Courtesy of The Walt Disney Company Malaysia, we were given the opportunity to join a virtual press conference with the cast of the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine, including Ryan Reynolds (Wade Wilson/Deadpool), Hugh Jackman (Logan/Wolverine) and Shawn Levy (director).

They were asked several questions throughout the press conference, but here’s what Ryan Reynolds had to say about the now-famous Marvel Jesus line from the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer.

It turns out that he thought of the whole ‘Marvel Jesus’ idea BEFORE the decline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and Marvel Studios’ current rough patch (which arguably began after 2019’s Avengers Endgame).

Ryan Reynolds said:

“None of that stuff is self-imposed. I mean, from the earliest days that Shawn and I were writing the script in my apartment in New York City, I remember we wrote this sort of Marvel Jesus bit in the movie, which was really more of a way to illustrate Deadpool’s own self-delusion.

At the time, it was certainly not meant to be a commentary on the film industry, Marvel, comic books, any of that stuff. But yeah, Marvel hit a bit of a rougher patch maybe than normal, they required a bit of a reset and suddenly that storyline became ultra relevant. More externally than for us.

But yeah, it was almost like, I remember my wife said to me, did you somehow orchestrated it this way, did you try to make it so that line was relevant. I was not that smart, I promise.

I don’t know about that aspect, that’s not what we’re here to do. The three of us, when we set out to make this film, we had a very specific north star, and that was to deliver unbridled joy and audacity to audiences, to delight audiences all over the world. I personally found, I know it was Hugh’s experience and Shawn’s experience, the best and most powerful magic in all of storytelling in this modern day and age, particularly the last five to ten years, has been joy.

And that’s what we did here, the only objective was to create as much joy as humanly possible. And I think it reads on camera because for us, it’s a dream come true for us all to work together. I mean, Hugh and I have been friends for 17 years, we’ve been through all kinds of ups and downs, we’ve been there for each other. Shawn and I, almost a decade, we genuinely love each other and cheer for each other.

I think that’s why it translates to the screen, that kind of enthusiasm and joy because we have these folks who are not competing with one another. Each one of us really wants to put the other ahead and put them in the best possible light.”

During the same press conference, Ryan later teased audiences to expect some “surprises”.

He added:

“There are moments you haven’t seen yet in the movie and I wish we were showing everything but there’s so many surprises in the film that Marvel won’t let us do that, much to our chagrin.

But there are lots of moments in the movie where it’s hard to distinguish whether Deadpool is talking to Wolverine or is it Ryan talking to Hugh or Hugh talking to Ryan.

Those are some of the scenes I’m most proud of in the movie that anchor the film and something that’s really quite real and gratifying.”

In the meantime, check out my previous ComicsLord detailed breakdowns for the first trailer here and the second trailer here.

Deadpool & Wolverine will be the only Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie coming out in 2024. It premieres in Malaysian cinemas on 25 July 2024.

Check out the new teaser trailer below: