Deadpool 2 really put the Merc with a Mouth through the ringer. Before Celine Dion got to belt out her ballad in the opening credits, Wade Wilson’s beloved fiancee Vanessa had been murdered by mobsters out for revenge. DP then spent the rest of the movie struggling to come to terms with her death, before eventually finding himself a new family by its closing moments.
Except that the post-credits scene then found a way to bring Vanessa back to life, after all. Thanks to Cable’s repaired time-travel device, Deadpool was able to go back to the moment she was killed and save her. Due to the crazy nature of the scenes that came after this one, however, we weren’t sure at first whether it was considered part of the movie’s canon – though it’s since been confirmed by the writers that it is.
It turns out, though, that this wasn’t originally the plan. In the initial version of Deadpool 2, Vanessa’s death was permanent. In fact, the tragic ending even got through test screenings in tact as audiences were surprisingly accepting of the character’s exit.
Screenwriter Rhett Reese explained to CBR:
“We originally did not save her. It was interesting — we thought we might have to save her with the time machine, because the audience would be mad at us, but they were accepting of her being dead.”
Reese’s co-writer, Paul Wernick, then added that it was tough to go through the motions of killing off Vanessa, which is most likely what led them to decide to bring her back via the gift of time travel at the end of the movie.
“It was a difficult decision, but one, story-wise, that we felt we had to make, and then we got to have our cake and eat it too by bringing her back to life at the very end.”
While it has to be good news that Morena Baccarin’s character is still alive, and will hopefully reappear in the incoming X-Force, Vanessa’s resurrection has received a mixed reception. Whether you dress it up with lots of fourth wall breaking humor or not, bringing her back is kind of a cop-out and does cheapen the actually quite moving ending of Deadpool 2 a bit, don’t you think?
