There’s a very thin Venn Diagram for where the worlds of geek culture and sports crossover – but it does happen. In fact, as comic book superheroes have become worldwide blockbuster icons, athletes have been much more pronounced and open about fitting Marvel, DC, or even anime references into their wardrobe, endorsements, or even just word-of-mouth and social media hype. Today brings an odd-couple meeting of truly epic proportions: Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds meeting Shaquille O’Neal! Reynolds may be known for being a tall, brown-haired, and handsome leading man hunk – but he was still dwarfed in comparison to the man-giant that is Shaq!
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Shaq also managed to heap plenty of praise on Ryan Reyolds, captioning their photo together witht he words, “Met one of my favorite actors today @vancityreynolds #deadpool“.
Not to get too geeky here, but this photo below actually constitutes a Marvel / DC crossover few fans would ever see coming. We know that Reynolds is not the face of 20th Century Fox (Now “20th Century Studios”) Deadpool franchise; what some X-Men movie / Marvel Cinematic Universe of today might not know, is that Shaquile O’Neal ranks as one of the forefathers of the modern comic book movie era, thanks to his starring role in the 1997 DC Comics Superman movie spinoff, Steel. That film hit just one year before Blade arrived and sparked renewed vigor in the comic book movie genre, heading into the 2000s.
To be fair, just about every comic book fan who has seen Steel wants to forget that movie exists at all. It’d be accurate to say that Shaq’s role as would-be Superman John Henry Irons was very much akin to Ryan Reynolds’ role as Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine: That is to say, both actors both seemed to perfectly fit the roles of their respective comic book counterparts, but unfortunately found themselves mired in some truly terrible DC / Marvel adaptations.
While Shaq flamed out of the comic book movie genre as quick as a lit match, Ryan Reynolds got a new lease on superhero stardom thanks to Deadpool. Now Reynolds is poised to make the jump to Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, completing what is arguably the most epic “rags to riches” comeback story in the genre.
Of course, Ryan Reynolds took it upon himself to get that first Deadpool pushed through the studio system into production. So if Shaq wants to make a similar comeback maybe he needs to start funding that Steel reboot?
…Just kidding. No one in the world needs that.
