Did Ryan Reynolds Just Reveal The (Presumably Old) Plot Of 'Deadpool 3'?
Despite originating at 20th Century Fox before the studio was bought by the Walt Disney Company, the Deadpool franchise will continue in the hands of Marvel Studios. We've already gotten confirmation that Deadpool 3 is in development, and it will stick with the R-rated, irreverent approach to superhero movies that fans loved so much in the first two installments. However, if a recent post on Twitter from Ryan Reynolds is to be believed, the merger may have made us miss out on a very different version of Deadpool 3 that would have involved Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.
Here's what Ryan Reynolds posted to Twitter today in honor of the Bell Let's Talk mental health awareness campaign:
It's critical to have open, honest and healthy discussions around mental health. By retweeting #BellLetsTalk you can make a difference. In case that's not enough, before Disney bought Fox, Deadpool 3 was gonna be a road trip between Deadpool and Logan. Rashomon style. For real.
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) January 28, 2021
For those who don't know, Bell Let's Talk is a wide-reaching, multi-year program designed to break the silence and stigma around mental illness and support mental health all across Canada (find out more here). Since Reynolds is proudly Canadian and a passionate supporter of mental health awareness all over the world, he went out of his way to bring attention to the worthy cause. In order to make sure that the message went a little further, he included that little tidbit about Deadpool 3.
"Rashomon-style" refers a method of storytelling where the same event is recounted by several characters, but the stories differ in many ways that are impossible to reconcile. Each version of the story is subjective, alternative, and often self-serving, and contradictory, making it difficult to decipher who is telling the most accurate version of the story. The term comes from the short story Rashomon, which was also adapted into an iconic 1950 film of the same name by Akira Kurosawa.
Imagining a Deadpool 3 where the Merc with a Mouth is on a road trip with Logan, and we hear (at least) two different versions of the same story sounds like it would have been awesome. Even more surprising is the fact that Hugh Jackman was likely on board to return as Wolverine if this was the plot of the entire movie. Considering the character's fate in Logan, this probably would have taken place before the events of that movie. Perhaps Logan's lowly state in that finale film could have been attributed partially to being forced to go on a road trip with Deadpool.
This makes us wonder exactly what kind of road trip that Deadpool and Logan would have to embark upon together. There's no storyline from Marvel Comics that immediately comes to mind that would spark a road trip, but Deadpool and Wolverine have frequently fought throughout their comic book history. Just the idea of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman being at each other's throats is worth the price of admission, so they could be on their way to see a Nickelback concert for all we care. Anything would be better than the last time we saw Deadpool and Logan fight each other in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
We'll admit that there's a chance that Ryan Reynolds might be joking about this concept. But it would be weird for him to use Deadpool 3 to call attention to a worthy cause if it was merely a lie. After all, he does say "for real" at the end, and we don't think Ryan Reynolds, an all-around nice Canadian man, would be so bold as to be dishonest when using that phrase. It's just a shame that we're not likely to see this idea come to fruition now that the 20th Century Fox X-Men franchise is done.