It would be an understatement to say that Deadpool And Wolverine has a few Easter eggs and in-jokes scattered throughout the film for fans to find. In fact, there are parts of the film where the references are as rapid-fire as Ryan Reynolds delivering Deadpool’s snappy dialogue. So just in case you did not catch them all, here are the ones we did catch.
Note: Spoilers from literally the next paragraph on down. You have been warned.
Happy’s Office
One of the first surprises of the film is whom Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, meets with for a job interview – Stark Industries’ executive and good friend of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, Happy Hogan. Of course Jon Favreau, who has played the character across the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is also the director who kickstarted the franchise, having directed Iron Man and Iron Man 2.
Fitting an executive of Stark Industries of his stature, Happy Hogan has his own private office with a view. The calendar on Happy’s desk reads March 18, 2018, setting this scene just a few months before the events of Avengers: Infinity War. And there are of course a number of Avengers related items scattered about his office, including a version of Cap’s shield and a few different Iron Man helmets as well as Tony’s Iron Man suitcase armor from Iron Man 2. We also see that Happy is the one who currently owns Tony’s original arc reactor, that had been inscribed with the words “proof that Tony Stark has a heart” that will eventually be seen at Tony’s memorial service at the end of Avengers: Endgame. We can also see a collection of superhero trading cards on the counter behind his desk, presumably the ones that belonged to SHIELD agent Phil Colton as mentioned in the first Avengers film. And on the wall is a framed copy of Forbes magazine featuring Pepper Pots on the cover.
One other notable thing on Happy’s desk is the bronze winged statue, which looks suspiciously like a Writers Guild of America Award, albeit with a slightly different base. John Favreau had been nominated for a WGA award for his work on The Mandalorian in 2023. It is possible that the award was placed on his desk either in anticipation of Favreau winning, or a little bit of a tease to him that the award that went to Peter Morgan and Jonathan Wilson for The Crown.
If you’re wondering how Deadpool managed to jump over to Earth-616 from his native Earth-10005 for this job interview, Wade does sport the time travel watch-like device on his wrist.
Finally, as Wade leaves we see a poster for the 1954 Stark Expo hanging in the outer office.
The Time Variance Authority
As Paradox tries to recruit Deadpool for the TVA, Wade interrupts to suggest that the “power in the Marvel Universe is about to change forever.” This is a slight rewording of Dwayne Johnson’s oft-repeated braggadocios phrase he would use in promoting 2023’s DC Comics Extended Universe superhero film Black Adam, before that movie crashed and burned at the box office.
Later, one of the television screens in the background, a shot of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge can be seen, perhaps a reference to the landmark’s appearance in the third act of X-3: The Final Stand.
Wolverine Variants
As Wade hunts around the Multiverse for a replacement Wolverine to serve as the Anchor Being for his own timeline, he comes across a number of Wolverines variants that will be familiar to comics fans. The first he meets is a much shorter Wolverine than perhaps movie fans are familiar with it. This is a reference to how the comic book version of Wolverine is canonically five-feet three-inches tall, and when Hugh Jackman was cast in the role some fans complained that the actor’s six-0foot two-inches height was too tall to play the character. Most of them changed their mind after they saw how well Jackman actually did.
Other variants include-
- Patch, the tuxedo-ed alias that Wolverine used when he went undercover in the island nation of Madripoor.
- A crucified Wolverine, in a recreation of the cover of Uncanny X-Men #251.
- Old Man Logan Wolverine from the classic graphic novel of the same name.
- Age Of Apocalypse Wolverine from the comic event storyline of the same name.
- A Wolverine in the character’s “classic [artist] John Byrne brown and tan” uniform. Wade quickly leaves when he realizes that he is in the middle of a fight between Logan and the Hulk. These two have a history of dunking it out, all the way back to The Incredible Hulk #181, Wolverine’s first full comics appearance, although he was in his yellow suit for that one. This moment also includes a shot of the Hulk reflected in Wolverine’s claws is a riff of the classic cover of Incredible Hulk #340, although that cover was drawn by Todd McFarlane.
The last Wolverine variant Wade encounters before finding the one who best fits his needs has a different but still familiar face. It’s a quick cameo from Henry Cavill, Superman himself from the now dead DC Expanded Universe, in perhaps a nod to the rumors that he would be the new MCU Wolverine once Marvel started getting moving on bring in the mutant characters.
The Void/Cassandra Nova’s Fortress
Dispatched from the Time Variance Authority by Paradox, Deadpool and Wolverine find themselves in the Void, a dead space at the End of Time, that the TVA uses to dump the problems it doesn’t want to otherwise deal with. Deadpool himself gives the audience a handy reminder that they can watch Loki season 1, episode 5 for more details. As the camera moves around the landscape we see things like a winged helmet the type of which we’ve seen Thor wear from time to time. All the way in the background is a crashed SHIELD helicarrier of the type previously seen in Avengers and The Avengers: Age Of Ultron and what looks to be the Toronto landmark CN Tower, a nod to Reynolds being a proud Canadian. Canonically, the characters of both Deadpool and Wolverine are from Canada as well. Also, the very first X-Men film from 2000 filmed primarily in Toronto. And of course, in a rather obvious bit of metatextualism even for this film, there is the 20th Century Fox logo.
The first person the duo encounter in the Void looks familiar to Deadpool. He isn’t Captain America as Wade assumes but actually the version of Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, from the 20th Century Fox-produced Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer (2007). Wade’s confusion is understandable and it is a funny way to acknowledge Evans’s dual roles.
And although Cassandra Nova is a new character to comic book movies, many of her surrounding henchmen are not. In their first encounter with some of these henchmen, Wade and Logan meet from the very first X-Men film, Sabretooth (Taylor Mayne) and Toad (with actor Daniel Medina Ramos stepping in for original actor Ray Park). One of Casandra Nova’s chief lieutenants in this initial group is the evil mutant Pyro with Aaron Stanford reprising his role from X2 (2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). Among the vehicles the group is driving are a variant of the Fantastic Four’s Fantasticar (a version not seen in any film so far), the Red Skull’s Coupe roadster from Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) but with a new paint job and a chimichanga food truck, a nod to Wade’s favorite food. As our heroes traverse the Void at various points in the movie, we also see what looks to be an Asgardian citadel as seen in the Thor films, one of the Black Order Q ships from The Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, the Milano, Star Lord’s spaceship from the first Guardians Of The Galaxy film, or another ship of that class and the corpse of a giant, flying Chitauri Leviathan, many of which were seen during the Chitari attack on New York in The Avengers.
During the various scenes at Cassandra Nova’s fortress – the hollowed out dead body of a Scott Lang/Ant-Man variant – we meet a number of other supervillains who have appeared in previous Marvel films. They include –
- Callisto – A speedster who was part of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Mutants in X-Men: The Last Stand. Played by Dania Ramirez, Callisto was killed in a fight with Storm in that previous cinematic appearance.
- The teleporting Azazel (Jason Flemyng), who first appeared in X-Men: First Class.
- Juggernaut – Although the character first appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand and was played by Vinnie Jones. Here, he is portrayed by Aaron W. Reed. (His appearance in Deadpool 2 was created through CGI and motion capture with Reynolds providing a highly disguised voice for the character.)
- Lady Deathstrike – A supervillain with long adamantium nails similar to Wolverine’s claws. Kelly Hu played her in X2 while Jade Lye takes on the role here.
- Psylocke – A supervillain who uses a psychic energy blade in battle, Miling Melancon played the character in her short appearance in X-Men: The Last Stand while Olivia Munn took over the part for X-Men: Apocalypse. Here she is played by Ayesha Hussain.
- The Russian – A hulking figure who previously appeared in 2004’s The Punisher, the Russian is easily distinguishable by his red and white horizontal striped t-shirt. In that film he was played by Kevin Nash although here he is played by Billy Clements.
- The Blob – An original member of the comics version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the character previously appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men: Apocalypse, where he was by Kevin Durand and wrestler “Giant” Gustav Claude Ouimet respectively. Here he is being played by British wrestler Mike Waters.
At one point when confronted by Wade and Logan, Cassandra Nova boasts about going head-to-head with an “amateur magician,” and the red edge of Doctor Strange’s cloak of levitation can be glimpsed on her desk. That encounter is probably where she got the Sling Ring that she uses to open a portal to send the pair back to Wade’s Earth late in the film.
When Wade and Logan make their initial escape from Casandra Nova’s fortress, they use a rocket propelled leg from one of the Sentinels, the giant robots that were built to hunt down mutants like the X-Men.
After their escape from Casandra Nova’s fortress, Deadpool and Wade are searching for the “Resistance.” While walking they at one point pass a burnt out car. Although we only get a brief, partial glimpse, the vehicle does look enough like a 1980s sedan to at least suggest the burnt-out car from the comedy Planes, Trains And Automobiles. That film also centered on two mismatched traveling companions. It also co-starred John Candy, the late comic actor who Reynolds has previously he is a fan of.
While the Nicepool Wade Wilson variant is a creation for the movie, his companion Dogpool, A.K.A. Mary Puppins, is not. The character first appeared in Prelude to Deadpool Corps #3 (March 2010).
The Resistance
A number of sources have called the appearance of the the four heroes in the Resistance against Casandra Nova – Elektra (Jennifer Garner), Blade (Wesley Snipes), Gambit (Channing Tatum) and Laura, a.k.a. X-23 (Dafne Keen) – as cameos. We would disagree, these four are full on supporting characters. However, that doesn’t mean that their introductory scene wasn’t without a few in-jokes and references. When Wade expresses his condolences to Elektra about the offscreen murder of another hero and Eklektra’s former love interest Daredevil by Cassandra Nova, she shrugs it off as no big thing. This is a sly reference to the fact that Garner had been married to her Daredevil (2003) co-star Ben Affleck from 2005 to 2018. Gambit’s line about people who “never learned about us,” is a reference to the years that Tatum worked for years to get a Gambit solo film into production before Disney’s purchasing of 20th Century Fox put a stop to that project’s development.
It should be noted that three of these actors have worked with Ryan Reynolds in previous films. Garner co-starred alongside Reynolds in the 2022 film The Adam Project. Reynolds played Hannibal King opposite Wesley Snipes in Blade III. Channing Tatum had a co-starring role in 2021’s Free Guy, which starred Reynolds. (Free Guy‘s director Shawn Levy would also co on to direct Deadpool And Wolverine.) Reynolds and Tatum are also slated to co-headline the detective comedy Calamity Hustle which is currently in pre-production.
Deadpool Corps
In the comics, Deadpool has encountered a number of variants of himself, so of course the film brings a number of them in from the comics. Here is a rundown of them and where we might have seen them before.
- Lady Deadpool – Portrayed by an uncredited stuntwoman and voiced by Reynolds’s wife Blake Lively, the character premiered in Deadpool: Merc With A Mouth #7.
- Headpool – Voiced by Nathan Fillion, who co-starred on Reynolds’ first big sitcom break, Two Guys, A Girl And A Pizza Place.
- Kid Deadpool – Reynolds and Lively’s daughter Inez Reynolds.
- Babypool – Reynolds and Lively’s son Olin Reynolds.
- Cowboypool – Voiced by Matthew McConaughey.
There are also a number of other Deadpool variants mostly drawn from various comic book sources who are glimpsed in the sequence who don’t get lines –
- Welshpool – Wrexham A.F.C. player Paul Mullin. Reynolds is a co-owner of the Wrexham soccer club.
- Canadapool – Reynolds’ stunt double Alex Kyshkovych
- Haroldpool – Stunt and brother to MCU Peter Parker/Spider-Man actor Ton Holland, Harry Holland
- Watari / The Fool – The Deadpool of Earth-11542. His first appeared in 5 Ronin #1 (March, 2011) written by Peter Milligan and drawn by Leandro Fernández.
- Deadpool 2099 – Warda Wilson, the Deadpool of Earth-16356. Her first comics appearance was in Deadpool (Vol. 6) #6 (January, 2016) written by Gerry Duggan and art by Scott Koblish.
- Golden Age Deadpool – Fredrick “Wheezy” Wilson, the Deadpool of an undesignated alternate Earth. Their first comics appearance was in Deadpool Kills Deadpool #1 (2012), written by Cullen Bunn and art by Salva Espin.
- Zenpool – A persona Wade Wilson adopted after an inversion spell cast by Doctor Doom and the Scarlett Witch on someone else proved a little too effective to those in the vicinity during 2014’s Avengers & X-Men: AXIS comic book event. First seen in Deadpool Vol 5 36.
The Big Finale
Out of a number of deep cuts in the movie, the sign for the shoe story Liefeld’s Just Feet is one of the deepest. Rob Liefeld, the comics writer/artist who created Deadpool, had developed over the years a reputation amongst comic book fans for not being able to draw feet. For years, it was a sore point of contention with the artist, though he has apparently made some peace with it as he did sign off on the use of the joke here.
Logan and Wade finally make it to Mr. Paradox’s secret installation in what appears to be a subway station. In keeping with the time travel nature of the TVA, a sign for one of the subway lines notes that it runs “via Lone Pine Mall,” a nod to the time travel classic Back To The Future.
Finally, in the film’s closing scene, we see Wade, Logan and Wade’s found family enjoying a get together. As the camera pulls back to land on the two heroes’ masks, we see that they are setting atop a pizza box. The name of the pizzeria is a little obscured, but it appears to be Feige’s Pizza. Obviously, this is named after Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige, but it is also serves as a call back to an early scene in the first Deadpool film, bring everything full circle.
