Ryan Reynolds celebrates fifth anniversary of original Deadpool footage leak

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

With the superhero landscape as crowded as it is it’s hard to imagine the DEADPOOL movies not being around to break up the pack with meta gags, fourth wall breaks, gleeful violence and even more gleeful profanity. Just over five years ago that was a world people just had to accept, until one fateful day when some generous soul leaked test footage from the first canceled production of the movie starring Ryan Reynolds, which after receiving positive reactions made 20th Century Fox kick everything back into gear. That was exactly five years ago yesterday, and Reynolds has taken to Instagram to celebrate the occasion, as well as updating us on the head-scratching mystery as to who may have leaked the footage.

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In his post is a very messy evidence board, littered with news stories from the time and possible celebrity suspects. Among the lengths of red string are actors like Betty White, Hugh Jackman, Blake Lively, Taika Waititi, director Tim Miller, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick and more. However many faces could be to blame, Reynolds is pulling a real Detective Pikachu trying to figure it all out.

“Investigation heading into year 5. Or as I call it, ‘Phase 5.’ The point is, I love conspiracy-yarn #LeakAversary,” he wrote, throwing out a little meta-jab at Marvel Studios and new Fox owners, Disney.

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Oddly enough, this is also the first time in about five years that we have no clue what the future holds for Deadpool at the movies. Ever since Disney's acquisition of Fox, there have been no announcements or hints as to what they have planned for more movies, especially now that the character can leap into the Marvel universe. Actor Josh Brolin said he has no clue what's going on, despite asking several times, nor does sequel director David Leitch, who very much wants to do more (via Comic Book).

No matter what the future holds, take this time to celebrate the brave soul who leaked that original footage because the world of comic book movies is certainly better with a bit more red in it. Speaking directly to whoever that maybe, just come forward. I'm mostly confident five years is the statute of limitations on comic book movie test footage leaks.