The Insane List of Cameos in Deadpool 2
Haven’t seen Deadpool 2 yet? Stop reading. We’ve got some major spoilers coming.
While we’ve interviewed the film’s screenwriters and makeup designer, we’ve made sure we didn’t spill the beans on the major cameos in the film. Arguably the biggest cameo, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment about two thirds of the way into the movie, drew gasps when we saw the film. The moment was so brief you had to wonder if you really saw the face you could have sworn you saw. Yet there were cameos that you and just about everybody else missed, because the actors were so cleverly hidden.
Onto the list of cameos!
Brad Pitt as Vanisher
One of Deadpool 2‘s most over-the-top jokes was Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson getting a group of superheroes together to fight Josh Brolin’s Cable (plus Peter), only to watch all of them die (save Zazie Beetz’s lucky Domino) on account of trying to parachute during a wind advisory. One of those superheroes is the Vanisher, who is, true to his name, invisible for 99% of his time on screen. That is, until he parachutes into some electrical wires and his identity is revealed right as he dies—it’s Brad freakin’ Pitt. Pitt was in serious talks to take the role of Cable himself, and as director David Leitch told Collider, when that didn’t work out, he said for the Deadpool 2 team to call him if they needed him for anything. Turns out, they did.
Matt Damon and Alan Tudyk
Early on the film, Cable (Josh Brolin) travels back in time to the present day, where he encounters a couple of rednecks discussing the joy of using baby wipes. Yup, these two gents were played by Matt Damon and Alan Tudyk in some serious prosthetics and makeup. As BuzzFeed points out, Damon’s appearance is listed in the credits under the name Dickie Greenleaf—the name of Jude Law’s character in The Talented Mr. Ripley, the man who Damon’s character becomes after stealing his identity.
Ryan Reynolds as Juggernaut
There’s a monster in the Ice Box. That’s what we kept hearing during the film, and sure enough, the mutant that was being kept in his own special (and extra large) prison cell was iconic Marvel villain Juggernaut, who ends up becoming a major pain in the butt for Wade, Domino, Cable and the gang. Yes, Juggernaut is rendered in CGI, but the face that was captured to animate his visage behind his huge mask, and the voice, was all Reynolds. At first, Reynolds voice acting was supposed to be a temp until they could swap it out with another actor, but Leitch loved the accent Reynolds created and ended up keeping it.
Ryan Reynolds as Ryan Reynolds, and Also as Wade Wilson (in X-Men Origins: Wolverine)
Reynolds was so all over this film, not only acting, writing and producing, but also appearing in that insane post-credits scene as both the former Deadpool (in his much mocked cameo in X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and as himself, reading over the script for Green Lantern. In both incarnations, his current self as Deadpool takes them out, doing some “clean up” on the Deadpool timeline and keeping himself from making the much derided Green Lantern.
The X-Men
You likely caught this hilarious moment, when Colossus takes Deadpool to the X-Men mansion and the latter loudly complains that, once again, nobody is there. Yet there are X-Men there, and had Deadpool just glanced over, he’d have seen Professor X (James McAvoy), Quicksilver (Evan Peters), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) all gathered in one of the mansion’s many rooms. But Beast quietly closes the door so that Deadpool doesn’t know they’re there, once again relegating the Merc with the Mouth to JV status.
Featured image: Zazie Beetz, Ryan Reynolds, and Josh Brolin in Deadpool 2. Courtesy: 20th Century Fox
