Deadpool & Wolverine Almost Had A Musical Number Set To A Classic Elton John Song

Spoilers for "Deadpool & Wolverine" follow.

The soundtrack to Shawn Levy's new superhero flick "Deadpool & Wolverine," the 158th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is chock-full of sarcastic needle drops and overblown musical cues, wielded specifically to amp up the movie's irony. "Deadpool & Wolverine" opens with a violent fight scene wherein Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) murders dozens of people using the adamantium bones of the deceased Logan as weapons. On the soundtrack, *NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye" plays, adding a silly, upbeat quality to the violence. 

Later in the film, Deadpool and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) will get into a knock-down, stab-happy fight in a Honda minivan, spraying their own blood all over the car's interior (luckily, they both heal quickly, so the fight can last for hours without either of them dying). As they fight, one of them smacks the radio, and "You're the One That I Want" from "Grease" plays on the soundtrack. It's a jaunty, happy tune that serves as a comedic tonal juxtaposition to the slicing and dicing. 

Also on the soundtrack is Chris de Burgh's "The Lady in Red," Eric Carman's "Make Me Lose Control," and Patsy Cline's "You Belong to Me." The soundtrack is as mellow as the film is raucous. 

It seems that, in addition to all of the ironic song cues, Reynolds originally envisioned a notable Elton John song on the soundtrack as well. According to a recent interview on BBC1, the actor (who also co-wrote and produced the movie) really, really wanted "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" for a scene in an early draft. 

With the BBC, Reynolds merely admitted that an early draft of the script featured a scene with the above-mentioned song. This was during a conversation about how "Deadpool & Wolverine" should have been a straight-up musical. Reynolds doesn't say the context he included for "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues," just that it was written into the script. Perhaps Wade sang it after being rejected by the Avengers (or rather Happy Hogan).

Reynolds, Jackman, and BBC host Greg James didn't pursue the line of thinking further than a comment on how wonderful a song that was. Instead, they joked about how Wolverine singing would have sounded weird. Jackman is, of course, a veteran of stage musicals, having appeared on Broadway in "The Music Man," and starred in the feature film "The Greatest Showman," a musical about the life of P.T. Barnum. Wolverine, however, doesn't have a clear-as-a-bell baritone, preferring to growl his lines. Jackman notes that Wolverine would have to sing like Joe Cocker, or perhaps Barry White. Reynolds felt that Wolverine could sing a Tom Waits song. I can almost hear Wolverine scream/singing Waits' "Temptation."

Reynolds then told a funny story about how Jackman once came to his house and had arrived before Reynolds got home. Reynolds caught Jackman performing, live, to the soundtrack to "The Greatest Showman." "And I didn't even have to meet his $112 million quote per film," he joked. 

Elton John, meanwhile, has gone on record saying that he loves "Welcome to Wrexham," the reality show about Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's management of the Wrexham football club. John felt that the pair did a marvelous job of turning Wrexham around. It's a pity that Reynolds couldn't nod back to the music icon with a "Blues" cameo in "Deadpool & Wolverine." C'est la vie.