The world had to wait six years for Ryan Reynolds to appear as the Merc with a Mouth following the commercial success of 2018’s ‘Deadpool 2’, but it’s fair to say the wait was worth it. The resulting third installment in the franchise was “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which, as the title indicates, ultimately united Reynolds onscreen with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. It was a runaway success and ranked as one of the biggest films of 2024. Making this film a reality was no easy task, and a lot of wild ideas were thrown around before making it into this team.

“Assembled: The Making of Deadpool & Wolverine” is now streaming on Disney+ and offers plenty of insight from the filmmakers into how the film came together. “I think Ryan had 19, 20 ideas to throw something at the wall,” Reynolds said in the documentary. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige turned down several pitches for “Deadpool 3,” including a low-budget “Sundance” version. None of these ideas reached the level necessary to greenlight the film.

A big part of the problem is that they had to make Deadpool fit into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. One possible solution to that problem, according to producer Wendy Jacobson, was to make it seem like Deadpool was hanging around the MCU all the time. As she explained in the documentary:

“We had a ‘Deadpool’s Deleted Scenes Extravaganza’ where we tried to show that he was in the MCU the whole time – you just didn’t see his scenes, they were all on the cutting room floor. We were basically just trying to find a reason for this film.”

“At one point, Ryan had the idea for a ‘Thor 2’ frame-by-frame remake until the end of the first act,” Jacobson previously explained about an early idea Reynolds had for ‘Deadpool 3’. The number of ways this movie could have been different if Marvel had said yes to another idea is staggering to consider.

The above artwork was shown in the documentary to help illustrate how this proposed “Deadpool’s Deleted Scenes Extravaganza” sequence would have played out. Deadpool also turned out to have some kind of clever interaction with Thanos. This idea is very meta and would have served the character well. Would it have served the MCU, though? That’s the bigger question. Ultimately, those in power will resist it. Feige explained in the documents that they worked hard with Reynolds to find the right idea.

“We worked with Ryan for a long time to come up with the best idea. Ryan Reynolds is an idea machine. He is almost entirely responsible for bringing that character to the big screen. He believed in it when very few other people did. at a very different time for Marvel films, and created something entirely unique.”

Ultimately, it was Hugh Jackman who saved “Deadpool 3” with one phone call when he decided he wanted to be in the film. From there it was off to the races. Shawn Levy (“Real Steel,” “The Adam Project”) landed in the director’s chair and it’s hard to imagine anything going better, all things considered. “Deadpool & Wolverine” now stands as the biggest R-rated film in history, successfully integrating these characters into the MCU without the need for such an ambitious gimmick. Granted, that might have been fun to see, but it’s one of those things that’s more of a funny idea than a practical one.

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ is now streaming on Disney+. You can also purchase a copy of the film on 4K, Blu-ray, or DVD through Amazon.