WARNING: This article contains spoilers and content around sexual violence.
Seriously, this is your last chance to close this tab because this article is teeming with spoilers about Deadpool 2 and virtually all of the Marvel Comics that feature Deadpool. Beyond the surface-level Easter eggs, this article discusses vital plot line nuggets, so get out while you still can.
While Deadpool 2 is stacked with hundreds (seriously, our current tally is at 617) of decoratively painted Easter eggs, the directors of Deadpool 2 incorporated an Easter egg that references T.J. Miller’s alleged sexual assault (and subsequently allegedly awful behavior in general).
Couldn’t resist. Off to see @VancityReynolds in Deadpool 2 again pic.twitter.com/AYEsco0YI3
— Craig McRae (@craigthefool23) May 26, 2018
After the pseudo-fridging event at the beginning of Deadpool 2, Deadpool (i.e., Ryan Reynolds Wade Wilson) is inspired to form the X-Force and ultimately save Firefist (Russell) from Cable. Before Wilson does so, he tags along, as an X-Men in-training, with Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead to help defuse a rather irate Firefist outside the Essex House (which is two Easter eggs in itself).
A live news report introduces the X-Men and the trainee as they enter the scene—however, the running news ticker at the bottom of the screen reveals an important headline, which reads, “Christopher Plummer Refuses Role in Deadpool 2.”
The Easter egg doesn’t have much on-screen time, but it seems the creators of Deadpool 2 might have put it in to address the T.J. Miller controversy. After all, during the later stages of Deadpool 2’s production, Miller (who portrays Weasel) was accused of sexually assaulting a woman when he was in college. Just a month before Deadpool 2 was slated to premiere, Miller also allegedly called a fake bomb threat.
Because Miller’s alleged sexual assault came to light after Deadpool 2 was completed, it was pretty impossible to recast Weasel. Obviously, the creators of Deadpool 2 broke the fourth wall to show that they acknowledge the claims against Miller. They also don’t seem to condone Miller’s alleged behavior, seeing as Screen Rant suggests that Deadpool 2 reduced Miller’s screen time due to these allegations.
IndieWire also reports that Ryan Reynolds (who, by the way, also voiced Juggernaut in DP 2) himself confirmed that Miller won’t be involved in any prospective Deadpool or X-Force films. Nevertheless, distancing future Deadpool–affiliated movies from Miller and his alleged history of sexual assault is vital for the franchise, especially since the Merc with a Mouth is more than just a sarcastic anti-hero with a troubled backstory—he’s also canonically a multi-time sexual assault survivor.
That’s right, in nearly all of the Deadpool-related comic book story arcs, Wilson uses his seemingly extraneous snark to cope with his past sexual abuse. In Deadpool #2 alone, Mary Walker’s alternate personality, Typhoid Mary, rapes Wilson. Typhoid Mary used an image inducer, which basically makes a body-tracking hologram over the user’s body to essentially shape-shift her appearance. Because Mary knew that Wilson was infatuated with another superhuman named Siryn, she deceived him into thinking that she was Siryn. While the sex was consensual when Deadpool thought that Mary was actually Siryn, it still constitutes as rape. Using lies and, in this case, Stark Industries technology to actively dupe another person into consenting to sex is still rape.
Even before Wilson donned his red suit and became aware that he was a character imprisoned within the pages of a comic book, during his childhood, Wilson was molested by his mother and later, his surrogate mother. In the Deadpool MAX comics, we learn that Wilson’s early childhood was comprised of a series of sexual and physical abuse. While his father was at work, Wilson’s mother molested him. However, when Wilson’s father found out about these disturbing sexual altercations, he got jealous of the “affair” between his son and his wife.
Despite the fact that Wilson obviously couldn’t consent to this sexual abuse, his father beat Wilson when he found out about the sexual assault—which also left Wilson hospitalized and later sent him to an orphanage. This lead to continual physical and sexual abuse there as well. In the first Deadpool film, Wilson briefly reveals to Vanessa (who is also known as Copycat in the comics) that his father would beat him as a child, which also subtly references the sexual abuse and subsequent physical abuse his character endured in the comics.
Even in the Deadpool movie franchise, Wilson has endured a string of sexual abuse. In the first Deadpool movie alone, we already know that both Vanessa and Wilson are rape survivors. When the dynamic couple first met, Wilson used his twisted humor to declare that he was raped by his uncle, to which Vanessa responded that she was abused by her “uncles,” plural.
Although T.J. Miller’s on-screen character Weasel hasn’t been accused of sexual assault, Miller and his involvement in the future Deadpool-syndicated productions could have problematic results. Seeing as Deadpool suffers from apparent PTSD and other mental health issues from the cyclical sexual, physical and emotional abuse he endures throughout the comic books, distancing Miller from any future films can subtly show audience members that you can escape your (alleged) abusers.