The Deadpool & Wolverine Rumors And Reports That Never Actually Happened

This post contains massive spoilers for "Deadpool & Wolverine." Read at your own risk.

One of the biggest movies of the year is finally upon us as "Deadpool & Wolverine" has made its way to theaters. It's been a long journey for this one dating back to the release of 2018's "Deadpool 2." Unfortunately, Disney's purchase of Fox in 2019, the pandemic, the dual WGA/SAG strike against the AMPTP, and other factors made it so fans had to wait six years for a sequel. But Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and Marvel Studios did their damnedest to make the wait worth it, delivering the biggest "Deadpool" movie yet in so many ways.

Director Shawn Levy's "Deadpool & Wolverine" is loaded with cameos and various character appearances from across the Marvel multiverse. It's the exploration of the multiverse that allowed Hugh Jackman to return as Wolverine despite his death in 2017's "Logan." Yet, for all of the characters that do appear in the film, there were innumerable rumors and rampant speculation online over the last year or so suggesting quite a few other Marvel characters were going to appear. The majority of them didn't end up coming to pass, despite reports to the contrary.

Producer Wendy Jacobson recently explained to GamesRadar that "there may or may not have been some subterfuge and misdirections on the internet or in-person in order to protect the secrecy." So it seems the filmmakers actively tried to put red herrings out there to preserve the film's biggest secrets.

Be that as it may, we're going to go over some of the biggest "Deadpool & Wolverine" rumors that didn't happen. While we can't possibly cover every single one of the endless rumors out there, we're going to go over the biggest ones. From former X-Men characters who didn't get a send-off to completely different versions of the movie that were scrapped in favor of what we got, we're going deep into what didn't happen, now that we know what does happen in the film.

For a movie taking place in the "X-Men" universe so full of cameos, it is surprisingly light on appearances from major characters from the franchise. At one point, Halle Berry (Storm), Famke Janssen (Jean Grey), and James Marsden (Cyclops) were all rumored to appear in "Deadpool & Wolverine." None of them were in the final film, save for a montage of old behind-the-scenes footage from the "X-Men" films that plays during the credits.

Janssen denied an appearance in an April 2024 interview with ScreenGeek, so that maybe shouldn't come as a total surprise. Then again, plenty of actors have denied being in a movie only to then end up in the movie, most notably Andrew Garfield in "Spider-Man: No Way Home." It's hard to know what to believe.

Deadline really stirred the pot recently when they reported that Patrick Stewart was going to return as Professor X in the film. This was believable enough given his small role in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness." The outlet later removed that bit from the article, probably because Stewart isn't actually in the film. Sticking closer to the "Deadpool" franchise, there were also rumors that Zazie Beetz was in talks to return Domino, but she denied those rumors in an interview with Decider. She wasn't lying, as Domino is not in the film. Vinnie Jones, who appeared as Juggernaut in "X-Men: The Last Stand," could have been in the film but said they didn't "have the budget" to put him in the suit. So, we got a new actor playing Juggernaut.

It would be easy to see not having some of these actors in the film as a missed opportunity. "Deadpool & Wolverine," as it exists, is essentially one big goodbye to Fox's version of the Marvel universe. That said, there is only so much room for people without the story getting too overstuffed — and it's very stuffed as is. Between that and keeping the budget semi-reasonable, certain actors didn't make the cut.

There were several major cameos from Fox's Marvel Universe. One of the biggest was Channing Tatume finally getting to play Gambit after his proposed solo film never happened. Much like the core "X-Men" cameos that were swirling around in the rumor mill, quite a few other Fox-related appearances were said to be on deck that never came to fruition.

Maybe the biggest one was Taylor Swift, who had been so widely fancast as mutant pop star Dazzler that it took hold as a rumor for the film. There were also suggestions that Swift could be the one under the Lady Deadpool mask, but that honor went to Reynolds' wife Blake Lively. For all of the speculation, Swift isn't in the film.

Another major A-lister who was rumored to appear was Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who most notably headlined "Black Adam" in the DC Universe. Johnson was rumored to play an alternate version of Apocalypse, who was played by Oscar Isaac in "X-Men: Apocalypse." No dice on that one. While the film does take a little jab at Johnson and the DC Universe, the wrestler-turned-actor never appears on screen.

One rumor that was debunked long before the movie ever came out was Michael Chiklis reprising his role as Ben Grim/The Thing from "Fantastic Four." A fake BTS photo stirred the pot, so much so that Chiklis had to take to Twitter to clear things up. "FYI folks ... This is a FAKE. Sorry to disappoint. So many people have asked about it, I feel it's necessary to clear this up," the actor said back in February. Chris Evans did, however, appear as Johnny Storm from "Fantastic Four," in a pretty surprising bit of subverted expectations.

Lastly, "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe was rumored for a "secret role" in the film. Radcliffe has long been a fan-favorite to take over as Wolverine, so that was a logical jump to make. Radcliff didn't make an appearance but another popular choice, Henry Cavill, did appear briefly as Wolverine instead.

Because "Deadpool & Wolverine" represented Wade Wilson making his way to the MCU for the first time, there was ample opportunity to include lots of characters for Reynolds to interact with. Surprisingly, Levy and Marvel Studios went light on major MCU characters for this one, but there were several rumored appearances that would have made a fair amount of sense, given the story being told in the film.

The third act of the film sees Wade and Logan using a sling ring that opens a portal, allowing them to leave The Void and get back home. When that portal showed up in the trailers, theories sprang up as to who was behind it. Various reports suggested it might be Benedict Wong reprising his role as Wong from "Doctor Strange." After all, he was designated the Sorcerer Supreme in "Multiverse of Madness," so it would have made some sense. But it was just a sling ring that Cassandra Nova picked up in The Void, so Wong sat this one out.

A rumored cameo (one largely chalked up to aimless speculation) that would have made far less sense, at least on the surface, was Tatiana Maslany returning as She-Hulk. But since she is known for breaking the fourth wall like Deadpool, there might have been an opportunity there. Regardless, Maslany did not appear in the film. So, we await her return to the MCU elsewhere.

Another couple of cameos that would have made a lot of sense were reported by Jeff Sneider, with the reporter stating Owen Wilson's Agent Moebius and Tara Strong's Miss Minutes from "Loki" would appear, though he did caution it was just a rumor at the time. Given that the TVA is a huge part of the film's story, this sort of seemed like a no-brainer. However, both Mobius and Miss Minutes were left out of the proceedings, with Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) serving as Deadpool's guide through the TVA instead, offering him glimpses of the MCU that may be more than just a joke.

Because "Deadpool & Wolverine" was playing around in the Marvel multiverse, there was ample opportunity to make fancastings, would-be castings, and other such stuff come true. The movie certainly played around with that a bit, but some rumors swirling around that were cut from this Elseworlds cloth ultimately didn't pan out.

Zac Efron ("The Iron Claw") was rumored to be in the mix for the film after he reportedly met with Marvel Studios for an undisclosed role. Again, this is an actor people have suggested would be great for Wolverine, so it wasn't hard to make that leap. It's also worth pointing out that Efron said in a 2022 interview, I love the Marvel universe. I've been a fan of Marvel since I started walking. If the right character comes along and they want me to jump in, I would jump at the opportunity." That may be true, but he'll have to wait longer for that opportunity to come.

Another more obscure one was the possibility of finally giving us Squirrel Girl in live-action, with Milana Vayntrub fulfilling her destiny to play the part on screen. Vayntrub actually filmed a "New Warriors" show playing the part of Squirrel Girl, but the project never saw the light of day. The actress eventually voiced the character in "Marvel's Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show" podcast, but seeing her in live-action would have brought this full circle. Despite speculation/hope that this would be the case, Squirrel Girl is still awaiting her MCU debut.

Lastly, there was the possibility of bringing back Anson Mount as Black Bolt once more. The actor played the role in Marvel's ill-fated "Inhumans" TV series, only to return in "Multiverse of Madness" to meet a brutal death at the hands of Scarlet Witch. A July 2023 interview with Radio Times led to speculation that Mount might return once more, with the actor saying he had "informal conversations" with Marvel. Whatever those conversations may have been, they had nothing to do with Deadpool and/or Wolverine.

It's worth noting that there were many, many versions of "Deadpool 3" that were considered before they landed on "Deadpool & Wolverine" as it exists. In those other versions, some of these rumors might have proved true. First up, Reynolds revealed in 2021 that the plan was to do a "Deadpool" road trip movie with Wolverine before Disney bought Fox. "Deadpool 3 was gonna be a road trip between Deadpool and Logan. Rashomon style," Reynolds said on Twitter in January 2021.

When things got more serious between Reynolds and Marvel Studios, the actor pitched more than a dozen different ideas. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige rejected his original idea, but Reynolds had plenty in the tank. "I wrote up about 18 different treatments. Some of them almost like a Sundance film, a budget of under $10 million, sort of using the IP in a way that they previously hadn't used, and I pitched bigger movies, and I pitched things in-between," he explained. The Sundance one would have been a road trip film of sorts with Dopinder, the cab driver.

Interesting though that may have been, Marvel went the opposite way, making a $200 million multiversal romp. In an interview with /Film, producer Wendy Jacobson revealed a bit more about one of the rejected pitches, which would have involved a shot-for-shot remake of "Thor: The Dark World," up to a point.

"Ryan had this idea for a 'Thor 2' frame-for-frame remake until the end of the first act. There was an idea for a deleted-scenes extravaganza where we were going to take famous MCU scenes, but show them from a different angle where you didn't see that Deadpool got left on the cutting room floor."

The team even considered different villains, including Mephisto, before Jackman called and said he wanted to be in the movie, which essentially saved the day. Whether or not the movie would have been better if one of these other ideas had taken hold? We'll never know.

"Deadpool & Wolverine" is in theaters now.