‘Deadpool 2’ tidies up the past
SPOILER ALERT! The following contains details about the ending of Deadpool 2.
Ryan Reynolds is no longer in the darkest time line.
Thanks to a laugh-out-loud midcredits sequence in Deadpool 2 (now playing), the actor has been absolved of his ill-fated turns in Green Lantern and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
In Deadpool 2, we’re introduced to cyborg mutant Cable (Josh Brolin), who uses his time-traveling device’s last charge to save frenemy Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool (Reynolds), during a climactic battle. Afterward, Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) fixes the machine and regretfully hands it off to Deadpool, who, in a meta move, uses it to “clean up the time lines” for both himself and Reynolds.
He starts out by going back in time to save his girlfriend, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), and X-Force member Peter (Rob Delaney), both of whom were killed in the sequel.
Next, he hops to 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, in which Reynolds played a much different looking-version of the Merc.
Just as Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and old Deadpool are about to face off, new Deadpool walks in and fires a round of bullets into his character’s fan-hated original iteration.
Deadpool wraps his crusade with a visit to circa 2009, where Reynolds has just finished reading the script for flop Green Lantern. “You’re welcome, Canada,” the Merc says as he shoots the actor in the head.
Reynolds thought of the self-deprecating coda after editing on Deadpool 2 was finished.
“That idea had to come from me — otherwise, I’m not sure anyone else would feel comfortable suggesting Reynolds says.
“It was weirdly nerve-racking because in some ways, the sequence sort of unravels some of the story that we just painstakingly told over the course of the movie.
“But it was also such an opportunity that we felt like, ‘Let’s just go for it. Let’s just throw all the chips down on the table and then go all in.’ It was a lot of fun to do.”
Reynolds says the most difficult part was editing new Deadpool into old footage from X-Men Origins, given that it was shot on film. But first he ran the idea by his good friend, Jackman.
“He’s a lot like me, in that he loves laughing at himself and likes how Deadpool’s antagonistic relationship with Wolverine is actually steeped in a lot of love,” Reynolds says.
Wolverine also makes an appearance at the beginning of the movie — albeit in toy form — as Deadpool curses the fallen mutant and plays a music box, which is topped by an impaled figurine of the character from last year’s Logan.
“I have the Logan music box at home. It’s sort of a memento,” Reynolds says. “But now that you bring it up, its rightful owner is Hugh Jackman. I should probably hand it over.” it,”