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Early Deadpool Drafts Included Taskmaster And Wolverine; Secret Marvel Cameo Revealed

As the record-shattering box office figures and fever-pitch buzz attest, Deadpool was the R-rated movie that could. Against all odds, Tim Miller's anti-hero origins tale emerged from a prolonged period in development to critical adulation, though during the early stages numerous ideas were tossed at the drawing board, including other X-Men beyond Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead.

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As the record-shattering box office figures and fever-pitch buzz attest, Deadpool was the R-rated movie that could. Against all odds, Tim Miller’s anti-hero origins tale emerged from a prolonged period in development to critical adulation, though during the early stages numerous ideas were tossed at the drawing board, including other X-Men beyond Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead.

According to Ryan Reynolds, while the script was being finalized, both Taskmaster and Wolverine featured in early drafts of Deadpool, though they were ultimately cut because they were either deemed too expensive, or their inclusion would subsequently affect other films in Fox’s cinematic universe.

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Appearing on the Empire spoilercast for the film, here’s what Reynolds had to share on the matter:

“We had endless [conversations about other X-Men]. Taskmaster was in the script originally, too expensive. We had versions where we wanted Hugh Jackman in there, we wanted all kinds of cameos from different people, but it just becomes a big mess for the studio.”

There’s also a fleeting update on how the script for Deadpool 2 is progressing, with the actor revealing that, unsurprisingly, Fox is keen to put the gun-toting mercenary back to work.

“We are on a script, we are well into a script. Fox is likely eager to put the mercenary back to work with how well he’s currently doing at the box office.”

In related news, fans continue to unearth new cameos and easter eggs from Tim Miller’s riotous feature, with a recent fan-made video highlighting no less than 100 winks and nudges to the audience. There was, however, one Marvel character that writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick snuck in largely undetected. Slight spoilers to follow in the interview that Cinema Blend hosted with Reese and Wernick, as it involves Rob Hayter’s character of Bob from the third act.

That’s why he’s just called Bob. The hardcore fans will go, ‘Oh my God, is that Hydra Bob?’ but the lawyers at Marvel won’t go, ‘Wait, that’s Hydra Bob, they don’t have the rights to it.’ We did take some liberties. Fox has a list of characters that they own and that we can use, and Simon Kinberg, who is a producer on the project, is the keeper of the X universe. So he was a great source for us in knowing what we can use, how it’s going to play into the larger story, and overall arching stories of the X universe. So between Simon and legal, they kind of guided us to what we can and can’t do or have access to, and then it was up to us to see how we were going to use those characters creatively, once we knew we really did have the rights.

Deadpool is currently laying siege to box office records in theaters now, but with a sequel already locked down, you can check out which characters we’d like to see rub shoulders with the Merc With a Mouth in a future outing.