For more end credits and Easter Egg magic, check out our explanation of the Avengers: Infinity War after credits scene, our rundown of that Solo: A Star Wars Story surprise cameo, or our Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ending explained!
Deadpool 2's end credits scenes use equal parts time-travel and humor to address missteps from Ryan Reynolds' superhero movie career. But before they get to that, the sequel ret-cons its own first act.
(For more spoilerish details beyond just what transpires in the end credits be sure to watch the video in the player above.)
The first of the movie's three mid-credits scenes features X-Men members Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Yukio fixing Cable's time-travel device so that Deadpool can go back in time to prevent his beloved Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) from being killed.
The device's repair would seem to now open the door for future time-travel adventures for Deadpool and/or X-Force, perhaps even a chance for Cable to return to the future. Not so, according to Deadpool 2 screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who I chatted with over the phone earlier this week.
"Well, we don’t ever wanna see a time machine in one of our movies again, so that’ll be the end of time machines, I think," Reese said. "We’ve learned our lesson, because of the difficulties with involving time-travel in a story."The next two end credits scenes are meta high points in a movie that's all about being meta. In a crowd-pleasing moment, the current incarnation of Deadpool appears during the climactic showdown from X-Men Origins: Wolverine between Logan (Hugh Jackman) and that film's Wade Wilson (also played by Ryan Reynolds), who has his mouth sewn shut. Deadpool proceeds to kill that much-criticized version of himself before time-traveling again.
The screenwriters stressed that Jackman did not return to film any recreations of that scene and that all the footage of him was taken from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. "Fox was gracious to give us the footage and make fun of themselves and their missteps. That was existing footage - I think it got drawn out a little bit, I think they pulled raw from the movie," Wernick explained.
Reese added that "Hugh Jackman was very supportive, we needed his permission. But he and Ryan are frenemies, you know, online, and in the public. But they’re actually good friends, and he was very supportive, so that was awesome."The final Deadpool 2 end credits scene sees Deadpool visiting Ryan Reynolds himself. A happy Reynolds holds the screenplay for 2011's Green Lantern in his hands, allowing himself to think he's finally landed his ticket to the big leagues of movie stardom.
As we all know, that DC Comics adaptation proved a commercial and critical disappointment and Reynolds himself has excoriated it on numerous occasions (including in the first Deadpool movie). The scene ends with blood splattering across the cover page of the Green Lantern script after Reynolds is shot in the back of the head by Deadpool.
By the time the movie's end credits roll, Deadpool 2 has established a new (and far less accident-prone) X-Force lineup of Deadpool, Cable, Domino, Firefist, and Dopinder the cabbie. The writers said that an X-Force movie, and not another Deadpool sequel, will most likely be the next time audiences see the merc with a mouth again.But when exactly X-Force, which will be directed by Drew Goddard, starts filming remains uncertain. As Wernick explained, "Drew’s shooting a movie right now, that I think comes out October, for Fox. And then I think as soon as he clears his head, he’ll start thinking about an X-Force and put pen to paper, and then they’ve got to shoot it. So my guess is, you know, 2020 would be an X-Force? But again, that’s not an official Fox statement, that’s just pure speculating."
And what of Deadpool 3, which Reynolds recently expressed uncertainty about? "We’ll absolutely be talking about Deadpool 3 at some point. It’ll likely come after X-Force, so it’s gonna be - the can’s gonna be kicked down the road a little bit," Reese explained.
"But I can’t believe we won’t at least talk about it at some point, once Ryan’s had a chance to put down the suit for a few months, and we’ve had a chance to clear our heads. Because, I just think, you know, the Iron Man model is probably a good one. So, you get the first two, then you get an ensemble, and then maybe an Iron Man 3, a Deadpool 3, and then maybe another ensemble. So, that’s a rough idea, but that may be how it plays out."Wernick even joked that "we may skip Deadpool 3 and go right to Deadpool 4, though."
If any franchise could get away with being that cheeky, it would be Deadpool.
For more of our Deadpool 2 coverage, read our review, watch our spoilercast, enjoy our breakdown of all the Easter eggs we caught, find out who actually directed that superhero cameo as well as who voices THAT character, and discover how much it took for that superstar to make a cameo!
