8 Most Significant Differences Between The Leaked DEADPOOL Screenplay And Final Movie

Who was originally Deadpool's secret big bad? What role did Spider-Man play? All that and more is answered as we compare the leaked screenplay from 2010 to the R-Rated release which will soon hit Blu-ray.

By JoshWilding - Apr 26, 2016 07:04 AM EST

Filed Under: Deadpool

No one expected Deadpool to be a critical and commercial hit, hence why it took so damn long for it to get the green light from 20th Century Fox. Long before that amazing test footage found its way online though, Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese's screenplay from way back in 2010 ended up doing the rounds and has remained readily available ever since. Needless to say, it makes for a very interesting read.

Understandably, that script underwent a few changes before cameras started rolling with director Tim Miller at the helm, but much of it remains the same. However, it's the moments and characters which were altered or removed which are particularly fascinating, and it's clear that Deadpool could have been a very different movie. Would it have been better or worse? That's up to you to decide!

What you'll find here is a breakdown of all the biggest and most shocking differences between the leaked Deadpool screenplay and final movie. From plot twists to scrapped cameos and deleted scenes, the movie underwent some big changes before Fox gave in to fan demand, so hit NEXT for more...

8. Deadpool vs. Amy Winehouse

The Deadpool screenplay was written back in 2010, so this would have likely been removed even if Amy Winehouse hadn't tragically died in 2011, but she is for some reason a recurring joke throughout the screenplay. As well as betting on each other in the "Dead Pool", the mercenaries all places wagers on when the singer is going to die, and the movie frequently jumps to scenes featuring what would have presumably been a lookalike in a number precarious situations as she falls over drunk and very nearly gets killed in a variety of crazy ways.

It isn't until the after-credits scene though that we see Winehouse's death when she gets hit by a double decker bus near Trafalgar Square. The movie then finally wraps up with Deadpool saying, "And you woulda thought an overdose." Again, it's not exactly hard to see why this was dropped and why they didn't replace the singer with any number of other troubled well-known personalities currently in the tabloids. The whole thing just feels unnecessarily nasty and dark, and once again points to this much earlier version of Deadpool being a lot less fun to spend time with.

Arguably one of the biggest disappointments in Deadpool is the fact that Hugh Jackman never ends up making a physical appearance as Wolverine. However, he's referenced a fair few times, and had things panned out differently, another Marvel superhero would have (sort of) been making their presence felt in this movie. When Wade is creating his superhero suit, he's shown in a costume store looking through a box of masks, one of which just happens to be a Spider-Man one.

Staring at it for a moment, he turns it inside out and the sees that the interior of the mask is obviously plain red with black around the eyes. With that, the script points out that he "smirks" as "inspiration has struck." Rights issues can likely be blamed for why a crossover will never happen (regardless of how much the Deadpool team wish to make it a reality), though hether that would have prohibited Fox from using one of his masks as a prop is hard to say. Either way, the movie ended up going with an entirely different montage to explain how Wade went about creating his costume.

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6. Lower Budget = Fewer Action Sequences

$7 million was cut from Deadpool's budget before the movie was given the green light by the studio bosses at Fox who were so reluctant to make the movie a reality, and among the casualties of those cutbacks were two major action sequences. The first was an elaborate motorbike chase involving dozens of other vehicles which was set to feature the Merc with the Mouth and Ajax racing across the freeway before ending up inside a house being transported on the back of a lorry. Once inside, the two characters exchange blows in pretty much every room before the truck turns over and things wrap up just like the movie with Deadpool pinning Francis to the freeway with one of his katanas.

The second of these was even bigger though. Replacing that old aircraft carrier was an actual building which was the setting for a massive - and very violent - gunfight which goes on for pages and pages in the screenplay. However, that version still ends with Deadpool using the bodies to spell out "FRANCIS" when he's done. Writer Rhett Reese has also admitted that the hero leaving his guns behind in the taxi was added in order to completely cut these scenes out, replacing them instead with that still awesome (but much cheaper) sword fighting sequence.

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5. Ajax Has Some Scars Of His Own

Ajax's real name being Francis is an even bigger deal in the screenplay than it is in the movie, and Wade's obsession with taunting his captor about that leads to him carving something on his forehead during their battle in the facility he's being kept in. What that is isn't revealed to the audience until much later in the movie when he pays a visit to Weasel's bar. It's there that we see Wade carved "Hello, My Name Is Franchise" onto his forehead, and it's tough to say why they decided against including this.

Of course, Ajax's story plays out a lot differently here anyway. Rather than leaving Wade behind to burn, the fire brigade and police arrive to arrest the villain after Wade has beaten him, leading the hero with an entirely different sort of predicament as the only man who he believes can cure him is locked in a maximum security prison. In fact, Deadpool is forced to wait FIVE YEARS until he can get his revenge and go after Francis. Other than that, Ajax's arc stills plays out in pretty much the same way, with him kidnapping Vanessa and ultimately taking a bullet to the head. He just so happens to hate Wade even more due to their past encounter.

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4. Cut Characters

Angel Dust isn't included in the original draft of Deadpool, and surprisingly, there's also no sign of Negasonic Teenage Warhead (when Colossus goes after and later teams up with Wade, he's alone both times). Yet another result of the reduced budget, Angel was actually the replacement for a trio of villains from the comic books; Garrison Kane, Sluggo, and Wyre, all of whom would have worked for Ajax as orderlies of a sort. Kane has "robotic prosthetic legs and a bionic eye", Sluggo is a "superhumanly sized and muscled goon, running 6 '9", 400 pounds easy", and Wyre "magically spools inorganic thread from the tips of his fingers."

All three of them play a massive role in the final act, with Deadpool taking out Kane, and Colossus' epic battle with Sluggo being what ends up bringing down the building they're fighting in. Despite all three of them having ties to the comic book version of Deadpool, the movie definitely didn't suffer from their absence. Another surprising addition from the source material is Worm; in the screenplay, he's the mutant who Wade befriends in the hospital, and when he manages to escape and the place is burning down, Wade puts his horribly deformed roommate down after being begged by him to do so. His role ended up being greatly reduced.

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3. Less Relatable Versions Of Wade And Vanessa

One of the coolest things about Deadpool is the fact that both Wade Wilson and Vanessa Carlysle are extremely likeable characters, something which is particularly beneficial in the case of the former as he's nowhere near as obnoxious and annoying as his comic book counterpart. However, the screenplay made Wade a complete and utter jerk, and a borderline sociopath long before he became Deadpool. Take that scene with the pizza guy; rather than letting him off with a warning, Wade brutally assaults him, smashing his teeth in, and putting his head through a wall.

He's way more spiteful to Blind Al, and when Ajax takes a young boy hostage by putting a gun to his head and threatening him, Deadpool grabs a little girl and does the exact same thing! The humour is still there, but it's a much nastier version of the character. Wade and Vanessa's relationship is also a lot less sweeter as after each of their encounters in that sex montage, we see that he's paying her $300 a pop because she's still been actively working as a prostitute for all that time. While none of this would have been enough to ruin the movie had it made it into the final cut, it all leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and it's easy to see why these particular personality traits were dumped.

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2. Wade's Battle With Cancer And Suicide Attempts

In the movie, Wade pretty much resigns himself to his fate upon learning that he's dying of cancer, but in the screenplay, he tried pretty much everything to save himself before accepting the offer of that mysterious recruiter. In fact, he travels all over the world in a bid to save himself, but things take a stranger turn when he arrives in Mexico. It's there that a doctor is claiming he can remove people's tumours, and upon learning that he's actually ripping people off by revealing they're "cured" after showing them what is in reality chicken guts, Wade brutally murders him, holding the doctor's still beating heart in his hands.

If you think that's extreme, things take an even darker turn following Wade's escape from Ajax's facility. He attempts to commit suicide by jumping from a building, only to later wake up fully healed. Not happy leaving it there, he goes on to try and kill himself in a series of more gruesome ways, including riding a motorbike into a brick wall at 120mph. The whole sequence feels overly gratuitous (especially when he goes to a junk yard and crushes himself with a car), and so it's fair to say that the movie taking a more serious and straightforward approach to both his cancer diagnosis and healing factor was ultimately for the best.

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1. Doctor Killebrew Is The Real Big Bad

Whereas the movie made it quite clear that Deadpool's scars can never be cured by Ajax (or anyone else for that matter), the screenplay left the door open to that being a continuing plot thread in the franchise. When the Merc with the Mouth threatens the villain, he reveals that the only man capable of fixing Wade is Doctor Killebrew, the one who is really responsible for the facility which turned the mercenary into a "superhero."

The Recruiter as he's known actually survives in the screenplay, and meets with Killebrew right at the end of the movie. It's then revealed that he was the doctor who earlier made a very brief in the workshop to comfort Wade when he first arrived, and so this was clearly all included as a way of setting up a sequel featuring Deadpool tracking down his true creator. Comic book fans will of course know that Killebrew is the head of the facility that housed Weapon X's failed experiments and was responsible for turning Wade into Deadpool, so the movie would have closely followed the source material in that respect.

Do you wish some of these scenes and characters had been included in the final version of Deadpool? Are there any other great moments from the script we've missed? As always, let us know your thoughts in the usual place.

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43 Comments

1 2

SuperCat - 4/26/2016, 7:33 AM

"Next" button Tuesday!!

TheEpicJuicebox - 4/26/2016, 7:39 AM

If only deadpool rebooted the xmen to be more comic accurate

Invictor - 4/26/2016, 7:40 AM

Number eight is insane.

SuperCat - 4/26/2016, 7:42 AM

sKeemAn - 4/26/2016, 7:52 AM

the infamous next button

cubrn - 4/26/2016, 7:55 AM

Does anybody ever fall prey to the next button?

Doop - 4/26/2016, 7:58 AM

Would be cool if the next button was embedded in the picture

McGee - 4/26/2016, 7:58 AM

Still glad they took the risk in making this movie. To quote a great man...

MattBellissimo - 4/26/2016, 8:17 AM

@McGee - I can't believe they took the risk letting you on this site.

ICStoopedPeople - 4/26/2016, 8:12 AM

The only thing I regret them removing/changing was Wade snatching a little girl up and putting a gun to her head.

I mean, yeah, it's [frick]ed up, but damn is it funny.

ElDarkside - 4/27/2016, 8:36 AM

@ICStoopedPeople - I think they had to make the anti-hero somewhat like able, and they made him lovable imo and that's why the majority of the audience loved the movie.

You can go too far and majority of the gen audience will not like someone who hurts kids. Even Tony Montana doesn't kill kids. It's a no-no in movies today and creates instant dislike for the characters when hurting kids is involved.

Loved this movie. Can't wait to watch it 11 times in a row on bluray.... And then... Bring on Cable!!!

GhostDog - 4/26/2016, 8:23 AM

SnapperCarr - 4/26/2016, 9:19 AM

Need Bob in the sequel!

nibs - 4/26/2016, 10:09 AM

Should've kept the Winehouse jokes

Retribution13 - 4/26/2016, 10:12 AM

The original script was so much better than the movie we got...but I mean, shit, I loved the movie so mazel tov.

I will always miss Garrison Kane.

iDontWikeIt - 4/26/2016, 10:36 AM

#NotRelated

Ace006 - 4/26/2016, 2:52 PM

My only gripe with the movie was that Wade wasn't nasty enough but maybe thats cause i have a soft spot for the 90s version of Deadpool (i.e. Joe Kelly's run) i really did think he was too nice to Al

1 2

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Who was originally Deadpool's secret big bad? What role did Spider-Man play? All that and more is answered as we compare the leaked screenplay from 2010 to the R-Rated release which will soon hit Blu-ray.

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