Deadpool Director Remembers Ryan Reynolds Not Liking The Costume At First

Deadpool director Tim Miller has revealed Ryan Reynolds' initial reaction to the titular hero's costume. Deadpool, the moniker taken on by mercenary Wade Wilson, was originally created by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld in 1991. He first appeared in New Mutants #98 as a pure villain before eventually being softened into an antihero, further developing his signature quirky sense of humor and habit of breaking the fourth wall. Although his body is still covered in scars, Deadpool has the ability to regenerate, healing from nearly any injury, which - in addition to his mercenary skills - makes him a formidable fighter.

The character was first adapted into a live-action film as played by Reynolds in the often-maligned prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009. Despite that film's lack of popularity with its fan base, Reynolds continued to make playing Deadpool a priority, an opportunity he was given in 2016 when the R-rated, foul-mouthed hero came bursting onto screens in Deadpool, making $782.6 million at the box office off the back of its $58 million budget. The film was directed by Miller, making his feature debut after writing and directing several shorts. Although he did not return for the sequel (which was directed by John Wick's David Leitch), he did eventually go on to helm Terminator: Dark Fate and several episodes of Netflix's Love, Death & Robots.

Recently, Miller appeared on a Corridor Crew episode where the VFX artists reacted to various scenes from the first Deadpool film. The conversation turned to Deadpool's costume itself, and Miller shared that Reynolds was initially nervous seeing the costume before they had time to age it down to give it a more lived-in look. The star said "I can’t. That’s gonna look awful," but Miller assured him it would be perfect when it was finished, and indeed, the director revealed that "the joy when he put that costume on the first time was palpable." Read his full quote below:

As you can imagine, there was a lot of discussion about the costume, and I really believed it’s gotta be the comic book costume. And you can see, we got the costume design right from the test [footage] at the beginning. And Ryan saw the costume before it was aged down. He had a moment where he was like, “Dude, that’s gonna look terrible. I can’t. That’s gonna look awful.”

And I’m like, “Just hold on, when we age it down it’s gonna look awesome.” And then the joy when he put that costume on the first time was palpable. You saw him in it and you just knew. We had a muscle suit undershirt under that. We took it out. He didn’t need it, he just looked great. And I always see Deadpool as kinda slim anyway. He’s lithe. He has to be fast.

How Comic-Accurate Is Deadpool's Suit?

Although Deadpool's look in the comics has changed throughout the years, Miller's assertion that he fought to keep it comic-accurate certainly holds water. Both the film and the comic's costumes are full-body suits with a red base and black armored patches in almost exactly the same spots. The only major difference is that in the original Deadpool comics, his mask has more of a pointed tip at the back of his head, whereas the film opts for a slightly more rounded skull.

Fans of the film's costume will likely be grateful that Miller was able to convince Reynolds that the suit would eventually work for him. If he responded to the star's panic at that early stage, Deadpool might have ended up featuring a significantly different look that could have majorly diverged from the original comics. Whether or not his costume will have a significant redesign in his MCU era remains to be seen, but that seems unlikely considering what a success the costume department had with the original design.

Source: Corridor Crew

Next: Deadpool 2: Why Ryan Reynolds Also Played Juggernaut