Deadpool and Wolverine could have seen the end of Wade Wilson, Ryan Reynolds reveals

Ryan Reynolds has revealed ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ could have ended with the death of Wade Wilson.

The 48-year-old actor starred opposite Hugh Jackman, 56, in the 2024 Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) blockbuster as the Merc with a Mouth, and has now revealed he and the studio seriously considered killing off the character for good in the movie.

During an appearance on ‘The Box Office’ podcast, Reynolds said: “There’s always the thought of killing Deadpool in the last one.

“Again, it’s like listening to the movie. Me, [editors] Shane Reid, Dean Zimmerman, and [director] Shawn Levy must have reworked that third act for 45 days straight.”

However, once the fight scene choreographed to Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’ entered the scene, the conversation around Deadpool’s end was dropped.

Reynolds said: “Finally figuring it out - I am such a needle-drop person, but I’m really working hard to embrace score. It was Rob Simonsen who really helped us get there by blending score, needle drop, and all these things that gave you that feeling we were working for.”

Marvel was happy with the change to Wade Wilson’s story, and expressed interest in keeping the character around for future MCU projects.

Reynolds added: “Studios are like, of course, it’d be fun to play around with this guy in the future, because he’s a cheat code.

“He can say things that everyone might be thinking, and it gets you out of trouble.”

Reflecting on ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’, Reynolds said he was happy with the movie, and described it as an “emotionally resonant” send-off to 20th Century Fox’s Marvel universe - which concluded in 2019 with the X-Men film ‘Dark Phoenix’.

He explained: “I liked the misdirect for audiences, thinking [Deadpool] was entering the MCU, who are we going to see? We got Jon Favreau! And then nope, nope, nobody else. We looked back instead of forward.

“For us, it was emotionally resonant to have a send-off, an acknowledgement of what got us to here. Warts and all, the movies that didn’t work, the movies that worked.”

It has also recently been revealed Deadpool’s story may not be over with ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’, with Reynolds now said to be in the early stages of exploring a team-up movie featuring the anti-hero and the X-Men.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the ‘Free Guy’ actor is working on a Marvel film that would see Deadpool take more of a supporting role alongside three or four X-Men characters.

Reynolds had previously said he was unsure of Deadpool’s future following ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’, though was open to the idea of playing the character again in an ensemble film.

Speaking to Andrew Garfield for Variety’s ‘Actors on Actors’, he said: “Honestly, my feeling is that the character works very well in two ways. One is scarcity and surprise.

“I don’t know what the future of Deadpool will be, but I do know that we made the movie to be a complete experience instead of a commercial for another one.

“Deadpool's a supporting character much more than he is the centre. We centre him sometimes because that's what they want but you can't centre him unless you take everything away from him.

“You have to create a situation where he's so much the underdog. I don't think I can do that again. If he comes back, it’s gonna be in someone else’s movie.”