Deadpool 2 recently broke new ground in the superhero genre by providing us with the first ever LGBT romance in a Marvel movie, in the form of Negasonic Teenage Warhead and her girlfriend Yukio. It’s interesting to note though that the star of the film himself is canonically pansexual in the comics. But is this true of the character on the big screen as well?
Ryan Reynolds was asked this while speaking with Deadpool 2 co-star Josh Brolin (who plays Cable) at a UK press conference for the Merc with a Mouth’s recent sequel. He explained that he views Wade Wilson has having a “fluid” sexuality, even if he’s mostly a one-woman guy, as Vanessa’s (Morena Baccarin) the love of his life.
“Oh, that’s a good question. I think Deadpool’s sort of somewhat fluid, you know? Deadpool’s a guy that…There’s a lot of room in that. He’s in love with Vanessa. Vanessa’s the love of his life and that’s a key part of our story, and it’s the bedrock of everything that happens to Deadpool. But you see that he sort of exhibits these qualities throughout the course of each film. He’s a guy that’s sort of unpredictable and, like I said, he’s a little bit fluid, I think.”
Like Reynolds says, we have gotten a few hints of Deadpool’s pansexuality in the two movies that’ve been released so far. One moment from the sequel, for instance, sees him groping Colossus’ butt while going in for a hug. Obviously, this and other such scenes are played for laughs, but they do suggest that the character has an open attraction to men, women and mutants made of metal.
The way Deadpool‘s sexuality has been explored on screen has received a somewhat mixed reception from fans. Some would like for the films to more concretely depict the anti-hero as LGBT, while others think they do that well enough with scenes like the one we mentioned above. As Reynolds reminded us, though, Vanessa means the world to Wade, so it’s not like the writers can introduce a same-sex relationship into the narrative anyways.
