Deadpool 2 Almost Included Chris Evans' Human Torch

The more genetically modified humans, the merrier, right?

Though director David Leitch's Deadpool 2 doesn't officially open in theaters until May 18, the lucky movie lovers who got to catch the flick early are already raving about the film's post-credits scenes — with one even stamping the second of the two as "an amazing series of jokes and set pieces" and "the best post-credits scene ever." But might they have been even better with the inclusion of a (literally) hot-headed Marvel Comics hero?

As it happens, Deadpool 2 screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick considered putting Chris Evans' Human Torch in one of the two post-credits scenes, in which he would audition to be a part of Deadpool's "super-duper f***in' group" known as X-Force. 

"There were different codas kicked around. There were more X-Force interviews that were talked about. One was Chris Evans as Human Torch," Wernick told Uproxx when asked about post-credits scenes that didn't make the final cut of Deadpool 2. 

It's easy to assume that Evans turned down the chance to reprise the role he played in the 2005 flick Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel, but the screenwriting duo never actually took the idea of having the actor in Deadpool 2 past the pitching stage. 

Asked if Evans said no, Reese explained, "No, no, we never got that far. Someone had the idea we actually did and we thought that was better. But we definitely had a lot more X-Force interviews with bizarre, random people coming in to interview."

Reese and Wernick also wanted to include a "killing of baby Hitler" scene to bookend Deadpool 2, though that idea, like having Evans' Human Torch light up on the big screen once more, was scrapped. 

"We took out the killing of baby Hitler," Reese said. "Deadpool goes back and kills baby Hitler at the very end. That's what was supposed to happen."

However, the important difference between the Human Torch moment and the child murder moment was that the latter actually did make it past the initial brainstorming phase. "Not just 'supposed to happen,'" Wernick stated. "We shot it." 

Reese added that they "put it in front of an audience," and revealed how it was meant to go down: "[Deadpool's] got the crib and he's standing in the German nursery and he's leaning over the crib to do it and there was kind of this, 'ohhhhh.' And we thought, 'We don't want to leave the crowd on an 'ohhhhh.” So it ended up coming out ... Our last moment was Deadpool saying 'Maximum effort!' as he goes in to throttle the baby. It does make you squeamish."

Wernick mentioned an alternate version of that scene, where Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool is "standing over baby Hitler and says, 'God, that is a toughie,'" and then "finds a Sharpie and draws a mustache on the baby — a little baby mustache — and says 'Maximum effort!'"

Though Chris Evans' Human Torch isn't tucked into the after-movie moments in Deadpool 2, we have a feeling everyone will still be blown away by the film. With Zazie Beetz as Domino, Josh Brolin as Cable, Terry Crews as Bedlam, Julian Dennison as Russell, Lewis Tan as Shatterstar, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Stefan Kapičić as Colossus, and Rob Delaney as Peter, plus many more, how could they not?

Catch Deadpool 2's legitimate post-credits scenes when the film is released on May 18.