Deadpool and Wolverine did end up featuring a handful of surprise cameos (though most of them actually turned out to be minor supporting roles), but nothing compared to the amount of characters that were rumored in the build-up to the movie's release.
Director Shawn Levy has said that some fake information was released in order to throw the scoopers off, which may account for the lack of original X-Men and the Fantastic Four (minus Chris Evans' Johnny Storm).
Whether Evans' cast-mates were ever considered is not clear, but star Ryan Reynolds has now revealed that the version of Marvel's First Family we met in the notorious 2015 Fantastic Four (usually stylized as Fant4stic) reboot were!
"Yeah, that was a part of it," Reynolds tells Collider. "But like that, you're never going to get the mislead with like, Chris Evans, you know, with him doing it and the kind of license to thrill after that, with Chris. So you know, and also, we were trying to be mindful of the budget. We were trying to make the movie. We always understood it's rated R, you know. It isn't a blank check, and part of our responsibility is to return the investment that they're making in us. So I never want a budget that I don't feel like I can make good on. And the more kind of toys you start asking for and the more kind of characters you start wanting to license, the deeper in that sort of point of no return becomes."
Despite the movie flopping and being torn to shreds by critics, the movie was part of 20th Century Fox's Marvel legacy, and some shots did make it into D&W's mid-credits montage.
"We wanted that tribute reel to be reflective of the entirety of the Marvel-Fox legacy, so that meant hits, flops and everything in between," Levy said in a separate interview with the New York Times.
"Ryan and myself and our co-editors toiled over that for months and said to all our teammates, 'What sticks with you, regardless of where these movies sit on Rotten Tomatoes or cumulative box office?' Once we had an edit of that reel, thus began a multimonth process of getting person-by-person permission to use each and every one of those hundred-plus clips."
Have you been to see Deadpool and Wolverine yet? If so, what did you think? Check out our review here, and drop us a comment down below.
The MPAA gave the movie an official R-rating for: "Strong bloody violence and language throughout, gore, and sexual references."
“Marvel Studios presents their most significant mistake to date - Deadpool & Wolverine," reads the new synopsis. "A listless Wade Wilson toils away in civilian life. His days as the morally flexible mercenary, Deadpool, behind him. When his homeworld faces an existential threat, Wade must reluctantly suit-up again with an even more reluctantlier... reluctanter? Reluctantest? He must convince a reluctant Wolverine to - F*ck. Synopses are so f*cking stupid.”
In addition to Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in the title roles, Deadpool and Wolverine will see Morena Baccarin (Vanessa), Leslie Uggams (Blind Al), Rob Delaney (Peter), Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead) And Shioli Kutsuna (Yukio) return as their respective characters, and they'll be joined by franchise newcomers Emma Corrin (The Crown) and Matthew Macfadyen (Succession), who will play a TV agent and Charles Xavier's evil counterpart, Cassandra Nova.
Shawn Levy directs Deadpool and Wolverine from a script by Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Zeb Wells.