As was previously rumored, Deadpool 2‘s opening scene kicks off with a shocking death – Wade Wilson’s fiancee Vanessa, to be precise. Morena Baccarin’s character was a major part of the 2016 original but here, she’s quickly killed off in order to fuel a new emotional arc for the Merc with a Mouth.
In other words, she’s been “fridged,” the all too common comic book trope of the hero’s girlfriend dying just to further their loved one’s story. It was disappointing that something as subversive as this franchise usually is was playing this cliche straight… but maybe we should have had more faith. Deadpool 2‘s post-credits scenes appear to undo Vanessa’s death, promising a full reappearance from her in the next film.
Specifically, Wade gets a chance to fix some of his mistakes from earlier in the movie by using Cable’s time-spinner to go back to the past. Naturally, the first thing he does is save Vanessa from the mobsters that killed her. If the credits ended with this, we’d have no doubt that it means she’s back for good. However, things get a lot crazier from here, which makes us question if these scenes should be taken as canon.
Specifically, DP goes on to use the time-spinner to cross dimensions. First, he stops by X-Men Origins: Wolverine in order to kill that alternate version of himself that almost stopped his big screen adventures before they’d even begun. Lastly, Deadpool kills his alter ego, actor Ryan Reynolds, just before he can sign up to make DC’s much-maligned Green Lantern. Still, as ridiculous as these two scenes are, let’s hope they don’t undercut Vanessa’s rescue.
If she is indeed alive again, where could her character go next? Well, the couple are planning on having a child together, so this seems like a sound bet for either Deadpool 3 or X-Force. Especially because Deadpool 2 writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have said that this was supposed to happen in an early draft of the movie.
In a more proactive sense, though, Vanessa could even become part of X-Force herself. In the comics, she’s a mutant known as Copycat because of her mimicry abilities. Reese and Wernick have previously commented that they’d be open to exploring Vanessa’s powers in the future, too, so we wouldn’t rule that out, either.
For now, all we can do is speculate, but feel free to head on down to the comments section and let us know whether or not you think the character’s really dead.
