Deadpool 2: Why The Screenwriters Took Those X-Force Risks

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Deadpool 2.

Some very popular comic book characters met some very quick deaths in Deadpool 2, which brought together X-Force members Shatterstar (Lewis Tan), Bedlam (Terry Crews), Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgard), and the Vanisher (Brad Pitt) only to almost immediately kill them off in a gruesome comedy of errors. Screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who co-wrote the film with star Ryan Reynolds, revealed in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly that they were nervous over potential backlash for the deaths, but still felt like it was worth taking the risk. 

"These are characters that childhoods grow up on," Wernick said. "But our test with Deadpool is, if you couldn't do it in another superhero movie then you should do it in Deadpool. It's like we're given the license to push the boundaries and it's a boundary we definitely worry about. It's shocking and crazy and funny and we built our whole marketing campaign around these guys. People are coming to the movie thinking these guys are gonna team up and be part of this X-Force and in an instant they're all dead! Comedy trumped better judgment."

The characters were very prominent in the marketing campaign, and Reese noted that the actors were gracious enough to film scenes that were never actually going to be featured in the movie just so that they could be used in the trailers. "If you watch trailers and commercials, you'll watch Bedlam and Shatterstar out on the street kicking people's ass," Reese said. "It was all done with the knowledge it wouldn't be in the movie."

Although the characters seem to have bitten the dust, there is still some hope for them. The post-credits scene features Deadpool going back in time to save Rob Delaney's powerless X-Force member Peter, and it's possible that he could have saved the others as well. "Here's the beauty of it: Deadpool has gotten hold of Cable's time-travel device so we could always bring back any of these guys if we wanted to," said Wernick.

The decision on whether or not they will ultimately live or die is likely up to Drew Goddard, who is set to write and direct an X-Force movie that could potentially include those characters, if he chose. Reese said that they don't know who will be in Goddard's film, but that they gave him "the pieces to play with." "I think he also has the freedom to drop characters and add new ones to X-Force," Reese said. "Whether it will be that existing six or seven that walk off at the end of our movie remains to be seen, but I think Cable, Domino, and Deadpool will definitely be there."

Deadpool 2 also stars Josh Brolin, Zazie Beetz, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, Jack Kesy, Stefan Kapicic, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Shioli Kutsuna, and Eddie Marsan. The movie, which was directed by David Leitch and holds an 83 percent critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, is in theaters now.