Easter Eggs and References in the First Deadpool Trailer

For just a trailer, the premiere official footage of Deadpool was packed full of easter eggs and references. With callbacks to Ryan Reynolds’ other works, the character’s origins, and more, some of these may be a bit hard to navigate. While we couldn’t get Deadpool himself to tell us about them in detail (he just kept chewing and saying “mmm chimichanga” when I called), here’s our take on them.

Note: We’re giving you references from both the Green Band and Red Band trailers here. Watch them both on repeat, there are differences! But don’t just stare at the butt in the red band one. C’mon, man.

The Cancer

  

Yes, this is actually part of Deadpool’s comic book origin. However, it’s not completely clear whether he had cancer before the Weapon X experiments that gave him his healing factor, or if the healing factor itself caused the disease in him, as his body was constantly over-compensating, treating each cell death like something that needed to be healed instantly. This accounts for his grotesque appearance post-experiments as well, as referenced at the end of the trailer.

Please Don’t Make the Supersuit Green!

  

As mentioned before on this site, one of the funniest, and most meta, lines in the trailer happens as Wade Wilson is being wheeled away on a gurney for those pesky experiments. “Please don’t make the supersuit green… or animated!”

This is a direct reference to Ryan Reynolds’ other superhero try, as Hal Jordan in Green Lantern. The critically lambasted film featured no actual costume for Reynolds to wear, instead opting for a completely computer-generated green overlay with questionable anatomy. Hence his derision for such a look (his new red costume is actually wearable).

Shoop

  

Okay, we’re not really sure why “Shoop” by Salt n’ Pepa is in this trailer except that Salt n’ Pepa are American treasures, and “Shoop” is awesome. It does also have the nice lyric of “shotgun… BANG” that times up pretty well with him jumping off an overpass, so there’s that. In the original test footage developed by Blur Studio that made this whole movie a reality, Deadpool was listening to “Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani during this scene. I think we can all agree that “Shoop” is the better choice.

The Car Fight

  

Yup, this comes from the original test footage, a nice shout-out to how this movie got greenlit. There are changes, however, especially in how the scene continues past the crash. The “why the red suit? So bad guys can’t see me bleed. This guy’s got the right idea, he wore the brown pants” joke is also from the test footage. The brown pants punchline is implying that the man is going to defecate in his pants when Deadpool starts kicking ass. It’s a poo joke. Hope it’s funnier for you now that we’ve explained it!

Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead

  

Look, more Marvel Comics characters (and both mutants)! Colossus is a mutant introduced as part of the “All-New, All-Different X-Men” whose abilities include being Russian, super strength, and super durability thanks to his metal skin (he can turn that on and off). Negasonic Teenage Warhead is a song by Monster Magnet, but also a mutant created by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely with telepathy and a lmited ability to see the future. There’s less of these two in the trailer than in the Comic-Con footage, but still a good quick moment.

“Cue the Music”

  

Deadpool looks directly at, and points at, the camera before delivering this line, which in turn drops the beat on DMX’s “X Gon’ Give It to Ya,” from 2003’s Cradle 2 the Grave soundtrack. This is called breaking the fourth wall, and it’s something Deadpool has famously done in comic books, animation, and video games. In most of these things, he even realizes that he’s in such a thing – so this could be an indication of that self-aware nature being present in the movie. If nothing else, it’s at least present in the trailer. He talks to the camera later, too, when he sniffs his guns.

With Great Power…

  

The title cards on the trailer say “With Great Power Comes Great Irresponsibility.” That’s a direct riff on the famous Spider-Man quote that Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben ingrains in his head, “With great power must also come great responsibility.” It’s an irreverent version of that. Get it?

Street Signs

  

While Rob Liefeld (and Stan Lee) had cameos in the footage released at Comic-Con, those weren’t present in either version of the trailer. However, eagle-eyed fans may see a name they recognize: the guy who first put words in Deadpool’s mouth as the scripter of his earliest stories (plotted/drawn/created by Liefeld), Fabian Nicieza. The co-creator is celebrated in street exit signs on the highway.