When 20th Century Fox put out X-Men spinoff Deadpool this past weekend, the studio did so with relatively low expectations. After all, it's an R-rated superhero movie with a paltry $58 million budget debuting in February, so it couldn't be that successful. But the film blew away even the best predictions, nabbing the highest opening weekend at the box office of any Fox film ever — including every single X-Men movie. So now the movie that was supposed to be Fox's tentpole for the year, the massively budgeted X-Men: Apocalypse, due out in May, has its work cut out for it in trying to match Deadpool's success. One way it might be able to do that is if the Merc with a Mouth were to actually show up in the film, driving his many fans to the theater. So, will Deadpool be in X-Men: Apocalypse ?
The possibility of Deadpool appearing in the film is still unknown at this point, but it's highly unlikely that he is already in the movie. As I already stated, Fox wasn't expecting Deadpool to be such a moneymaker, and of the two films, they were definitely banking on Apocalypse to drive their profits. But reception to the upcoming film's trailers has been pretty lukewarm so far, and the studio may be looking for a last-minute Deadpool appearance to shore up support for the film among fans. Logistically, it's possible for Ryan Reynolds to film a quick cameo to be added to the film before its release; that's likely not a problem. The bigger question is, how would Deadpool fit into the movie?
There are actually several reasons why a Deadpool appearance in X-Men: Apocalypse may not be such a great idea. First of all, the content of Deadpool is much more adult than what fans will be expecting in Apocalypse. In order for Deadpool to cross over into the mainstream X-Men universe, he's going to have to tone down the raunch. A censored Deadpool would likely do more harm than good for Fox, as the character's fans proved with their wallets that they like their anti-hero R-rated.
Next, Deadpool 's fourth wall-breaking, irreverent tone is wildly distinct from the über-seriousness of the X-Men films. Those movies are quite dramatic, and the tone of Apocalypse looks especially bleak. There's not a laugh to be had in the film's trailers so far, and typically movies named after the end of days aren't exactly chucklefests. Having Deadpool stroll onto the screen and address the audience with a joke making fun of Apocalypse's outfit seems like it would be wildly out of place, and would completely undercut the rest of the film.
Finally, there's the pesky fact that Apocalypse takes place in 1983, while Deadpool takes place in modern times. Assuming Wade Wilson is the same age as Ryan Reynolds, that would make him about seven years old at the time of the film. Call me crazy, but I don't think a non-superpowered little kid is what Deadpool fans want to see. One way to rectify this is having a scene in the film that takes place in modern times, kind of like what happened with X-Men: Days of Future Past. However, since there have been no reports of any members of the "old guard" of X-Men actors (Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Halle Berry, etc.) appearing in the film, there's no reason to believe that this is going to happen.
The point is that if Fox really wants to include a Deadpool cameo in X-Men: Apocalypse, they'll make it happen. But I just don't see any way that it could happen that wouldn't be detrimental to the film. If Fox is serious about building an X-Men universe that's going to compete with Marvel, they have to let their properties breathe without stepping on each other. So sorry, Deadpool, you should probably sit this one out.
Images: 20th Century Fox; giphy.com
