Deadpool & Wolverine: Aaron Stanford Reveals How Chris Evans Role Was Kept A Secret

In the digital age, it’s increasingly more difficult to film an entire movie without major plot points leaking ahead of time, even more so when the Marvel Cinematic Universe enters the fray. As was the case with most Marvel products, Deadpool & Wolverine found itself victim to a handful of set photo leaks, revealing the return of some surprise multiverse characters from 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise. One surprise that wasn’t leaked, however, was the involvement of Chris Evans’ Human Torch.

As Deadpool & Wolverine star Aaron Stanford tells ComicBook, it was pure luck the paparazzi showed up when they did, otherwise they may have been able to leak significantly bigger leaks.

“That whole [scene] was shot in that enormous, Mad Max-like Wasteland and the reason why those photos leaked was that it was the one place they were not able to secure because it was outside. All the paparazzi set up outside like half a mile away with telephoto lenses and got the shots, because they just have to deliver those spoilers,” Stanford says in an exclusive interview with our Phase Zero podcast.

He adds, “I think the reason you didn’t see Chris in that scene is that because that particular scene was split up pre-strike and post-strike, so we were in there shooting that scene the very first day I worked and that was the day Chris worked. We all went for however many months it took to settle the strike, and when we came back we shot the backend of that sequence. That was the day the paparazzi showed up and Chris wasn’t there.”

Who’s all in Deadpool & Wolverine?

In Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) change the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). The film also stars Matthew Macfadyen as Paradox, and Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova, with the return of Deadpool alums Morena Baccarin as Vanessa Carlysle, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Stefan Kapičić as Piotr Rasputin/Colossus, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Rob Delaney as Peter, and Lewis Tan as Shatterstar. Aaron Stanford is returning as Pyro from the X-Men film series, with Jennifer Garner rumored to return as Elektra Natchios. 

Kevin Feige, Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy and Lauren Shuler Donner produce with Louis D’Esposito, Wendy Jacobson, Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, George Dewey and Simon Kinberg serving as executive producers. Deadpool & Wolverine is written by Ryan Reynolds & Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Zeb Wells & Shawn Levy. Deadpool & Wolverine is now exclusively in theaters.