Let's Talk About The Biggest Missed Opportunity In Deadpool & Wolverine

At the beginning of Shawn Levy's "Deadpool & Wolverine," Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is informed that, thanks to a strange whim of cosmic fate, his entire timeline is unraveling. He is told that Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) was a being of reality-shaping significance called an "anchor being," and when he died, his entire reality will begin to dissipate. Deadpool, distressed by this news, steals a reality-jumping widget and — in an amusing montage — cycles through many, many alternate universes, looking for a parallel Wolverine that would serve as an adequate replacement. 

Most of the Wolverines are played by Hugh Jackman, albeit with very different personalities. One Wolverine is viciously animalistic and sports a wild mane of hair. Another is a comic-accurate three feet tall. In a bleak universe, Wolverine has been crucified on an "X" amid a field of bloody skulls. One of the Wolverines is played by celebrity guest Henry Cavill (Deadpool calls him Cavill-rine). These Wolverine variants will likely please deep-cut Marvel Comics fans who will recognize the designs and costumes from 50 years of the character's history. 

One fun, obvious meta-joke, however, is not told, and it seemed like a missed opportunity. During this montage, it would have been rather funny to include a cameo from actor Dougray Scott as one of the alternate Wolverines. Those paying attention to the trades in the late months of 1999 will recall that Scott signed a multi-picture contract to play Wolverine in Bryan Singer's "X-Men" and beyond, but he had to pass on the role when his time on "Mission: Impossible 2" ran long. The then-unknown Jackman was chosen instead, and he became a worldwide superstar. 

Scott, meanwhile, merely continued his career apace. He hasn't been hurting for work, but the lack of Wolverines on his résumé is often seen as a missed opportunity.

The May 1999 issue of Variety announced that Dougray Scott, then recognizable for his recent appearance in the modern Cinderella riff "Ever After," was to play Wolverine, beating out Russell Crowe and a slew of other young hopefuls for the role. By October, though, the deal fell through. Variety reported that shooting "Mission: Impossible 2" was taking too long, a schedule exacerbated by a minor shoulder injury Scott incurred during filming. It was also rumored that "Mission: Impossible 2" star Tom Cruise was particularly stringent about finishing the film as soon as possible, and he wouldn't allow Scott to leave production. He was stuck and had to pass on "X-Men." 

Scott's career didn't suffer terribly, and he continues to work to this day. Indeed, Scott won an Emmy in 2022 for his performance in "Crime." Despite Scott's body of work, however, many have posited that playing Wolverine would have made him into a matinée idol. The evidence to support this is, of course, Hugh Jackman, who did become a matinée idol after "X-Men," and who is playing Wolverine for the tenth time in 24 years in "Deadpool & Wolverine." A true "There, but for the grace of God" moment.

If including Dougray Scott in the "Deadpool & Wolverine" montage sounds too inside-baseball for mainstream audiences, know that Levy's film included another cameo that was equally oblique. Channing Tatum's appearance as Gambit is another reference to the complicated development history of X-Men movies that never came to be. "Deadpool & Wolverine," drawing on the audience's knowledge of the failed project, briefly resurrected it as a gag. 

If they can do that, they could have included Dougray Scott as Wolverine. Unless, of course, there was another scheduling conflict.