It may be a long, long time before we ever get to see Deadpool and Wolverine in a movie together that isn't X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but at least this weekend we get the next closest thing. In the last few months, Ryan Reynolds decided to throw on his Merc With The Mouth costume once again and filmed a short film called "No Good Deed," and that short started playing in front of Logan screenings everywhere starting Thursday night. It's a fun bit of superhero comedy, but also in true Deadpool fashion, it's loaded up with Easter Eggs.
From beginning to end, the Deadpool 2 teaser short is loaded up with funny in-jokes and references... and in case any of them have escaped you, we've decided to catalogue all of the big ones that we noticed. But before we dive in, you can give the short another watch below (or watch it for the first time if you haven't seen it yet!)
All caught up now? Good! Let's dive into all of those juicy, juicy, Easter Eggs, shall we?
"Angel Of The Morning" by Juice Newton
Fun fact: those of you who have only seen the internet version of the "No Good Deed" short are missing out on the same experience being had by viewers who are seeing the short play before screenings of Logan. It's actually the case that the online cut is longer, but the one in theaters has some different musical cues... including the very first one. In the internet version, Ryan Reynolds's Wade Wilson is listening to "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" by John Parr while walking along the street, but on the big screen that music is subbed out for "Angel Of The Morning" by Juice Newton - the same song that plays during the opening credits of the Deadpool movie. Why did it have to change? It's probably a rights thing. But the good news is that right now you still have the opportunity to experience both versions.
Logan
Of all the Easter Eggs on this list, this is by far the most on the nose. After all, anyone who knows about Deadpool at this point knows about Hugh Jackman's final turn as Wolverine, and the signs -- literally -- connecting the new Deadpool 2 teaser to the new blockbuster are obvious. In the short, the marquee at the movie theater behind Wade Wilson's phone booth reads that Logan screenings are starting tonight, which naturally is a reference to the fact that the short was included as an appetizer during showings nationwide. Additionally, you can see a poster for Logan behind Deadpool as he examines the dead old man that the mugger has left stranded in an alley.
"Superman Theme" by John Williams
Superhero themes truly don't get more iconic than John Williams original score for Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie, and you'd think that Warner Bros. wouldn't love the idea of it being used in connection to a competing studio's franchise. And yet the beautiful, epic track is played as Deadpool tries to leap into action and stop a mugging following a quick costume change. Of course, the whole phone booth gag is taken directly from Superman mythos, but the fact that "No Good Deed" features the authentic music is a feather in its cap. We have no idea how it came together, but that doesn't make us love it any less.
"Nathan Summers Cumming Soon"
With the start of production on Deadpool 2 still an undetermined amount of time away, 20th Century Fox has not yet announced who will be playing the part of Nathan Summers a.k.a. Cable in the highly anticipated sequel. That being said, much like the post-credits stinger on Deadpool's first movie, there is an Easter Egg in the "No Good Deed" teaser that once again teases his arrival. Spelled as sophomorically as possible "Nathan Summers Cumming Soon" can be read on the side of the side of the phone booth while Wade is trying to quickly change into his superhero outfit.
Who is Laird?
Remember what I was saying about the theatrical version of "No Good Deed" being slightly different than the one that has arrived online? Well, this is part of that. In the version on the big screen, Deadpool doesn't take the extra second to place a phone call. Instead, this is an Easter Egg exclusively found in the Internet Cut. During the short, Deadpool unsuccessfully tries to place a call to Laird, who he later describes as his "costumer." This is odd given that Angus Strathie is credited as the costume designer on the first Deadpool movie, so maybe Laird was an uncredited hand on set who helped with the suit? Just because of its oddness we feel like this must be an Easter Egg, but it's also an open-ended mystery.
Firefly Posters
Deadpool was a project once thought to be dead that was brought back to life, so the inclusion of Firefly posters in the Deadpool 2 teaser must be a sign of the return of Joss Whedon's cancelled-too-soon sci-fi series, right? Well, that's some wishful thinking, but no. Instead, there is a much more obvious answer, which is that it's a reference to Deadpool star Morena Baccarin. Long before she was playing a prostitute and love interest to Wade Wilson in the 2016 comic book film, she was playing a "Companion" flying around the stars in the ship Serenity on the cult show. Baccarin herself doesn't make an appearance in the short film, but it's still nice that she's somewhat represented.
Stan Lee!
For whatever reason, Stan Lee never appeared in any of the Wolverine movies, but he still keeps his cameo count climbing with his quick moment in the "No Good Deed" Deadpool short. After the Merc With The Mouth hops out of his phone booth fully costumed, it's the legendary Marvel Comics co-founder who is the first to spot him and yells out, "Hey, nice suit!" Unfortunately, it's not a compliment that Deadpool willingly accepts, telling the former editor to "Zip it." There's only two questions I'm left with: is Stan Lee here playing the same part he did in the first Deadpool movie, and if so, does that mean that Stan Lee himself in the X-Men universe is an announcer at a strip club?
"You're So Cool" by Hans Zimmer
Years before he was writing superhero themes for Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, Hans Zimmer collaborated with Tony Scott on the Quentin Tarantino-scripted crime film True Romance, and wound up crafting a wonderful bit of music that is really wonderful even outside the context of the excellent film. It's Zimmer's theme that plays as Deadpool examines the dead body in the alley, and while it doesn't really have any direct context, it is still a welcomed movie reference. That marimba beat is remarkably soothing, which perfectly off-sets the death and violence in the Deadpool 2 teaser, and really the only problem with hearing it is the fact that it so easily gets stuck in your head.
The Old Man And The Sea
Of all the Easter Eggs featured in "No Good Deed," the final one is certainly the most odd. For absolutely no reason that can be precisely determined, the short film doesn't end with credits, but instead what reads like Deadpool's recap of Ernest Hemingway's book "The Old Man And The Sea." Comic book fans know that the anti-hero has tangled with important pieces of literature in the past, as the miniseries "Deadpool Killustrated" had him facing down Huckleberry Finn, Moby Dick, Sherlock Holmes, Ebenezer Scrooge and more, but The Old Man And The Sea is new territory.
