],” Reese explained.
Lastly, the writers also admitted that they had bandied about ideas of including Josh Brolin’s Cable in the movie. Still, he didn’t make the cut because they had a surplus of characters to work with and a theme of not getting their proper due and ending.
“Yeah, look, we had access to just about everybody, right?” Wernick said. “And creatively, we wanted to tap into this idea of people or characters who didn’t get their proper ending at Fox to pay tribute to them, to give them a legacy. I think on the Cable side, absolutely he was considered. I think it’s just he was just in “Deadpool 2.”
Fans of that character, don’t worry; the writers say they hope or expect him to be back at some point. “So, the idea of giving him a proper ending, he’s still a character that, my guess is, will appear in the Fox-Marvel mash-up universe at some point, would be our guess,” he continued. “But he didn’t make the cut on this one, unfortunately. We love him and would love to have seen him in it, though.”
“Deadpool & Wolverine” has broken all kinds of box-office records, and by the time it’s done, it will have easily bested the “Joker” film for the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time worldwide (it’s already claimed that domestic title). If it hits $1.4 million, it should likely land in the top 15 of the highest-grossing films of all time. That same figure would place “Deadpool & Wolverine” as the fifth-highest-grossing Marvel film of all time, taking the slot from “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”
If it goes as high as $1.5 million, well, then all bets are off, and we’ll need to rewrite more records. The Marvel behemoth is in theaters now.