The Merc with a Mouth is back, and this time he's brought along a whole lot of friends — but which Deadpool & Wolverine cameos really drove the fans wild? Be warned: spoilers follow!
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00:00The Merc with a Mouth is back, and this time he's brought along a whole lot of friends.
00:04But which Deadpool and Wolverine cameos really drove the fans wild?
00:08Be warned, spoilers follow.
00:11Throughout the film, the fabled Deadpool Corps is invoked as a group you really don't want
00:14to mess with.
00:15Assembled of Deadpool variants from across the multiverse, and led by Blake Lively's
00:19Lady Deadpool, these guys are ready to kill anything in their way.
00:22But Lively isn't the only cameo tucked into the massive pack of Mercs with Mouths.
00:26You've got Nathan Fillion in there as Headpool, who is pretty bizarre to see in photo-realistic
00:32form.
00:33Matthew McConaughey snuck into the film as a cowboy Deadpool, too.
00:36There's even a Deadpool decked out in Welsh flag gear, which many are taking as a reference
00:40to the Welsh soccer team, Wrexham AFC, that Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney own across
00:46the ponds.
00:47There may be more discovered in the pack over the coming weeks, but fans have clearly been
00:50having fun trying to keep track of all those Deadpools.
00:53Reprising the role of Sabretooth for the first time since 2000's X-Men, Tyler Maine
00:58comes back to the Marvel franchise for a showdown with Wolverine and Deadpool in the Wastelands
01:02of the Void.
01:03Maine was notably absent from later X-Men movies, and Liev Schreiber took over the role
01:08in the ill-fated X-Men Origins, Wolverine.
01:10When asked why he hadn't appeared in that film, Maine told The Hollywood Reporter that
01:14it was simply the decision of the producers.
01:16He'd have been quite happy to come back.
01:18With Sabretooth, then, Deadpool and Wolverine makes a welcome callback to the very beginning
01:22of this shared universe.
01:24It's just a shame he's brutally killed by Wolverine pretty much straight away.
01:27Though Pyro first appeared as a character in X-Men, Aaron Stanford didn't step into
01:31the role until 2003's X-2, X-Men United.
01:35As a mutant, Pyro's powers include the ability to manipulate flames, which makes him a perfect
01:39villain to match up against another fire-based Fox superhero.
01:43But more on that later.
01:44"...Patience."
01:45Stanford came back once more for X-Men, The Last Stand, before vanishing from the X-Men
01:50universe.
01:51He appears again in Deadpool and Wolverine, a movie that builds on his rivalry with Wolverine
01:55and the X-Men.
01:56Stanford adds an edge of depth and anger to this character, making him by far and away
02:00the best of the minor Fox-verse villains to appear in the movie.
02:03Toad who?
02:04One of the more surprising cameos in Deadpool and Wolverine was Jon Favreau, who came back
02:09to Marvel to play the MCU stalwart, Happy Hogan.
02:12Favreau first played Happy in 2008's Iron Man, a movie that he also directed.
02:17Initially, Tony Stark's chauffeur, Happy, gradually works his way up to head of security
02:22and beyond.
02:23The scene in which Happy Hogan appears is vital to Deadpool's arc in the movie, as it's
02:26he who dashes Wade's dreams of becoming an Avenger.
02:29But he also tells Wade to keep doing his thing, adding that the Avengers will be keeping an
02:33eye on him.
02:34His cameo is brief but funny, adding a much-needed dose of pathos to the Deadpool we see in the
02:38film and helping send him on his way to becoming a full-blown hero.
02:42When Deadpool is brought to the Time Variance Authority, he's shown a number of possible
02:46futures, including one in which Thor is seen weeping over an injured Deadpool.
02:50Having the God of Thunder cradle the partially unmasked head of a fallen Wade Wilson might
02:53seem weird, but it makes for a surprisingly rousing image, and proves exactly why these
02:58interconnected comic book movies can work so well.
03:00In the pages of comic books, it's easy to draw in a cameo and have, say, Captain America
03:05come and hang out with Spider-Man.
03:07As long as there's a story reason for it, the sky's the limit.
03:10In a multi-billion dollar franchise, and actors and salaries to deal with, however, these
03:14cameos become much harder to pull off, which might be why this scene used repurposed footage
03:18from Thor The Dark World.
03:20Seeing one this big used in such a throwaway manner shows the devotion of the filmmakers
03:24to making this movie feel like a genuine Deadpool comic.
03:27Let's give the people what they came for!
03:29Let's face it, pretty much nobody expected Henry Cavill, of all people, to turn up in
03:33this movie, and even fewer people could have guessed he'd be playing Wolverine.
03:37As Deadpool searches the multiverse for a Wolverine that can help save his timeline
03:40from crumbling, he runs into a number of different iterations of the character.
03:44These include a sleek super-spy in a white tuxedo to the four-foot-tall comic-accurate
03:48version of the character.
03:49At one point, Deadpool arrives in a garage or warehouse of some sort to see an impressively
03:53muscular Wolverine with his back turned to him, working on a motorcycle.
03:57But when Deadpool — and the audience — get a look at his face, jaws hit the floor.
04:01Yes, it's Henry Cavill, decked out in a white undershirt and chomping on a cigar.
04:05He even gets to pop the claws and threaten Deadpool, as Wade desperately promises that
04:09Marvel will treat him better than DC ever did.
04:12Aside from being a great gag, this cameo poses an interesting question.
04:16If Cavill has been talking to the head honchos at Marvel Studios, what other roles could
04:20they have discussed for the erstwhile Man of Steel?
04:23Created by Frank Miller during his landmark run of Daredevil comics, Elektra made her
04:27film debut in 2003's Daredevil.
04:29That movie wasn't exactly a fan favorite, but it did well enough to earn a spin-off
04:33two years later, with Elektra.
04:35Jennifer Garner played the titular character in both movies, but that was the end of the
04:38road of that particular branch of the Marvel timeline.
04:41Kevin Affleck, of course, traded his devil's horns for bat ears, apparently happy to never
04:45look back on his time as the Man Without Fear.
04:48So it was truly a shock when Elektra's trademark size appeared on the screen, and Jennifer
04:52Garner strolled into the secret base of the Void superhero resistance.
04:55Deadpool and Wolverine offers Garner a chance to close the book on a character she played
04:59more than 20 years ago.
05:00Amusingly, the movie even works in a joke about her real-life marriage — and divorce
05:04— to Affleck.
05:06At 2015's San Diego Comic-Con, Channing Tatum was brought out on stage at Hall H to announce
05:11he'd be starring as Gambit in a brand-new X-Men Origins film.
05:14He was supposed to take over the role from Taylor Kitsch, who played the part in X-Men
05:18Origins Wolverine.
05:19Unfortunately, the film got trapped in development hell and never got made.
05:23Directors ranging from Edgar Wright to Gore Verbinski circled the project, but the team
05:27at Fox just couldn't make it happen.
05:28X-Men Origins Gambit became a mere footnote in the history of Marvel, despite all that
05:32confidence and excitement behind it.
05:34In Deadpool and Wolverine, Tatum's Gambit is teamed up with the other super-heroic survivors
05:39in the Void, and it's amazing how accurate they were with Gambit's ridiculous animated
05:43series costume.
05:44The absurdity of his appearance, however, didn't take away from the power of his arrival.
05:48It's also worth noting that this isn't the only recent instance of a self-referential,
05:52multiversal cameo of an actor whose movie never got made.
05:55But where Nicolas Cage's appearance in The Flash provoked groans, Gambit's Deadpool and
05:59Wolverine role inspired gasps.
06:01Maybe it helped that Gambit actually had a point.
06:04"...There are worse things out tonight than vampires."
06:06"...Like what?"
06:07"...Like me."
06:09Another film that seems to be circling the
06:11may-never-get-produced pile is the introduction of Blade into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
06:15The movie has been in the works, with Mahershala Ali attached, since 2019.
06:19That's five full years, and we've yet to see the Daywalker hit the big screen.
06:23During that time, we've heard whispers and stories about various problems with the script,
06:27the setting, and Marvel's various choices of directors.
06:30It certainly hasn't been an easy ride.
06:31In stark contrast to this, Wesley Snipes starred in three popular movies as Blade,
06:36released in 1998, 2002, and 2004.
06:39Snipes has slowed down his acting considerably in recent years, and so very few people likely
06:43expected to see him turn up in Deadpool and Wolverine.
06:46This is especially true considering Ryan Reynolds had starred in Blade Trinity, an experience
06:50he famously detested.
06:52"...He hates me, doesn't he?"
06:54"...Yeah."
06:55In fact, Reynolds was said to be so unhappy with the script that he straight-up refused
06:59to film parts of it.
07:00It's also worth mentioning that Snipes himself was hardly thrilled about the way Blade Trinity
07:04turned out.
07:05So, to see Snipes play nice as Blade in someone else's movie, a Ryan Reynolds movie no less,
07:09is actually pretty amazing.
07:11Now, he has a much higher note to go out on, even though Deadpool and Wolverine can't resist
07:15poking some fun at the history between Reynolds and Snipes.
07:18Better still is the fact that Snipes got to put in some digs at Marvel's expense about
07:21not being able to get another Blade film off the ground, directly referencing the troubled
07:25development of Mahershala Ali's iteration of the character.
07:28All in all, Snipes must have been having an absolute blast in this movie, and it read
07:32on screen loud and clear.
07:34Daphne Keen was one of the standout parts of Logan.
07:37Then intended to be a swan song for Hugh Jackman in the role of Wolverine, the movie found
07:41a perfect supporting player in Keen, who played X-23, a lab-created mutant with all of Wolverine's
07:46powers and strengths.
07:47Logan was actually supposed to spark a new franchise of X-23 films, but that sadly never
07:52materialized.
07:53Nevertheless, seeing her play the character once more in Deadpool and Wolverine is quite
07:57the treat for those who hold Logan in high esteem, which is pretty much everybody.
08:01Keen herself appears to be having a great year, considering she just came off the heels
08:05of playing Jedi Padawan Jackie Lan in Star Wars The Acolyte.
08:09She brings a gravitas to Deadpool and Wolverine that lights up the screen, making for perhaps
08:13the movie's most emotional cameo role.
08:15It's really a shame we didn't get more movies with Keen as X-23, but even if this one doesn't
08:20open a door to that future, we can at least chalk it up as a great coda to her role in
08:24Logan.
08:25There's no question that The Human Torch's surprise appearance will go down as the best
08:29cameo in Deadpool and Wolverine.
08:31Even Deadpool is confused when, having come face-to-face with none other than Chris Evans,
08:35it turns out that he's not playing Captain America, but Johnny Storm.
08:38Evans, you'll no doubt remember, played The Human Torch in Fox's first two Fantastic Four
08:43movies.
08:44Evans' earliest role in the Marvel Universe was largely forgotten when he picked up Captain
08:47America's shield.
08:48He went on to play the star-spangled man with a plan for three solo titles and a whole bunch
08:52of Avengers movies.
08:54"...Avengers!"
09:01"...Assemble."
09:02Here, Evans effortlessly proves his range in the superhero genre, while also helpfully
09:06reminding us that he really wasn't the problem with those Fantastic Four movies.
09:09Sadly, it doesn't last long.
09:11At one point, Deadpool attributes a nasty, profanity-laced description of the villain
09:15Cassandra Nova to Storm.
09:17Cassandra, in turn, kills Storm in a truly gruesome manner.
09:20Throughout the rest of the film, Storm's ignominious death haunts Deadpool about as
09:24much as anything can, especially since Wolverine puts the blame squarely on Wade.
09:28Yes, it was a real shock to see Evans reprise his role as The Human Torch onscreen, and
09:32kind of a treat, too.
09:34Evans will no doubt be best known as Captain America for the rest of his life, but those
09:38of us who suffered through the subpar comic book movie days of the early 2000s will forever
09:42associate him with The Human Torch.
09:44Confusing the two in the multiverse is a great move on the part of this movie's screenwriters,
09:48subverting the audience's expectations in the best possible way.
09:51Even better, the post-credits scene allows Chris Evans to perform one of the best rapid-fire
09:55vulgarity routines ever committed to film, and it also kinda lets Deadpool off the hook
09:59for getting him killed.
10:00All in all, 10 out of 10 for this cameo, Marvel.
10:03Bravo!