Despite the radically different tones between the X-Men movies and the upcoming Deadpool, it was confirmed last year the the heroic mutants and the Merc With The Mouth exist in the same universe. Rumors about Wolverine possibly appearing in Deadpool led to some fans wondering whether we may see a crossover between the anti-hero and the mutant group. However, according to Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds, this would be difficult to accomplish.
During an interview with Screen Rant, Reynolds cited Wade Wilson’s fourth wall breaking tendencies as the chief obstacle to pairing him with the superhero team. Said Reynolds:
It would be kind of hard, wouldn’t it? Because you have a character – let’s say you have a character who knows he’s in a comic book movie, that sort of breaks the fourth wall [and] has a tendency to kind of say people’s real names instead of their characters’ names. How do you introduce that into another universe that…does not do that? So…I don’t know. I’d be curious to say. I’m not saying that’s not going to happen. I don’t know if it’s going to happen. I would love to see that.
It’s worth noting that one of main characters in Deadpool is Colossus, played by Andre Tricoteux, but it’s unclear just how much of Colossus’ history with the X-Men will be alluded to in the film. Other mutants in Deadpool include Vanessa Carlysle (a.k.a. Copycat), Angel Dust, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, but these characters have little to no ties to the X-Men, so there’s no need to worry about the other films using them. Reynolds’ point about Deadpool referring to the characters as their actors’ names is also astute. If the smart-mouthed mercenary ran into Professor X and Magneto, I would chuckle if he called them Patrick and Ian, or even more hilariously, Picard and Gandalf.
All this being said, if Deadpool is successful at the box office next year, it’s hard to believe that 20th Century Fox won’t at least consider pairing the Merc With The Mouth with the mutant franchise. Although X-Men: Apocalypse is serving as the “conclusion” to the six X-Men films, the cinematic universe as a whole is only just getting started with films like Gambit and New Mutants on the way. Deadpool’s quirkiness and reality perception is an obstacle, but one that could be dealt with if the creative minds put their heads to work. Don’t lie to yourself, it would be great to see him annoy the hell out of the X-Men while they’re on a mission, just like in the comics.
Fans can look forward to Deadpool hitting theaters on February 12, 2016.
