From the moment it was announced, Deadpool & Wolverine became one of the most anticipated upcoming Marvel movies, and was quickly the subject of a variety of rumors. There was so much talk about potential Deadpool 3 cameos that it was impossible to tell what was real and what wasn’t, and it seems there was very nearly a plan to handle that confusion surrounding the release of the movie. And the ultimate result would've been a wild bit, which Ryan Reynolds "still wishes" was in the movie.
Considering how massive a production like this is, keeping everything under wraps would be a tough task. Of course, not all movies have the widely creative mind of Ryan Reynolds fueling them. The actor recently appeared on Hot Ones and explained that he had a plan to avoid spoiling Deadpool & Wolverine that was so secret that even co-star Hugh Jackman wasn’t aware of it. The idea was to produce a fake movie that was so intentionally bad that few would go see it. And the rest of Reynolds' proposed plan would've involved a massive surprise:
The original idea with this movie to shoot a fake movie called Alpha Cop that was intentionally bad. I even had one of the posters made — it was about two guys who are sharing one brain and together they make the ultimate cop. And the poster says, ‘Alpha Cop: Two Cops, One Brain. All Balls.
On the one hand, one can see that not even telling anybody that you were actually releasing Deadpool & Wolverine would have likely prevented people from digging too deep into the film. And going to the level of making marketing materials, and probably at least filming a trailer, would have made it seem like this was just some random movie. It’s unclear if this fictional movie would have starred the Ghosted lead or not.
It’s an interesting idea, because it wouldn’t be the first time it was suggested that a Ryan Reynolds movie might have been more than it seemed. Several years ago, there was a rumor that Reynolds’ movie with Michael Bay, 6 Underground was actually a secret Thundercats movie. It wasn’t, of course but, if anybody did get curious about Alpha Cop and suggested it was something else, it might have been easily dismissed by fans since a similar situation already occurred and was debunked.
The Canadian actor indicates that the reason he and his collaborators didn't go through with the Alpha Cop idea was simply because the odds of success were so low. If at any point the truth came out, even just before release, the whole process would have been a waste of time.
Deadpool & Wolverine Review: A Fan Service-Loaded Mess, But A Hilarious Fan Service-Loaded Mess
Speaking of leaks and speculation, every possible Deadpool 3 cameo under the sun was rumored at one point or another. And yet, the leading man and producer says he's quite happy because many of the film's biggest moments had somehow made it to the end without being spoiled. Maybe the Cop idea would have worked after all.
One does have to wonder how something like this could have played out if the production had been successful in keeping itself entirely secret. I can imagine a small handful of people going to see this strange Alpha Cop movie during a Thursday evening preview. Those people are then madly posting to social media (after the movie was over we’d hope) to inform the world that AC was actually Deadpool & Wolverine.
Leaks are a major source of concern for studios, because it's feared that they can actually impact the box office. Hugh Jackman knows all about that. He's mentioned the leak of X-Men: Origins - Wolverine, which was a complete cut (albeit with unfinished digital effects) leaked online just before the film's release. Of course, there are also potential upsides, as whoever leaked the original Deadpool test footage can attest.
In an Instagram Stories post, Reynolds says “Still wish we could have done this.” Perhaps we should all give any future Ryan Reynolds movies closer examination. They may not all be what they appear to be at first.
