Deadpool & Wolverine was the event of the decade. It was one of the most anticipated films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a long time, and it certainly lived up to its hype. Among some of the most iconic cameos, scenes, and interactions, were some of the most hilarious fourth-wall breaks in the entire series.
Several of Deadpool’s jokes were targeted towards the Marvel-Fox deal, the recent decline of the franchise, and even challenged Disney in the film itself. It is safe to assume that these jokes took a lot of convincing when it comes to Marvel executives.
During an interview, Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, and Shawn Levy revealed how they convinced Marvel and Disney to put these jokes in and how surprised they were when they were actually able to.
Deadpool & Wolverine Tried Its Luck
Deadpool has a very common habit of breaking the fourth wall in the most meta ways possible. He makes fun of Ryan Reynolds’ failures, Marvel’s failures, and past movies. Fans expected that the third film in the series would be a little more tame, considering how it would technically come under Disney. However, restraint isn’t something Wade Wilson practices.
During a recent interview with GetFandom, Hugh Jackman, Reynolds, and Shawn Levy were asked to reveal a line that they were sure would be rejected by Disney and Kevin Feige but ended up making it. Reynolds started by joking that all of the lines in the film were in this category for him.
All of the lines. All the lines that are in the movie. And the lines that we were going to put in the movie.
He seemed to be convinced that the studios would not like being the butt of these jokes and would reject any offer they made. However, a majority of what they wanted to put in ended up staying. Levy also commented on the subject, revealing that he was also in shock about how much Marvel let them put into the film as well as revealing what Feige’s reaction was to these jokes.
Hugh Jackman and Shawn Levy Surprised At How Much They Got Away With
Shawn Levy started by mentioning some specific instances that made it into the film that he was quite nervous about. Taking an example, he mentioned that when Wolverine and Deadpool were at the TVA and the latter made a nod at Marvel’s recent decline, they were convinced that Kevin Feige would not let them put that joke in.
There are so many jokes that I still can’t believe Marvel let us do. When Deadpool says to Wolverine, ‘Welcome to the MCU, you’re joining at a bit of a low point.’ That’s up there. And, when Deadpool was like, ‘Can we just be done with the whole Multiverse? It’s just miss, after miss, after miss.’
He was also worried about the joke that made a dig at how Marvel has been handling the multiverse concept. Their fear made a lot of sense, as calling out Marvel’s recent failures could certainly anger those who were trying to make the franchise work now.
And I remember when Ryan and I showed the scene to Kevin Feige, and we were kind of like cringing at what his reaction would be. But he laughed his a*s off, and that’s when we realized if it’s funny, it’s all good.
However, the reaction that Feige had to these jokes made Levy understand where the line was. He understood that as long as the digs were funny, they could do as they wanted with the film. Hugh Jackman was also quite astonished at how forgiving Marvel was with their attacks.
They were really pretty amazing. There were some times on set, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s definitely not going to make the cut. Oh no, it’s in the movie.
It would seem that during filming, there were multiple occasions where Jackman would hear or tell a joke and then expect it to be removed in post-production. However, all of them ended up staying in the film, and fans could not be happier about it.
