In 2012, filmmaker Tim Miller and Ryan Reynolds produced a CGI Deadpool test reel for 20th Century Fox executives as part of a pitch to finally bring a comic-accurate Wade Wilson to the big screen.
Unfortunately, the studio wasn't interested, meaning the character was left on the shelf after his previous, hugely unsatisfying (and definitely not comic-accurate) cameo role in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
During 2014's San Diego Comic-Con, the footage leaked online and received an overwhelmingly positive response from excited fans. Fox took note, and finally relented: two years later, Deadpool became a record-breaking commercial and critical hit.
We've long wondered who leaked the video. Reynolds has always played coy, but has finally admitted the truth: he posted it online...and has zero regrets!
"I'd shot test footage for it a couple years before, and the studio just didn't want anything to do with it," the actor said, confirming the footage hadn't convinced executives when they first saw it two years earlier.
"And Deadpool's a fringe character," Reynolds continued. "People didn't really know who he was, and I loved him. I was obsessed with it because I loved that he knew he was in a comic book movie. It was kind of meta, it was kind of new. But the test footage existed, and it really was a case study of how this could work. And they just wouldn't do anything with it."
"Some a**hole leaks it online and I'm like, you know, looking at the guy in the mirror brushing my teeth," he said, finally confessing what we've long suspected. "And I'm like, 'Dude, what have you done? This could be punishable by law!' But the internet forced the studio to say, 'We're gonna make this movie,' and 24 hours later, that movie had a green light."
While Reynolds has strongly hinted that he was responsible over the years, this is the first time he's outright admitted it. It's fair to say his gamble paid off, as Deadpool grossed $780 million on a $58 million budget, spawning an equally successful sequel, and a record-breaking eventual threequel, Deadpool & Wolverine, from Marvel Studios.
Reynolds is expected to reprise his role as the Merc with a Mouth in Avengers: Doomsday, and is reportedly working on an X-Force project for the post-Secret Wars MCU. The implication seems to be that Deadpool will remain his for as long as he continues playing the anti-hero.
You can relive that unforgettable Deadpool leak in the player below.