Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds may be the most notorious troll of superhero cinema, but Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo aren’t far behind, between their maddeningly ambiguous social media posts and the way they dangled the official title reveal in the faces of fans weeks before the actual drop. So when the pair saw that Reynolds was getting a taste of his own medicine, the Russo Brothers took the opportunity to pile on the ridicule for the recently embarrassed star while also celebrating their own history of messing with their followers.
For those unaware of the latest chapter in Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s ongoing troll war, the former took to Instagram a couple of days ago with a pair of photos of himself alongside his X-Men Origins: Wolverine co-star and Spider-Man: Far From Home actor Jake Gyllenhaal. And while Jackman and Gyllenhaal are looking pretty pleased with themselves, Reynolds appears a little despondent in his ugly Christmas outfit, with the actor explaining in the caption that he’d been tricked into thinking that he was attending a sweater party.
Since then, the Russo Brothers have made one of the images into their new Twitter profile pic, but with some key changes. Specifically, the glum-faced Reynolds has now been labeled “Fans,” while the two stars laughing at his expense are marked as “Anthony Russo” and “Joe Russo.”
After a year of fervent speculation and online hysteria, it’s impossible not to see where the Russos are coming from, even if that doesn’t make their observation any less harsh.
In any case, the filmmakers still have a few months left to go where they can keep messing with the MCU fanbase, but they’ll be yielding all their precious spoilers when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26th, 2019. As for Reynolds, there’s still time to catch the new Once Upon a Deadpool before it ends its run in theaters.