"This Could Be Punishable By Law": Ryan Reynolds FINALLY Reveals Who Leaked The DEADPOOL Test Footage In 2014

"This Could Be Punishable By Law": Ryan Reynolds FINALLY Reveals Who Leaked The DEADPOOL Test Footage In 2014

In 2014, leaked Deadpool test footage finally convinced 20th Century Fox to make a movie revolving around the Merc with a Mouth. Now, Ryan Reynolds has revealed who was responsible for posting it online...

By JoshWilding - Sep 06, 2025 02:09 PM EST
Filed Under: Deadpool
Source: Entertainment Weekly

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. 

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HistoryofMatt
HistoryofMatt - 9/6/2025, 2:11 PM
Tom Rothman was definitely the disease. An absolute piece of crap.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 9/6/2025, 2:13 PM
@HistoryofMatt - truly and that [frick]er now runs SONY lmao

The definition of failing upwards.
MGSSnake1988
MGSSnake1988 - 9/6/2025, 2:42 PM
@HistoryofMatt - He probably saved the entire X-Men crew from Bryan Singer's abusive behavior during the making of the first two X-Men films.
HistoryofMatt
HistoryofMatt - 9/6/2025, 2:55 PM
@MGSSnake1988 - Tom Rothman is the reason why we never got the real X-Men costumes. He's the reason why we never got Sentinals. He's the reason why we never actually see the X-Men use their full powers, ever, in any of the X-Men movies.

The man is quoted as saying he hates comic books and powers, yet was the decision maker for so many comic book movies.
JacobsLadder
JacobsLadder - 9/6/2025, 3:31 PM
@HistoryofMatt - I firmly believe that Kathleen Kennedy hates Star Wars and Indiana Jones. There is no other explanation for her complete destruction of those franchises. She made it her goal to burn them into the ground and she did with a smile.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 9/6/2025, 2:15 PM
Even though I hate monopolies, I’m glad Disney bought Fox. Fox was so painfully incompetent and never deserved to have the IP in the first place.

Same goes for shitty ass SONY and surprise! The same same idiot who ran FOX to the ground is now running SONY to the ground.
Oberlin4Prez
Oberlin4Prez - 9/6/2025, 2:22 PM
@TheLobster - yeah, they should have let Marvel go belly up by not buying the rights. That would have shown them.
GeneralZod
GeneralZod - 9/6/2025, 2:33 PM
@TheLobster - Fox and Sony were experts at putting out turds, but the self-vandalization that Disney has inflicted on the Marvel, Star Wars and Indiana Jones IPs the last five years ... i don't think Disney, right now, is any better than Fox or Sony.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 9/6/2025, 3:12 PM
@Oberlin4Prez - you act like Fox paid a fair price to Marvel and were saviors. They came in and got a deal and I don’t blame em but they knew nothing about what they’re doing so [frick] em
TheLobster
TheLobster - 9/6/2025, 3:13 PM
@GeneralZod - I didn’t mind their Indiana Jones tbh but I can’t argue with Star Wars aside from Andor haha

I think Disney puts out a lot of shit but I still think Sony and Fox takes the cake overall
JacobsLadder
JacobsLadder - 9/6/2025, 3:33 PM
@GeneralZod - at all. Disney does it with hate for the fans in their heart. Sony and Fox were just inept. Disney is [frick]ing evil.
Oberlin4Prez
Oberlin4Prez - 9/6/2025, 3:52 PM
@TheLobster - they paid the price that Marvel agreed to. Thus, in Marvel’s eyes, they paid a fair price at the time. Sure it was born out of desperation, but Fox is t responsible for the hole they found themselves in at the time. If Marvel didn’t want to sell they could have tried elsewhere or let it sink into nothing. But they didn’t. No one held a gun to anyone’s head.
FinnishDude
FinnishDude - 9/6/2025, 4:43 PM
@TheLobster - Ironic thing is, I feel a lot of Fox produced movies, which people look back as pretty good to outright good, would be hated by those same people, if released today with Marvel Studios logo and Kevin Feige as the credited producer.
Malatrova15
Malatrova15 - 9/6/2025, 2:21 PM
Man ..Big shot companies aré so cool
OrgasmicPotatoe
OrgasmicPotatoe - 9/6/2025, 2:30 PM
Aaaah, the Deapool and Ant-Man leaked test footage... those were the days !
Nolanite
Nolanite - 9/6/2025, 2:50 PM
I also leaked the footage online right before he did.

Come after me Fox.

Nolanite out
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 9/6/2025, 2:55 PM
I mean in hindsight , I would have no regrets either considering how much it’s changed Reynolds career aswell as the critical & commercial success of the franchise itself so kudos to Ryan for doing something risky!!.

Anyway , the test footage itself is still fun and really shows how much influence it had in the final product from the bridge setting , certain lines etc.
Laridian
Laridian - 9/6/2025, 3:07 PM
Honestly, it was brilliant. It got the public clamoring for a real film in that style and the studios took notice.
TheVisionary27
TheVisionary27 - 9/6/2025, 3:54 PM
@Laridian - Just remember Reynolds as Deadpool also stated that he had to fondle someone’s balls just to get the movie greenlit. This might seem like just another throwaway line in the script but the truth is always stranger than fiction.
Laridian
Laridian - 9/6/2025, 3:57 PM
@TheVisionary27 - Right, I believe it rhymes with 'Pulverine' lol
Spike101
Spike101 - 9/6/2025, 3:20 PM
Just goes to show these studios really have little or no idea, success comes to them by chance.
JacobsLadder
JacobsLadder - 9/6/2025, 3:29 PM
Studio executives know nothing.

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