Deadpool 2’s weird and wonderful post-credits scenes – explained
There’s a LOT to unpick in these very meta moments – WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
Post-credits scenes are almost a given in superhero films these days, which is probably why Ryan Reynolds’ first Deadpool film mercilessly made fun of them in a short, Ferris Bueller-styled scene that mocked Marvel’s habit of including “Sam Jackson with an eyepatch and a saucy little leather number.”
Deadpool 2, however, really ups the ante with a series of fourth wall-breaking pieces that pay tribute to the character’s movie past, tie up a few loose ends and generally make for hilarious viewing.
Now, we’re delving into exactly what happens in the scenes and what they mean below (with the odd interjection from one of the film's cast), so if you haven’t seen the film yet PLEASE LOOK AWAY. Obviously spoilers lurk beneath the divide, and you’re only hurting yourself if you read on.
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Oh, and another note – the first Deadpool film slightly altered its post-credits scene for general release after showing a shorter one to early critics’ screenings, so it’s possible something else will have been added this time too. If so, this article will be updated.
Still here? Great. There are roughly five post-credits scenes in Deadpool, though as they all flow into each other and crop up quite early on it’s probably more accurate to say there’s one long freewheeling mid-credits scene.
We’ll still break them up separately, though.
Post-credits scene one
At the end of the film, we see antihero Cable (Josh Brolin) use up his last chance at time-travel to save Deadpool, before his futuristic device runs out of juice.
However, in the first post-credits scene we see young X-Men Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) and Yukio (Shiori Kutsuna) actually get the device working again and hand it over to Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), with a warning that Cable will kill him if he’s caught using it.
Post-credits scene two
The next segment sees Deadpool zip back in time to the scene earlier in the movie when his fiancé Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) was killed by an assassin, with Wade managing to kill the last attacker with some kitchenware instead.
Whether this scene makes Vanessa’s survival canonical is a little unclear, but it certainly opens up the possibility of Baccarin being back for future sequels.
Post-credits scene three
Immediately after this, Deadpool jumps to the point in the film when Rob Delaney’s completely non-super powered X-Force member Peter was killed, convincing him to go back to his normal life instead of joining in any future superheroics.
Sadly, Wade’s other deceased X-Force teammates Bedlam, Vanisher, Shatterstar and Zeitgeist (played by Terry Crews, Brad Pitt, Lewis Tan and Bill Skarsgaard respectively) don’t get the same treatment. But who knows? Maybe we’ll see Peter in a future X-Force movie now.
Post-credits scene four
OK, now this is where things get really meta. This segment begins as a straight replay of a scene from 2009’s much-maligned X-Men Origins: Wolverine, specifically the bit where Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) faces up against that movie’s version of Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds’ first go at the character).
To start with, the scene is just a straight replay of X-Men Origins: Wolverine footage (albeit slightly re-edited), making it a weird sort of archive cameo for Wolverine star Jackman – but then things change up a bit when the REAL Deadpool (aka from these Deadpool films) turns up to shoots his weird, mouthless self in the head.
“Just cleaning up the timelines!” he tells the younger Wolverine, who we now only see from behind with his claws drawn, with the whole scene referencing the increasingly confusing universe of X-Men films over the past couple of decades.
Again, it’s hard to say whether this scene counts as a canonical removal of X-Men Origins: Wolverine from the X-Men timeline – I mean, I can’t believe I’m arguing about canon in an article about Deadpool. What even is canon? I don’t know any more – but it’s definitely the extension of a joke in the first Deadpool film, which included an action figure of the Origins Deadpool in its opening moments.
It’s also quite a neat way of having a Hugh Jackman cameo without undermining Wolverine’s emotional death in 2017’s Logan, so well done everyone for that.
"I thought it was great, particularly since Hugh died in his last movie, that he decided to still kind of be a part of it," actor Zazie Beetz, who played Domino in Deadpool 2, told RadioTimes.com.
Jackman gets a special mention in the credits for use of his likeness, which can also be seen on a box of Wolverine cereal and on a slightly grisly music box that Deadpool uses to open the film.
Post-credits scene five
The final scene (unless they add another one for the general release) cuts us to, er, Ryan Reynolds himself, looking at a movie script with wide-eyed excitement.
“You’re in the big leagues now, kid,” he tells himself, before the camera cuts to the front page of the script – which is for Reynolds’ OTHER critically-panned superhero movie Green Lantern, the butt of many jokes in the original Deadpool.
We then hear a gunshot and the script is splashed with blood. Deadpool has travelled back in time to this point to shoot….himself, I suppose?...in the head before he can make the 2011 movie. Quite the moment to end this film on.
All in all, then, Deadpool 2 brings us some of the weirdest, funniest post-credits scenes in superhero movie history. From Wade Wilson we’d expect nothing less.
Deadpool 2 is in UK cinemas now
