Ryan Reynolds has confirmed Deadpool & Wolverine originally had a different title, but he forced it to be changed after it leaked online and everyone hated it.
The actor shared the revelation while being interviewed by his Deadpool & Wolverine co-star Hugh Jackman as part of a Jimmy Kimmel Live! takeover. Reynolds revealed that the movie's original title was Deadpool & Friend, but it leaked online the night before the release of the Super Bowl trailer and subsequently caught a lot of criticism online.
"The movie was originally called Deadpool and Friend," Reynolds said. "On the eve of the Super Bowl — and the Super Bowl is where we first launched the trailer for 'Deadpool and…' not Friend but Wolverine — it leaked because of the son-of-a-b***hes on the internet. The title leaked, and we looked at it and listened, and they f**ing hated that title, and we were not feeling so good about that anymore."
The backlash caused a scramble behind the scenes to convince the studios to alter the title. Reynolds admitted there was some reluctance at first (especially since 'Deadpool & Friend' went on the first set of marketing materials that had already shipped out) but ended up getting his way after insisting it was necessary.
"Shawn Levy — director extraordinaire, friend to both of us, literally one of our best friends in the whole wide world — he and I had been sitting in the edit room for months at this point," he said, elaborating further. "We called everybody at Disney and Marvel and said, 'We have to change the f**ing title,' and they were like, 'Well, guys, it launches tomorrow'… [but] we just wouldn't take no for an answer."
Marvel went to great lengths to keep some of its best surprises under wraps and even considered shooting a fake movie called Alpha Cop to have it hit theaters and, five minutes in, switch over to Deadpool & Wolverine (or, if Jackman had his way, "Wolverine & Asshole") as the ultimate bait and switch for cinemagoers.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now playing in theaters, and it's packed with more Easter eggs, cameos, and references than you can shake a Time Stick at. IGN also has plenty on the film, including our Deadpool & Wolverine review, interviews with director Shawn Levy and Marvel chief Kevin Feige, and much more to come.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter here.
