Ryan Reynolds has worked on a lot of comic book franchises over the years, ranging from the Deadpool series to X-Men Origins: Wolverine to Blade: Trinity. He even worked in the DC universe on 2011's Green Lantern, but it turns out that he actually wanted to play another DC hero prior to that. CinemaBlend was in attendance at the Deadpool 2 Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con when Reynolds addressed this, and he explained to the crowd that he had wanted to play the Wally West Flash at one point. Reynolds said:
I would say Wolverine, but God, I would be terrible. Honestly, I wanted to be the Flash -- the Wally West version -- but I think all of those ships have sailed.
Wolverine probably never would've happened in a million years (Reynolds doesn't even look like Wolverine), but Wally West is something interesting to think about. Arguably one of the most famous iterations of The Flash (particularly to kids from the 1990s and 2000s), Wally is the third major iteration of the hero, graduating from his role as Kid Flash to take over for Barry Allen. He's the fastest Flash of any hero to take on the mantle, and his wisecracking personality has endeared him to audiences for years.
It's actually fairly easy to see how Ryan Reynolds could be a perfect choice for a live-action take on Wally West. After all, the Deadpool star is known for his comedy chops, and Wally is often portrayed as a fast-talking joker on the Justice League roster. In fact, you can check out some perfect examples of that characterization, below!
Nowadays, the world of The Flash has evolved considerably. Though there is a Wally West in the Arrow-verse, portrayed by Keiynan Lonsdale, the DCEU is working with a much younger Barry Allen played by Ezra Miller, which means any possible silver screen Wally could be a long way off and likely not suited for the 41-year-old Ryan Reynolds.
In the end, it looks like Ryan Reynolds will probably never get a chance to play Wally West in a live-action movie. That said, he's still kicking ass and taking names as Deadpool, so we will bring you more information related to that particular corner of the X-Men universe as new details are made available to us. Beyond that, make sure to head over to our movie premiere guide to get more details on this year's major film release dates!
