Ryan Reynolds Reveals Disney Character He Wasn’t Allowed to Use in Deadpool 3

Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds is known for being just like his character – full of jokes and heavy on the sarcasm – but sometimes he can get off track. As everyone knows, a lot of Deadpool & Wolverine is packed with jokes not just about the MCU, but about Disney itself, since it’s Marvel Studios’ parent company. Deadpool’s whole vibe is making jokes and breaking the fourth wall, calling out stuff about his own movie as if he knows he’s in it. When Reynolds wrote the script, he leaned into this to create the funniest jokes he could. But trying to bring the classic Bambi story into the superhero movie wasn’t his best idea, and Kevin Feige had to step in and cut the line.

In a chat on Variety‘s Actors on Actors program, Reynolds sat down with Andrew Garfield and shared this story. He admitted that Feige had always been incredibly supportive of the project, but when he pitched Deadpool & Wolverine as a story inspired by the 1950 film Rashomon (which is told through three different perspectives), and it didn’t get the green light, he decided to pitch “the most idiotic movies” instead. One of those ideas gave birth to a Bambi reference. “And then I pitched one where it’s a two-hander with me and the hunter who shot Bambi’s mom. Their answer was ‘We don’t touch Bambi, Ryan’,” he shared.

Coincidentally or not, Bambi had already been confirmed in 2020 as one of Disney’s upcoming live-action remakes, which only reinforced Feige’s decision to shut down the idea. The project itself sparked controversy, particularly around the hunter’s role, since the target audience remains children. Even before screenwriter Lindsey Anderson Beer left the film, she mentioned that she was working to adapt the story for a more modern audience, including minimizing the impact of Bambi’s mother’s tragic death to avoid upsetting viewers.

[Related: Ryan Reynolds Reveals His “Proudest” Marvel Achievement and It’s Hilarious]

Aside from that, for a long time, during interviews with Reynolds and Shawn Levy, they also often mentioned a single line in the script that had to be cut, and both joked that they’d take it to their graves. Apparently, Mickey Mouse was involved in the plot as well – but in a way that clearly needed to be censored, considering it might have been taken the wrong way. While Reynolds swore he wouldn’t repeat the line, the Deadpool & Wolverine script made the rounds online after Disney’s FYC portal released it, and people finally got to see what it was.

When Deadpool & Wolverine didn’t even have a title yet, it wasn’t clear how big the budget would be, so everything about the plot was still up in the air. Reynolds and Levy explored a wide range of ideas, constantly shifting in terms of costs. Also, the concept of having a lot of characters wasn’t even on the table at first, which shows that, for a long time, they were simply adapting to the possibilities and limitations as they came. That’s when even Mephisto started being considered the big villain of the story too.

In the end, the movie managed to stay irreverent and daring, even with some unreleased ideas. It broke box office records, earned a 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and even got *NSYNC on the Billboard charts. One of the standout features was its critique of the current state of the MCU’s projects, which surprisingly received approval from Feige. However, it added a special touch that fans loved, and that’s what matters.

Deadpool & Wolverine is available for streaming on Disney+.