As everyone knows, Ryan Reynolds played Deadpool in ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ (which sucked) before scoring a major redemption in a solo ‘Deadpool’ movie which quickly became the highest grossing film in 20th Century Fox’s ‘X-Men’ franchise. Or did he? Well yes… and no.
In ‘X-Men Origins’, Reynolds did play Wade Wilson, the mercenary who would eventually become Deadpool. But did you know that after his transformation into Weapon XI, actor/martial artist Scott Adkins stepped into the role? It’s okay if you didn’t. Adkins wasn’t credited.
But now that that movie has been wiped from continuity, thanks to ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ and completely obliterated by ‘Deadpool’, Adkins is coming clean about his portrayal, which included having The Merc With A Mouth’s mouth sealed shut.
“I was part of the problem. I was part of the abomination of that character. I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you and all your readers that it wasn’t my idea. I was doing what I was told by 20th Century Fox.”
Adkins was just beginning to appear in major motion pictures at this point and largely in small roles. Among the movies he had appeared in up to this point were ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ and ‘The Pink Panther’. So naturally he’d take a role in an ‘X-Men’ movie, since the franchise was still on a role up until this. (Remember, the much-reviled ‘X-Men 3: The Last Stand’ was the highest grossing X-film up to that point.)
It’s not really clear what would have happened, had ‘X-Men Origins’ done better. We know Fox was planning to spin both Deadpool and Gambit (played by Taylor Kitsch) off into their own movies, but not only was ‘Origins’ a disappointment in its depictions of the various characters and weak story, but it did poorly at the box office and caused a several year drought with no new mutant movies.
Presumably, Reynolds would have starred in the ‘Deadpool’ movie, but if that were the case, why the switcheroo with Adkins taking over post-transformation in ‘Origins’.
It’s possible that Adkins was brought in just for the fight sequence because of his existing martial arts skill. Would he have been brought back as a fight double for Reynolds in the spin-off? Well, fortunately, we’ll never know, as the mouthless ‘Deadpool’ movie never happened.
Adkins went on to appear in several low-budget action movies which highlighted his physicality and has even popped up in some higher profile movies like ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ and ‘The Expendables 2’.
But perhaps his highest profile role is coming this November in ‘Doctor Strange’. It’s unknown who he is playing, but it appears to be a bad guy of sorts, possibly a henchman to Mads Mikkelsen‘s Big Bad (who is also a mystery).
Are you curious how the originally planned ‘Deadpool’ movie might have turned out? (No, me neither.)
‘Doctor Strange’, directed by Scott Derrickson and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tilda Swinton, Rachel McAdams, Michael Stühlbarg, Benedict Wong and Mads Mikkelsen materializes in theaters on November 4, 2016.
Jax's earliest memory is of watching 'Batman,' followed shortly by a memory of playing Batman & Robin with a friend, which entailed running outside in just their underwear and towels as capes. When adults told them they couldn't run around outside in their underwear, both boys promptly whipped theirs off and ran around in just capes.
It’s not really clear what would have happened, had ‘X-Men Origins’ done better. We know Fox was planning to spin both Deadpool and Gambit (played by Taylor Kitsch) off into their own movies, but not only was ‘Origins’ a disappointment in its depictions of the various characters and weak story, but it did poorly at the box office and caused a several year drought with no new mutant movies.