Deadpool might be a star of cinematic super heroics now (with two massive films totaling a collective $1.5 billion), but that wasn’t always the case. Fox didn’t have any confidence in the original pitch for the character, with attention only really going towards the film when the concept short was leaked online. Now, four years later, Ryan Reynolds is celebrating the day as a Leak-iversery.
Reynolds first appeared as Deadpool in the widely-panned X-Men Origins: Wolverine. And really, he only appeared as Wade Wilson for about five minutes. He was dual wielding katannas and making jokes, generally being Wade Wilson. But he is eventually turned into a mute smorgasbord of super powers in the climax. To most of us, tt was a mess, and missed the point of the character completely. No one thought that more than Ryan Reynolds, who has a long-standing love of Deadpool. He tried to get the ball rolling on a Deadpool spin-off. But between the cold reception to that film (and the failure of the Reynolds-starring Green Lantern), Fox had fears about the project. The proposed spin-off languished in pre-production despite the best efforts of Reynolds. He eventually convinced director Tim Miller to come on board, and the two (along with writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick) put together a CGI mock-up of one of the film’s biggest set pieces.
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Fox executives were less than thrilled by the scene, reportedly turned off by the 4th wall-breaking humor and the excessive violence. But in July 2014, the footage was leaked online. Although the initial source was taken down quickly, the footage quickly went viral. In light of the incredibly positive online reception, the film was green-lit and quickly entered production. Reynolds has denied being the leaker multiple times.
Now one of the most popular super heroes in the world, Reynolds celebrated the occasion by Tweeting out, “It’s the 4 year Leak-iversery. UPDATE: Still searching for the bastard who leaked our test footage onto the internet causing Deadpool to receive a green light. Taking over the investigation myself. #Angry.”
Deadpool 2 was directed by David Leitch and stars Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, TJ Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, and Jack Kesy. The film is slated to be released for streaming/blu-ray on August 21.