Marvel Confirms Matthew McConaughey Replaces Ryan Reynolds After Deadpool Actor “Fired”

A quick changeover for Ryan Reynolds and Deadpool (“Alright, alright, alright…”).

Since The Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox, including 20th Century Studios (formerly 20th Century Fox), Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds has been striving to bring the Merc with a Mouth into Kevin Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe.

While the original plan had Marvel Studios bringing the mutants into the MCU first, one of Reynolds’ many Deadpool 3 pitches saw the wise-cracking anti-hero Wade Wilson get pushed through development first.

Following successful box office runs with Tim Miller’s Deadpool (2016) and David Leitch’s Deadpool 2 (2018), which earned $782 million and $785 million, respectively, Shawn Levy was brought in to bring the third Deadpool to the big screen.

Levy would eventually confirm, after Hugh Jackman joined the cast as Logan/Wolverine, that Deadpool 3 was not Deadpool 3 after all but a solid two-hander character adventure. The evolution of Deadpool 3 from what it once was over at Fox to its arrival in the Disney bubble has been coined a “radical reboot.”

There were other reboot reports surrounding Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), too.

Shortly after the first teaser during Super Bowl LVIII, theories suggested Deadpool would “change” the cinematic universe forever, with a Multiversal mechanic called “The Anchor” expected to streamline the franchise. Although “The Anchor” was featured, it served more as a teaser for future developments, with Deadpool & Wolverine having no significant impact on the Earth-616 continuity.

The Multiverse was ever-present in the third Deadpool movie as writers Zeb Wells, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, star Ryan Reynolds, and director Shawn Levy aimed to wrangle the MCU’s most troubled Phase. The cameos were plentiful.

From the supporting roles of Jennifer Garner (Elektra Natchios), Wesley Snipes (Eric Brooks/Blade), Channing Tatum (Remy LeBeau/Gambit), Chris Evans (Johnny Storm/The Human Torch), and Aaron Stanford (John Allerdyce/Pyro) to the quicker bites of Tyler Mane (Victor Creed/Sabretooth), Lady Deathstrike, Toad, and Azazel, familiar faces were speckled throughout.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a truly Multiversal Variant adventure if the titular characters didn’t get some of the spotlight. The early scenes of the movie see a variety of Hugh Jackman-played Wolverine characters from different timelines, aside from one Logan brought to life by Henry Cavill–the “Cavillrine.”

As for Deadpool, well, who didn’t star as the Merc with a Mouth Variant?

Ryan Reynolds Fired as Deadpool Character

The Deadpool Corps made an unforgettable entrance in the final act of Deadpool & Wolverine. After seeing Nicepool and Dogpool, played by Ryan Reynolds and Peggy the Dog, respectively, throughout the movie, the entire squad of Merc Variants entered the fold during Cassandra Nova’s (Emma Corrin) assault on the Time Variance Authority (TVA).

Led by Lady Deadpool, or Ladypool as she is known here, the screen became flooded with all types of Deadpool characters. After swirling rumors that Taylor Swift had boarded the feature film as Ladypool or Dazzler, it was eventually confirmed that fellow Hollywood actress (and Ryan Reynolds’ wife) Blake Lively voiced the female assassin.

Reynolds’ children, Inez and Olin, also got in on the action, playing Kidpool and Babypool, respectively. Initial reports theorized that Reynolds’ The Adam Project (2022) co-star Walker Scobell—who plays the titular role in Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series—was to play Kidpool; however, Levy recently confirmed via Entertainment Weekly that the young star had lost out once he and Reynolds “realized he was going to be too old, both too tall and with his voice too low.” Ah, puberty.

Joining Reynolds’ family in the mix was Nathan Fillion as Headpool, stunt performer Alex Kyshkovych as Canadapool, and Wrexham A.F.C.’s Paul Mullin as Welshpool. Ryan Reynolds, of course, owns Wrexham A.F.C. with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia actor Rob McElhenney.

Related: Disney Releases Touching Eulogy for Late Marvel Legend

McElhenney was originally cast in a cameo capacity as a TVA agent but was ultimately cut from Deadpool & Wolverine. The actor joked on X (formerly Twitter) after viewing the movie, saying, “I traveled 6 thousand miles to shoot my cameo. I hope you enjoyed it because the theater I was watching in had mistakenly cut it out.”

But the star-studded affair didn’t end there. Amid the chaos of the Deadpool Corps attack, a noticeable voice could be heard. But it wasn’t always this uniquely accented star that played the Deadpool role.

“Ryan in early cuts was the voice of Cowboypool,” director Shawn Levy told Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “He did the greatest Cowboypool, and I implored him to let us use his voice as Cowboypool.”

“I feel like, eventually, he was like, ‘Okay, fine, we’ll stick with my voice unless we can get someone like Matthew McConaughey,” Levy added, mimicking texting on his cellphone. “Cut to…yes! Literally, days later, Matthew sent us that recording. It was so good and dropped in like butter.”

So Ryan Reynolds brought about his own firing, with Levy saying, “Ryan, you’re fired as Cowboypool. Matthew, you’re in.”

Deadpool & Wolverine‘s Anticipated (But Unique) Success

Deadpool & Wolverine may have ridden the tailwind of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) by featuring stacked rumored cameos and beloved leading stars, but it has also been elevated in its own way.

As anticipated, the R-rated film—a first for Disney’s MCU—smashed records and became an instant box office hit. Before its release, it broke ticket pre-sale records for an R-rated film, with analysts predicting it to be the year’s biggest theatrical event.

Five days post-release, Marvel fans saw the significant impact Deadpool & Wolverine had made. After its opening weekend, the film grossed $211.4 million domestically and $444.6 million worldwide, reaching a total of $590 million by July 31, 2024.

Variety reported, “Deadpool & Wolverine is the fourth-biggest domestic release of 2024 behind Inside Out 2 ($615 million), Despicable Me 4 ($293 million), and Dune: Part II ($282 million).”

Related: Marvel Is Being Forced to Scrap Troubled MCU Movie as New Information Comes To Light

A week on and Levy’s movie is nearing the $1 billion mark, with a current global haul of circa $824 million. It has become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time and will soon usurp Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) and James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) as the highest-grossing MCU movie since Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (2022).

Alongside Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine, Deadpool & Wolverine also stars Leslie Uggams (Blind Al), Morena Baccarin (Vanessa), Rob Delaney (Peter), Karan Soni (Dopinder), Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead), Shioli Kutsuna (Yukio), Stefan Kapičić (Colossus), Lewis Tan (Shatterstar), and Matthew Macfadyen in his MCU debut as Mr. Paradox.

Would you have liked to see Ryan Reynolds as Cowboypool in Deadpool & Wolverine? Let us know in the comments down below!