Ryan Reynolds confirmed he tried to get Nicolas Cage to make a cameo as Ghost Rider in Deadpool & Wolverine.
Early concept art for the movie, revealed by Marvel Studios visual development supervisor Rodney Fuentebella following its July release, shows that at least one point, Cage and Ben Affleck’s Daredevil were considered for cameos alongside Jennifer Garner, Chris Evans and Wesley Snipes.
Alas, it wasn’t to be, Reynolds shared on the Thursday, November 7, episode of Entertainment Weekly’s “The Awardist” podcast.
“They were in early drafts. We had versions of that [sequence], but then as it shook out, you’re sort of looking … We’re trying to make the movie responsibly, as well,” said Reynolds, who not only starred in Deadpool 3 but cowrote and executive produced the film. “It’s a big budget. It’s the biggest budget of any of the Deadpool movies, but you want to give yourself as much constraint, which really I think facilitates asymmetrical thinking and creativity. If you have too much time or too much money, it usually murders that kind of creativity. So, yeah, you’re shrinking things.”
In Cage’s case, an approach was made to have the Oscar winner reprise his role as Ghost Rider. (Cage played the character in 2007’s Ghost Rider and 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, which were released by 20th Century Fox. Affleck played the title character in 2003’s Daredevil, also released by Fox.)
“But we did talk to Nic Cage. We tried to get him, but he was a no-go … I would’ve loved him,” said Reynolds.
Deadpool & Wolverine is something of a love letter to the Marvel movies produced by Fox — including the first two Deadpool movies, the X-Men movies and more — before the comic book company formed its own studio and before Disney acquired Fox in 2019.
Evans reprises his role as Johnny Storm/Human Torch from Fox’s Fantastic Four movies released in the 2000s. Garner returns as Elektra from Fox’s Daredevil, Snipes as Blade, and Dafne Keen as Laura/X-23 from Logan. Channing Tatum, meanwhile, finally gets to play X-Men character Gambit on the big screen. The actor was set to star in his own X-Men spinoff as the Cajun superhero, but it toiled in development at Fox and was eventually scrapped after Disney acquired the studio.
In August, X-Men actress Halle Berry revealed that she would have been down to reprise her role as Storm in the movie, but claimed Reynolds never asked her.
“Blake asked me one time,” Berry said, referring to Reynolds’ wife, Blake Lively (who also has a cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine). “I ran into her at a Marc Jacobs fashion show, and she said, ‘Would you ever be in my husband’s movie as Storm?’ I said, ‘Yeah, if he asked me,’ but he never asked me.”
Other cameos in Deadpool 3 include Henry Cavill as an alternative version of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, and Reynolds and Lively’s children, Inez and Olin, who appear as Kidpool and Babypool respectively.
