'Deadpool 2' Features Possible X-Men Name Drop as Easter Egg

Deadpool 2, like its predecessor, is a movie full of Marvel and X-Men Easter eggs, so much so that one may have slipped by most viewers.

Director David Leitch hinted at this Easter egg in the commentary to the film. It has to do with this card that Deadpool holds early in the film.

Take a look:

In the commentary, writer Rhett Reese asks Leitch about the Chinese characters on the card and whether they actually say something.

"Yeah, it is a cleared name," Leitch says. "I'm not sure, thank God. So, there's no lawsuit pending."

By "cleared name," Letich likely means that the characters spell the name of a Marvel character that 20th Century Fox was given the OK to use in their films.

Using a translator, we determined that the characters translate into English as "Red Lotus," and yes, that is the name of a very obscure Marvel character.

Red Lotus, real name Paul Hark, is a character created by Chris Claremont and Salvador Larroca who first appeared in X-Treme X-Men #5 in 2001. He isn't a mutant but he is a highly-skilled martial artist and heir to the leadership of the Sydney Triad, which was previously run by his grandfather, known as Father Gow.

Red Lotus is at first an adversary to the X-Men because he believes Gambit killed Father Gow. Later, he becomes an ally, assisting the X-Men in fighting the Hellfire Club and repelling an attempted invasion of Madripoor by beings from another dimension. He was last seen working undercover at the Hellfire Club to try to break up their mutant slave trading ring.

In Deadpool 2, it would seem that Red Lotus was either the leader of the gang that Deadpool takes out after glancing at that card or — given that it appears to be a credit or bank card — the person who paid Deadpool to have the gang eliminated.

What do you think of this sneaky X-Men easter egg in Deadpool 2? Are you excited for the movie to come to Blu-ray? Let us know in the comments!

Deadpool 2 will release on Blu-ray and DVD on Tuesday, Aug. 21.

Other upcoming X-Men movies include X-Men: Dark Phoenix on Feb. 14, 2019, Gambit on June 7, 2019, and The New Mutants on Aug. 2, 2019.