Shawn Levy, Ryan Reynolds, and Hugh Jackman On The Easter Eggs You May Have Missed in Deadpool and Wolverine!

Deadpool & Wolverine took the world by storm this past July and continues to do so. The film surpassed Barbie as the 12th highest-grossing release ever at the domestic box office. If you’re ready to re-watch the film on repeat on streaming, today is your lucky day – Deadpool & Wolverine is officially on Disney+ today, four months after its theatrical release. 

Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is offered a place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by the Time Variance Authority, but instead recruits a variant of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to save his universe from extinction. The film’s writer and director Shawn Levy, along with the hysterical duo of Reynolds and Jackman, sat down at the Critics Choice Press Conference to divulge more details into how the beloved film came to fruition.

The idea for Deadpool & Wolverine was first announced in 2020, leaving fans on pins and needles for four years. Though fans didn’t know what the premise of the film was going to be until its release, the one sure-fire plot point was that this film was going to be a farewell to the 20th Century Fox Marvel movies and a way to usher iconic characters fans have grown to love over the years into Disney's MCU. “Very early on, one of our first decisions was Wolverine's going to be in the yellow suit, no matter what. We're going to have to figure out why he's in the yellow suit,” explained Reynolds. “It can't just because it looks cool or we wanted it for so long.”

Reynolds continued: “And then the other one was that we are going to acknowledge a bygone era, both personally and for fans. I mean, for us, we all cut our chops in the 20th Century Fox universe and world. And the fact that it was sort of at this point gone, or at least pseudo gone, for us felt like a huge opportunity to play in that sandbox, which is not a sandbox people are expecting to see.”

The most admired aspect of the film were the plethora of seminal cameos. “One of the things that I loved as we were writing the script was finding ways to create not just surprise and delight and emotion, but also create redemption. I think redemption is one of the most powerful ideas and feelings in the world,” Reynolds exclaimed. “And I'm particularly proud of, and this also answers that question, the hardest one to get, I think would've been Wesley Snipes as Blade.”

“On a micro level, I would say, I don't think there's another human face that could make that Gambit’s cowl work,” Levy chimed in. In 2015, Fox gave the Gambit film an October 2016 release date. Over several months, Channing Tatum approached multiple directors to direct the film, but they all turned him down. Years later, Tatum was finally able to live out his dream and portray Remy LeBeau, otherwise known as the skilled card-thrower Gambit. What turned out to be a huge loss for other directors worked in Levy’s favor, as fans have been impatiently requesting a Gambit movie with Tatum ever since they laid eyes on him in Deadpool & Wolverine.

When writing the script, there wasn’t a doubt in Levy’s mind that the cameos would work. In terms of who they would pull in was the question as they were awaiting a firm “yes” from the actors. “For instance, Human Torch and specifically the misdirect of Chris Evans, who we expect will be Cap, but is in fact Johnny Storm, that was a Wernick and Reese, our co-writers,” Levy explained. “That was in an early draft. That was their idea. And it never budged. We knew that's an A plus surprise.”

“Wesley [Snipes] was the tricky one because I worked with him 20 something years ago on Blade 3. Obviously, that didn't land the way we'd or he'd hoped or I'd hoped or anyone. So, that was a bit tricky. And I think it took Wes a bit of time to sort of trust me because Deadpool's such a mischievous, little squirrely kind of character,” Reynolds added. “But then when Wesley was on board, that was the thing that, again, that redemption, giving an audience something that they miss but don't know they miss is such a special experience to be in a theater with and watch. And Wesley is just so iconic and so deserved to have this moment. I hope that they do a Logan-esque send-off for Wesley as Blade, which I don't think would ever interfere with Mahershala's version of Blade.”

In addition to the multitude of cameos, fans were also treated to an excess of Easter eggs throughout the film, some of which you may have missed the first time around. “In the opening credits, I kick Wolverine's Adamantium skull towards the camera and you see the jaw open,” said Reynolds. “In the back of the throat we engraved 24601, [Jackman’s] prisoner number from Les Mis.” Levy funnily added, “That's what we call a deep cut.”

To catch all the Easter eggs you may have missed, revisit the hilarious Deadpool & Wolverine on Disney+.