James Gunn Reveals Scrapped Deadpool Crossover in DCU, Ryan Reynolds “Wanted to Do It”

For decades, comic book fans have longed for the days of crossovers between Marvel and DC. The two publishing companies have been able to make it happen a few times before, with totemic comic book releases like Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man in the 1970s, X-Men/Teen Titans in the 1980s, and even an oversized one-shot this year with multiple stories inside. Now that the companies have relatively healthy feature films with their characters, once a pipedream, the talk of that crossover being on the big screen is now the biggest topic of debate for fans, and it almost finally happened this week.

In the past, both Marvel’s Kevin Feige and DC’s James Gunn have never fully ruled out the idea of an actual live-action crossover between the two companies at some point down the line. The prospect has never appeared to be much of a priority for both companies, but the road toward that event happening almost got walked down. Gunn has now confirmed that he had an idea for the DCU that would have seen it crossover with the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a way that makes a lot of sense, and would have involved everyone’s favorite Merc with a mouth.

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Speaking in a press conference attended by ComicBook, where Gunn opened up about the Season 2 finale of Peacemaker and the rest of the DCU, the series creator made the surprising reveal that he considered having Deadpool cameo in the episode. Much of the episode deals with ARGUS investigating the Quantum Unfolding Chamber and all the various alternate universes found on the other side of the doors inside. Though we see universes with giant spider-skull monsters and candy worlds inhabited by imps, Gunn had the idea that one door should just have Deadpool.

“I wanted them to open the door and see Deadpool in a room,” Gunn revealed. “And I talked to Ryan Reynolds about it, but I think he would have had to go through some pretty, pretty big hoops to do that. He wanted to do it.”

After making the reveal, Gunn added, with a laugh, “That’s going to be all that’s all anybody’s going to talk about now is f–king Deadpool in the other room. I should never said it.”

To his credit, yes, Gunn is right, major hurdles would have had to happen for Deadpool, a Disney-owned Marvel character, to appear in Peacemaker, an HBO production of a DC series. Specifically, the kind of hurdles that would have had teams of lawyers involved and input from all kinds of different creatives. In the end, what would have been a wild surprise for fans would have almost certainly gotten out into the world because of red tape.

What fans can glean from this news, however, is that the potential for a Marvel and DC crossover in some form beyond comic books remains a very distinct possibility. Gunn revealing he had an idea and even talked to Ryan Reynolds about it is proof enough that it’s not as much of an impossibility as it may have seemed even ten years ago. The truth of the matter is that even though it didn’t happen now, even having a conversation about it is progress. One day, that door will open.