Is Ryan Reynolds Gunning for Kevin Feige’s Job With Gambit Move?

By Mike Redmond | Film | August 27, 2024 |

By Mike Redmond | Film | August 27, 2024 |

Last week saw Ryan Reynolds leverage the box office success of Deadpool & Wolverine to make an open play for Wesley Snipes to return as Blade for a Logan-style movie. While Reynolds conveniently didn’t address the elephant in the room, let’s be real. This move would drive a stake through Mahershala Ali’s attempts to reboot the character.

Well, Reynolds is back, and he’s continuing to squeeze the life out of Deadpool & Wolverine by not letting solid jokes/deep cuts just be cool little moments that don’t need to be weighed down by the ever-churning demands of the MCU. This time around, he’s making it abundantly clear that Channing Tatum’s Gambit survived the events of the film and gets pulled from The Void by someone with a Sling Ring.

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Credit where credit is due: Giving Channing Tatum a chance to finally be Gambit was a fun Easter egg — that Reynolds inexplicably spoiled by bringing him out at Comic-Con on Thursday night as Deadpool & Wolverine just started to play in theaters. I literally had every single cameo ruined because I saw a stray Deadline tweet listing all the actors Reynolds brought on stage including Wesley Snipes. Why? Why would you do this?

But here’s the thing: The Gambit cameo was also a joke, and a solid one right down to the Cajun accent that barely made a lick of sense except for the best line of the movie. The film even went way overboard on the costume to the point where Tatum’s Gambit looked like a weird blocky character from a completely different movie, but I’m starting to nitpick here. My point is the Gambit cameo worked as an homage/gag/nerdy deep cut. Milk that any longer, and it’s gonna immediately break from the strain. Just like, “Why is Thor crying?” I’m sorry, that is also another solid bit that should never once be explained, but I guarantee Marvel and Ryan Reynolds will not be able to resist running that joke into the ground.

I get that the two entities are locked into a well-earned victory lap with Deadpool & Wolverine. It was a much-needed shot in the arm, but it feels like every tiny element is being desperately mined to keep the momentum going, including making Reynolds the actual Marvel Jesus. He seems to be flexing an awful lot lately, almost at a Kevin Feige-like level, and while the MCU badly needs a course correction, cameos aren’t going to solve your story problems. That is the very wrong lesson here.

(Via Ryan Reynolds on Instagram)