Ryan Reynolds is pretty much superhero movie royalty by this point. He’s been unlucky enough to appear in a few stinkers, sure, but his impressively long list of comic book roles – including Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity, Green Lantern and, of course, Deadpool – is second to none. Still, there is another iconic superhero that he wishes he’d got the chance to play.
At a Q&A panel at this weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con, the Canadian star was asked which other costumed character he would’ve wanted to portray. Reynolds initially joked that he’d like to take over from Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, before admitting that he once had his eye on playing the Wally West version of DC’s the Flash.
“I would say Wolverine, but God, I would be terrible. Honestly, I wanted to be the Flash — the Wally West version — but I think all of those ships have sailed.”
Fans of both the Fastest Man Alive and the actor should be able to see why Reynolds would be a great fit for the character. Though modern interpretations like Ezra Miller’s in Justice League sometimes blur the two, Wally’s traditionally much more of a fun-loving joker than his predecessor Barry Allen. Which is a quality Reynolds has brought to all his comic book movie roles to date.
The actor’s interest in playing the Flash has been made public before actually, and he nearly got his wish on two separate occasions. Back in 2005, Warner Bros. was planning a standalone film for the Scarlet Speedster and Reynolds pushed to get hired. However, the project never came to be. Then, in 2008, he was lined up to voice the hero in a video game that, again, never materialized.
Clearly, though, Ryan Reynolds has now found the superhero role that best fits him in the form of the Merc with a Mouth. And if you were a fan of his performance in Deadpool 2, you can catch 15 minutes of all-new additional material in the upcoming release of the Super Duper Cut, arriving on Blu-ray on August 21st. Be sure to enter our contest, as well, for a chance to win a copy.
