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Avengers: Infinity War Directors Fire Back At Deadpool's Thanos Joke

Josh Brolin as Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War
By AJ Caulfield

There are a few guarantees when it comes to Deadpool: he'll word-vomit swear words at the most inappropriate times, he'll slay his enemies in ways once thought to go against the laws of physics, and he'll make fun of anything and everything around him — including the minds behind Marvel's biggest superhero movie to date. 

Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds took the opportunity on Thursday to share a message from the red-and-black-rocking anti-hero, who had a few words to say about people potentially spoiling Deadpool 2. It only took fans a few seconds to realize that the Deadpool-penned note was partially sincere but mostly a parody of the #ThanosDemandsYourSilence initiative Avengers: Infinity War co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo sparked up to stress the importance of keeping plot details a secret. 

"To the greaterest fans in the whole universe," Deadpool wrote. "We have embarked on the 'Deadpool 2: This is Kind of Your Guys' Fault' World Tour. Almost everyone involved in the film has given Maximum Effort the past two years, maintaining the highest level of super secrets, like how David Blaine catches bullets in his mouth. And the secret blend of 11 herbs and spices in Colonel Sanders' delicious moustache. Only a handful of people know the film's true plot. One of them is not Ryan Reynolds. We're asking that when you see Deadpool 2, don't say a f***ing word about the fun s*** in the movie." He then signed off with a hashtag of his own: #WadeWilsonDemandsYourSisterSorryStupidAutocorrectSilence. 

For comparison, the Russos said in their message, "To the greatest fans in the world, we're about to embark on the Avengers: Infinity War press tour. We will be visiting fans all over the world screening only a limited amount of selected footage from the film in order to avoid spoiling the story for future viewers ... Everyone involved with the film has worked incredibly hard for the past two years maintaining the highest level of secrecy. Only a handful of people know the film's true plot. We're asking that when you see Infinity War, in the coming months, that you maintain that same level of secrecy so that all fans can have an equal experience when they watch it for the first time. Don't spoil it for others, the same way you wouldn't want it spoiled for you."

The similarities are undeniable, with many phrases from the Russos' letter popping up verbatim in Deadpool's note, and the directors have something to say about the situation. 

Taking to Twitter, Joe and Anthony Russo fired back at the mockery the Merc with a Mouth made of their campaign. Using their shared account, the filmmaking siblings conveyed exactly how they feel in a photo that speaks a thousand words. The snap shows an anonymous hand inside a prop Infinity Gauntlet, which has its middle finger raised. Punctuating the ice-cold photo is a simple but effective caption: "Boom."

Reynolds was quick to respond to the flip of the bird, though he took a higher road than the one his brash and bawdy character would have ventured down. The actor kept it polite and humble, replying to the Russo Brothers, "I deserve that."

While this banter-filled exchange is chuckle-worthy on its own, the fact that the moment is currently the only tweet on the Russos' account makes it even better. (The pair opened their Twitter account back in 2015, but have a fondness for tweet-and-delete behavior, often removing all of their past posts to tweet on a clean slate.)

All things considered, it doesn't seem the Russos are genuinely angry at Reynolds or the Deadpool 2 marketing team for jabbing at Avengers: Infinity War, and that the actor and the minds behind the Deadpool sequel don't actually think the directors' please-avoid-spoiling-this-movie attitude is in any way uncool. And how could they? Infinity War has continued to smash records at the box office, surpassing the $1 billion benchmark in record time, and Deadpool 2 first reactions stamp the sequel film as being bigger, better, and more brilliant than the original. Something tells us both parties are too busy basking in their respective successes to be truly fired up. 

Catch Avengers: Infinity War in theaters now, then circle back to see Deadpool 2 on May 18.

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