X-Men Origins: Wolverine's Director Knows Exactly What Went Wrong With Deadpool

Gavin Hood's 2009 superhero flick "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," the fourth film in its franchise, was widely rejected by fans and generally rejected by critics. The tone of the film was weirdly bright and "Saturday morning" for a grizzled character like Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), while the movie's steady stream of fantastical characters was more distracting and busy than intriguing and textured. The editing was also notoriously bad, with scenes where characters seem to teleport up to rooftops with no explanation. Many X-Men purists particularly objected to the depictions of characters like Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) and Wade Wilson aka Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) as they dramatically differed from their on-page counterparts.

The Deadpool changes were especially egregious, at least if the exiting crowds I overheard in 2009 were any indicator. In the comics, Deadpool is a mouthy, masked comedy character who wisecracks his way through his murders. His only superpowers were rapid healing and immortality. At the end of "Origins," however, Deadpool was transformed into a mouthless, hairless ultra-mutant with all-new teleportation powers, eye lasers, and in-arm knives. Those who had no knowledge of Deadpool likely didn't mind the alteration, but X-Men fans were outraged.

The "Origins" version of Deadpool was so unpopular that the character was rebooted entirely in 2016's "Deadpool," and was made to look and feel more page-accurate. The 2016 film and its sequel even featured several satirical jokes about the "Origins" Deadpool, declaring that the filmmakers, like the fans, hated that version.

When "Deadpool" came out, Hood spoke with CinemaBlend about the "Origins" version of the Wade Wilson character, and he admitted to mishandling it. Mostly, he noted that his Deadpool had to serve as a small part of a PG-13-rated story, while "Deadpool" could make the character the filthy R-rated star he was always meant to be.

Hood did seem to get one thing right about Deadpool: the casting. It may be confusing to casual viewers, but Ryan Reynolds played the role in both "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and the 2016 "Deadpool." The 2016 film was such a hit, it spawned three sequels. "Deadpool 2" reached theaters in 2018, while a PG-13-re-edit of the movie, titled "Once Upon a Deadpool," was released later that same year. In 2024, "Deadpool & Wolverine" officially made Deadpool part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, grossing $1.3 billion worldwide. 

Hood, who knew about the production of "Deadpool" through his former production designer, admitted to CinemaBlend that his "Origins" film was a studio monster, whereas the 2016 "Deadpool" had both a lower budget and lower expectations. He also felt that "Deadpool" had more creative freedom when it came to the titular character, stating:

"I think the character works so well now, because the character is allowed to be who the character really is, unencumbered by, you know, PG-13 requirements and a great deal of marketing debate. I think the fact that the filmmakers kind of made that film below the radar — and I happen to know a little bit, only because my production designer from 'Ender's Game,' Sean Haworth, is a fantastic designer, was the designer on 'Deadpool.'"

Hood added that "Deadpool is a motor mouth, foulmouth character, and it's very difficult with these big movies, when you have to work within certain parameters that are set by studio heads." Indeed, it's difficult to be fun and filthy when the studio wants something plain and clean.

Hood also had a devil of a time getting "Origins" made. He butted heads with the film's producers a lot, and the script was in a constant state of being re-written. Deadpool purists shouldn't blame him for alterations to the character. He did his best and recognized when someone else did it better, wishing Reynolds "every success."