Deadpool 2 Spoiled Major Dark Phoenix Deaths a Year Ago

If you look at things just right, squint your eyes, and skew your brain a little bit, it seems possible that Deadpool 2 may have inadvertently spoiled two major deaths from last week’s X-Men film, Dark Phoenix. Over at ScreenRant, they noticed that it might be a case of an incredibly subtle, meta hint that told fans what was going on in the upcoming X-Men movie — although the more likely scenario is that actor availability played a role. Still, it is fun to imagine that Deadpool 2 was so incredibly meta that the filmmakers intentionally, and silently, blew a pair of big, upcoming reveals.

First, let’s examine the scene from Deadpool 2. At one point in the film, hoping to get help in his war on evil, Deadpool heads to the X-mansion. Overcome with frustration over the lack of a single recognizable X-Man to join his crusade, Wade unmasks in the hallway and monologues about the injustice of it all. As he does so, a group of X-Men including Cyclops, Beast, Storm, Professor X, Nightcrawler, and Quicksilver hear him and quietly sneak a door closed to prevent him from noticing their little get-together. What fans have noticed is that some characters conspicuously absent from the scene actually failed to make it out of Dark Phoenix, which suggests that this meeting could be happening during or after the events of that film.

In Dark Phoenix, Jean Grey loses control of her newly gained Phoenix powers and, as seen in various promotional trailers, inadvertently kills Mystique. This is the event that kickstarts much of the plot; the same breakdown that killed Mystique also took the lives of some police officers, transforming Jean overnight from a beloved superhero to a cop-killer and one of the world’s most wanted people. The X-Men and Magneto’s Brotherhood of Mutants both fail to take her in, but a group of alien shapeshifters find her and manage to take her under their wing. Ultimately, she figures out that they do not have her best interests in mind — and after the final, epic battle on board a train, Jean flies the alien leader Vuk up into space and detonates, killing them both.

The absence of Jean and Mystique in the Deadpool X-Men cameo certainly seems a bit suspect in that context, but of course, Jennifer Lawrence and Sophie Turner are both very busy, and it could be that they just couldn’t make their schedule work to come do the cameo.

One clue, though? Quicksilver can be seen wearing a T-shirt featuring Nirvana’s “smiley face” logo. While it first appeared on a flier for the “Nevermind” release party, the image was trademarked in 1992 — the same year Dark Phoenix takes place.

Dark Phoenix is in theaters now. You can get Deadpool 2 on DVD, Blu-ray, and streaming video on demand.