20th Century FoxAfter countless marketing campaigns and PR stunts, Deadpool 2 finally hit cinemas this week.
As well as introducing new characters from the Marvel universe such as Cable and Domino, the Deadpool team included another character that wasn’t featured in any advance material, but was rumoured by hardcore fans to appear – the Juggernaut.
And, in true Deadpool fashion, the actor playing the Juggernaut was kept as well under wraps as the character itself, appearing in the credits only as ‘himself’.
GettyRhett Reese, screenwriter for Deadpool 2, revealed the secret to CBR at the film’s recent press junket in New York.
He said:
Ryan Reynolds ended up voicing Juggernaut, if you didn’t know that.
No we didn’t, Rhett, but thanks for clarifying.
He added:
That was Ryan’s voice as the Juggernaut, and he did the facial capture for him. I don’t know how they did the physical motion-capture – I don’t think that was Ryan.
That’s right, in a much quieter than usual way for Reynolds, he found time to lend his talents to a character other than Deadpool. Who’d have thought it.
In the Marvel universe, Juggernaut is a longtime X-Men villain and distant relative of Professor Charles Xavier.
Fans may recall the character’s appearance in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, where he was played by Vinnie Jones.
20th Century FoxHowever, for screenwriters Reese and Paul Wernick, who also wrote the first Deadpool film, it was an opportunity to redo the character.
Reese said:
We committed to it pretty early on, because he’s never been done justice until now.
We always wanted to see a CG Juggernaut, so we finally got that. We also really needed to balance the scales in act three, between Deadpool and friends and little Firefist who has cool powers, but we needed to make it a fair fight.
What greater force of nature than Juggernaut?
Juggernaut’s appearance in the new film also ties in nicely with some classic comic book contests, as Juggernaut vs Colossus is a well-known rivalry.
20th Century FoxReese added:
It also gave us a chance for him to fight Colossus, two big behemoths going at it in act three is never a bad thing.
So why did Reynolds and the team decide to keep it all under wraps? As director David Leitch told UNILAD, there’s more to Ryan Reynolds than meets the eye.
He said:
I think there’s a self-deprecating nature to Deadpool and to Ryan that’s charming and, by the way, genuine.
I think that’s one of the most beautiful things about Deadpool and I think Ryan gets that and is self-aware enough to make fun of himself and I think that’s the sign of a good human being, the ability to laugh at yourself.
It’s not the first time Reynolds kept his identity under wraps, either, as the Merc With A Mouth recently made the news by appearing on a Korean singing show hidden behind a unicorn mask.
What a talented guy.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.