Disney Rejected Deadpool Short Film Script From Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Reynolds pitched a Deadpool short film that got rejected by Disney. When the media giant purchased 21st Century Fox back in 2019, all of its superhero properties returned to Marvel and it was confirmed that Deadpool would be brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) under Disney. After some fans worried about what that meant for the future of Deadpool, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that Deadpool solo films would continue to be R-rated and Reynolds would continue to play the role.

After Reynolds starred as the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine back in 2009, audiences were upset with how he was interpreted. However, a more faithful adaptation of Deadpool was in development, but Fox was hesitant about moving forward with it. After test footage leaked and Fox saw the hugely positive fan reaction, the studio officially greenlit the project. Deadpool was a critical and commercial success, leading to a sequel that hit theaters in 2018. A third movie has been confirmed, which will take place in the MCU, although the details on the project remain to be rather thin.

Related: Every Ryan Reynolds Movie Ranked From Worst to Best

In an interview with Collider, Reynolds talked about his most recent movie Free Guy. However, he spoke about how he wanted to put a short film including Deadpool at the front of Free Guy. Reynolds described the short film that he developed and wrote, which includes the character interrogating a highly controversial Disney character – the hunter who killed Bambi’s mom. Deadpool is a huge fan of the fact that the hunter managed to become the most despised Disney character and wants to know how he can do the same. Read on below for Reynolds’ full description:

“I initially asked them to do a…actually I wrote it too, a short film that I wanted to put in front of Free Guy of Deadpool interrogating the hunter who killed Bambi’s mom. And, the sort of rug-pull, they said no of course, but the rug-pull of it was that Deadpool really wanted to know the hunter’s secrets on being the most loathed Disney character there is. Deadpool was just a huge fan and wanted to find out how he too could become the most loathed Disney character, but they said no to that.”

The character of Deadpool, also known as Wade Wilson, was originally created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist/writer Rob Liefeld. He had his first appearance in The New Mutants #98. While he was originally considered to be a villain, he later was turned more into the anti-hero that he’s known as today. The character is popular for constantly breaking the fourth wall and his raunchy sense of humor. Since Deadpool is a meta character who is hyper self-aware, interacting with characters from other universes and continuities is completely in character for the anti-hero.

Given Deadpool’s tendency to break the fourth wall and find himself in meta situations, Reynolds’ short film concept is totally fitting within the character’s universe. Now that Deadpool is owned by Disney, he can now be considered a Disney character. It would make sense for him to have some sort of interaction with other Disney characters, especially one as hated as the hunter who killed Bambi’s mom. This would have been a hilarious short film to accompany Free Guy. Unfortunately, Disney is pretty careful with how they have their characters presented and likely didn’t want to have this sort of cross-over existing. Hopefully one day audiences will get to see some sort of crossover between the universes of Deadpool and Disney, which could potentially happen in some form in the next installment.

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Source: Collider

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