‘Horrified then, horrified still’: Deadpool creator left aghast at ‘X-Men Origins’ concept art that’s somehow even worse than what we got

As Ryan Reynolds has outlined countless times over in the 14 years since it was first released, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not a good movie, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who disagrees with that sentiment.

Peaking during the opening credits isn’t a good look for any feature that runs for two hours, but it was all downhill after Hugh Jackman’s title hero and Liev Schrieber’s Sabretooth battled through all of history’s greatest wars. Even Reynolds knew that the third act transformation of the wisecracking Merc with a Mouth into a wordless pasty goon was a terrible idea, but it was either that or he wouldn’t get the chance to develop the solo adventure that ended up spawning a multi-billion dollar franchise.

Reynolds’ stunt double Scott Adkins was aware of the fact he was butchering a comic book icon, too, but if you can believe it, things were almost significantly worse. Concept art featuring various – and exceedingly more nightmare-inducing – abandoned designs for Wade Wilson have been making the rounds online, leading creator Rob Liefeld to weigh in with a suitably horrified response.

Having finally mastered the art of starring in a superhero blockbuster that doesn’t suck, Reynolds has decided to use that newfound success to tear both X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Green Lantern to shreds anytime he can, and by extension you’d really hope these haunting designs make their way to his social media timeline sooner rather than later, because his reaction is guaranteed to be priceless based on nothing but his outspoken stance on the dismal disaster.