Thanks to the huge critical and commercial success of the first Deadpool movie, fans are ravenous for the second helping of the Merc With A Mouth's cinematic adventures. True to form, the teaser trailers released so far have been delightfully surreal and satisfyingly anti-establishment. But, they've also been fairly -- and frustratingly -- vague on what's to come in Deadpool 2. The first one featured more of Wade's bare bum pressed up against a phone booth than anything else, while the second one was an extended Bob Ross gag with some footage thrown in, almost as an afterthought. As aggravating as it is for fans, in a world in which trailers consistently reveal too much or completely miss-sell a movie, Deadpool 2's marketing is not only completely on-brand but also refreshingly tempting.
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Of course, even with only a slim amount of information released about the film, fans haven't stopped wildly theorizing on what's to come. By using details from the first movie, analyzing every frame of the teaser trailers or pulling from the source material, there's a lot of convincingly backed-up speculation out there on the future of the series. From predicting X-Men character cameos, to secret villain roles, to identity reveal twists to working out how the Deadpool films could reshape Fox's X-Men movies, here are some Deadpool 2 theories so crazy that Deadpool himself might just have come up with them.
15 UNCLE BEN DIED IN THE FIRST TEASER TRAILER
Cast your mind back to the first teaser trailer released for Deadpool 2 and you might remember an unnamed old man who Wade fails to save from being gunned down by a mugger by taking too long to get changed into his suit in a phone booth. Though most dismissed the man's significance as just the punchline to a Superman joke, some fans believe there's a good chance that he was, in fact, Uncle Ben (who, of course, dies in similar circumstances) tying Deadpool to the Spider-Man films.
This theory was given more weight when Deadpool 2 director David Leitch answered a question concerning the man's identity during an interview with The Huffington Post. "That's a really interesting question. I think that people should continue to theorize who that old man was." If that wasn't enough, there are also nods to both Spider-Man and Uncle Ben in the second teaser trailer.
14 THE VILLAIN WILL BE DEADPOOL
Or rather, another Deadpool will be the villain of Deadpool 2. This wild theory was posted to Reddit before Josh Brolin had been confirmed to play Cable. The theorist was skeptical about the part being described as the film's "villain," believing that Deadpool and Cable's famously rocky relationship would be turned full bromance by the arrival of the real villain: a warped Deadpool clone.
They also reckon that this clone will form from none other than Deadpool's own severed hand from the first film, which would not only be in keeping with the tragi-comic tone of the films but would also stay true to the filmmakers' original mission of avoiding having Deadpool stopping world-ending events. This theory also has roots in the comics -- Deadpool has had to battle an "Evil" Frankenstein's monster version of himself assembled from his discarded limbs before.
13 DEADPOOL IS WRITING HIS OWN FILMS
This theory sounds nuts at first, but the more you think about it the more it kind of makes sense. Firstly, it's possible because of the character's forth wall awareness. If Wade already knows that he's in a film then who's to say he's not also somehow in charge of his own cinematic stories? His first movie credits the writers as "The Real Heroes Here." Who else loves Deadpool more than Deadpool?
Also, who else knows Deadpool better than Deadpool? That's a claim from the Merc's own mouth in his 2013 video game, which YouTube's Film Theory channel claim is the best evidence to support this theory. After all, the game starts with Wade's pitch for "the best video game ever" being rejected by the game's makers. He even hires the voice actor who actually voices him in the game.
12 VANESSA IS DEATH, NOT COPYCAT
In Deadpool, Wade Wilson's girlfriend, Vanessa Carlysle, displayed no hint of mutant ability or any other kind of power. However, because she shares a name with Marvel mutant Copycat, it's widely assumed that her latent powers will manifest in the sequel, causing her to take on this new identity.
But, what if Vanessa isn't who everyone assumes she is? There's a pretty convincing theory that the reason the typically commitment-shy Wade is so attached to Vanessa is because she's in fact the real one true love of his life -- Death. Think about it: she bumps into Wade the day he's fated to die; he's diagnosed with a terminal illness the day he proposes to her and it would explain how she survived that fall in a glass box. It all adds up.
11 THE FILMS WILL COPY THE TAKEN SERIES
In the first film, there's a scene in which Wade wakes up from a bad dream next to Vanessa to deliver a Taken reference. "I had another Liam Neeson nightmare. I kidnapped his daughter and he just wasn't having any of it. They made three of those movies. At some point, you just have to wonder if he's a bad parent." According to one Reddit theorist, this throw-away joke could actually hint at story elements in future installments of Deadpool.
After all, Vanessa does get kidnapped (or... taken) after Wade says this, foreshadowing the film's plot. But, what if -- just like the same repeating inciting incident across the Taken films -- Vanessa being abducted becomes both a recurring plot point and self-aware gag in the Deadpool film series too? It would be pretty dumb... and therefore totally possible in films like these.
10 THERE WILL BE A LINK TO 'THE NEW MUTANTS'
The new crop of X-Men adaptations -- Legion, The Gifted, The New Mutants -- seem only tangentially connected to rest of Fox's X-Men-verse at the moment. Deadpool 2 will be released in June 2018 following The New Mutants in April and there's already a lot of fan speculation about how the two movies could be tied together to firm up these disparate worlds.
The most obvious point of connection so far would be in the sulky and Deadpool name-approved, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, partly because of her age but mainly because of the striking yellow and black uniform she wears. Based on this, fans predicted a New Mutants link from as far back as the first Deadpool film. Considering New Mutants comics were where Deadpool debuted, it would also be pretty fitting.
9 CABLE WILL BE A MESSIAH FIGURE
In the comics, Nathan Summers is cured of his techno-organic virus by the Askani clan -- a sisterhood who look like they answer the question, "what if Mad Max: Fury Road had been made in the early '90s?" In the 37th century, the sisterhood elevates the X-Men's beliefs into a religion, and through time travel, start spreading their doctrine in our time.
In the second Deadpool 2 trailer, we're shown a scene in a building that resembles a church or hall with banners hanging from the walls. The slogans declare things like "Pure Blood" and "The End Is Near" and one displays a figure that looks an awful lot like Cable. Could Cable, who was raised in the Askani clan's cult, be acting as a kind of prophet gathering followers in the 21st century in Deadpool 2?
8 WE COULD BE INTRODUCED TO THE NEW WOLVERINE
Short of a miraculous on-screen team-up between the Avengers and X-Men, Hugh Jackman's time as Wolverine pretty much came to an end with Logan. While he'll be sorely missed, the torch has already been passed to a more than capable successor: his scrappy, surrogate daughter Laura. The timing of this transition has already been established by the comics, with X-23 assuming the Wolverine mantle to honor his death.
Logan ends with Laura bidding a final farewell to her dead mentor before escaping across the Canadian border -- presumably to lead the rest of the mutant escapee kids. Because of Logan's place in the X-Men movie timeline(s) that could well be the last we see of X-23. Unless, as some fans hope, she hitches a ride with Cable back in time to don the yellow and black suit -- perhaps as a post-credit scene treat?
7 WE COULD SEE MORE OF PSYLOCKE
After the battle with Apocalypse doesn't quite go the way she anticipated, Horseman Psylocke is shown making a speedy getaway at the end of X-Men: Apocalypse. Clearly, we're going to see a lot more of her in future X-Men films but could we also see her make an appearance in a Deadpool movie, too?
With Cable's inclusion, we already know that Deadpool 2 will serve to set up for the upcoming X-Force movie. In the comics, Cable is the founding member of the team, with Wolverine recruiting Psylocke and Deadpool for a new top secret iteration much later on in Uncanny X-Force to take down the newly rebirthed Apocalypse. If Psylocke doesn't make a physical appearance in Deadpool 2, it wouldn't be surprising if there wasn't at least a reference made to her.
6 HOPE SUMMERS WILL HAVE A PIVOTAL ROLE
While the chances of seeing X-23 and Psylocke in Deadpool 2 are pretty speculative, the likelihood of Hope Summers playing some kind of role has been teased more than once by the promotional material for the film. Hope was the first mutant child born after the devastating events of M-Day. After becoming a sought-after target by almost everyone, Cyclops entrusts her safety to his son, Cable.
In the first teaser trailer for Deadpool 2, Hope's name was prominently scrawled on the phone booth Deadpool changes in, and Josh Brolin's first, full in-costume shot of him as Cable had the curious addition of a teddy bear on his utility belt. The most likely theory is that the film could draw from the Messiah storyline, in which Cable and baby Hope are pursued through time by Bishop, hoping that killing her will fix his own doomed timeline.
5 CABLE WILL HAVE AN EVIL CLONE
If Deadpool's evil clone doesn't show up in Deadpool 2, then why not Cable's instead? (Or both..?) This villainous doppelganger (co-created by Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld) was stolen from the Askani clan and raised by Apocalypse to become his next vessel. After this plan was abandoned, the murderous and nihilistic clone -- Stryfe -- become the main baddie of Messiah War.
As we've already covered, links to the Askani clan already seem strong in the second teaser trailer for Deadpool 2, as are the ties to Hope Summers who plays a pivotal role in the aforementioned Cable/X-Force story. Fans also became particularly excited by a photo Josh Brolin shared on his Instagram showing the actor screaming at his own fractured reflection, causing Stryfe predictions to flood the comment section.
4 JULIAN DENNISON'S CHARACTER IS THUNDERBIRD III
These days, every single officially released image or trailer from an upcoming comic book movie is analyzed within an inch of its life for clues about the film's story. Following the release of the Bob Ross-themed second teaser trailer for Deadpool 2, one of the biggest questions fans had concerned the identity of the kid surrounded by fire in one, fleeting shot.
Because there appeared to be some pyrokinetic manipulation going on, some fans reckon that the actor could be playing a new version of Pyro. However, the more likely candidate is Neal Shaara, aka the third Thunderbird from Grant Morrison's New Mutants run. While Thunderbird III was the team's first Indian member, being such an obscure character gives the film scope to reimagine him with Julian's Polynesian heritage and have a whole new identity instead.
3 DEADPOOL WAS A MUTANT THE WHOLE TIME
In Deadpool, Wade signs on for an extremely risky experiment in a desperate effort to rid himself of terminal cancer. The experience leaves him hideously disfigured but achieves his goal of being cancer-free by kickstarting his latent super healing mutant gene, rendering him practically unkillable. But, as one astute Redditor points out, Wade's phenomenal mercenary skills weren't part of the gene meddling.
In fact, even before he became Deadpool, Wade's abilities as a sharpshooter were always inhumanly good. The best explanation as to how Wade's reactions and accuracy are so heightened is that Wade was a mutant with the gift of hyperkinesis the whole time, making his healing factor his secondary mutation (which is an established concept in X-Men comics, though not to Wade himself.) Could this be confirmed or explored in Deadpool 2?
2 THE DEADPOOL FILMS TAKE PLACE IN THE X-MEN COMICS IN LOGAN
In Logan, we learn that the X-Men's adventures have been fictionalized -- and altered -- in comic book form; something that becomes a source of hope for Laura and frustration for Wolverine. While the changes to the team's appearance and exploits could be dismissed as adaptational embellishments in the film, one theorist on Reddit notes that they oddly line up with Deadpool.
Specifically, Colossus looks like his Logan comics' counterpart, and Logan and Gambit have been inexplicably transplanted into the 2010's from their '80s setting in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Could the Deadpool films be adaptations of these fictional comics? That would also explain how Negasonic Teenage Warhead could exist after it was established no new mutants were born after the early '00s.
1 DEADPOOL'S REAL IDENTITY IS... ERNEST HEMINGWAY
You'd be amazed at how much compelling evidence YouTube's Film Theory has for this one. Here's the TL;DR version: Because Wade's an unreliable narrator, FT reckons his identity is questionable. Remember the block of text at the end of the first Deadpool 2 teaser? That was Hemingway's novel The Old Man and the Sea, summarized by Deadpool. It could be a Logan reference but FT argues this doesn't add up.
Instead, what if Wade is Hemingway? Hemingway was a novelist who wrote "flattering self-portraits," bullied other famous writers and was a soldier-turned-mercenary who once strapped machine guns to a fishing boat and intimidated a Champion boxer. He also survived anthrax poisoning, malaria, skin cancer, two plane crashes and second-degree burns over most of his body. Plus, he was drinking buddies with Wolverine, making him a canonical Marvel character. Far too many coincidences, right?
Which crazy Deadpool theory do you think might just be true? Let us know in the comments!