Ryan Reynolds May Have Ruined a Major MCU Crossover, and Fans Might Never Forgive Him

Deadpool & Wolverine, featuring Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, was one of the year’s most eagerly awaited films. Fans had long anticipated seeing these two iconic characters team up, and the movie delivered, leaving audiences thrilled with its story.

Throughout the film’s release, we’ve explored and analyzed its many Easter eggs and cameos, some of which were particularly significant. One of the standout moments was Chris Evans’ unexpected return to the MCU, which turned out to be one of the film’s highlights.

However, while Evans’ return was a fantastic surprise, it also means we’ll never see the long-desired showdown between Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. in the MCU—a matchup fans have been hoping for since Civil War. Curious why? Read on to find out!

By now, you’ve likely heard that Chris Evans made a cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine. However, he didn’t appear as Captain America as fans had anticipated. Instead, he reprised his role as Johnny Storm from the original Fantastic Four film series. This appearance had a significant impact, but as you might also know, his character met a brutal end at the hands of Cassandra Nova, as Emma Corrin explained:

Absoooolutely mad. I felt so bad when we were in the screening the other day. Because we watched it after the New York premiere with all these Lincoln Center full of fans, and everyone was so excited when they see him appear on screen, and then after three minutes, I’ve killed him. I felt terrible. I was hiding in my seat. Yeah, it was weird. Not something I thought I’d be doing if you’d asked me a few years ago.

Source: GQ

With both of Chris Evans’ MCU characters now deceased—Captain America having died of old age and Johnny Storm officially dead—the major consequence is that we’re unlikely to see another clash between Evans and Robert Downey Jr. in the MCU. This possibility had existed before Deadpool & Wolverine due to the multiversal nature of upcoming films.

While Downey is set to return to the MCU as Doctor Doom, which initially left room for a potential showdown with Evans, Storm’s death in Deadpool & Wolverine closed that door. There was also a chance Downey might have appeared in the same film, which could have provided another opportunity for a clash, though this was improbable given the film’s storyline.

IndieWire: In the scene with Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, did you want Robert Downey Jr. in that scene, too? Or did you know when writing it he was going to play Doctor Doom?

Paul Wernick: We had wanted him to do a cameo. We had written that scene [to start] with Happy and Downey.

Rhett Reese: Ryan Reynolds wrote the scene with both of them, so in the hopes we could get Downey. But he also wanted Favreau, because they’re a great combo, and they were all in the scene together.

Wernick: Behind the scenes, we didn’t know about the Doctor Doom. And there’s no way he was going to do both. And then we said, “Oh, Downey doesn’t say ‘no’ to Ryan Reynolds, does he? No one says no to Ryan Reynolds.” And Ryan gave him the hard press. We wrote scenes, and Downey read the scenes, but what we didn’t know behind the scenes was this Doctor Doom thing.

Source: IndieWire

Ryan Reynolds and Marvel have effectively dashed the possibility of another Downey/Evans showdown, and it’s uncertain whether fans will ever forgive them for it.

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