Deadpool & Wolverine‘s official trailer left us more convinced than ever than this film could have more cameos than an Avengers movie — but here’s one familiar face we really didn’t expect to see pop up. Check him out now, it’s just Ken.
It’s true, Ryan Gosling will appear in Deadpool 3 … kinda. Ahead of the trailer’s release, Ryan Reynolds shared a short teaser for it on his Instagram, and it contains one shot that we haven’t seen elsewhere. The moment captures a rare bit of downtime for Wade Wilson, as well as a nod to Reynolds’ fellow Hollywood Ryan. Take a close look at Wade’s shirt and you’ll notice it’s humorlessly patterned with snaps of the Barbie icon.
If you’re wondering about the old-fashioned adult novel Wade is reading, titled The Canadian Mounted, this is a much more deep-cut reference. This is the same book, cover, title, and all, that John Candy’s character is seen reading in classic 1980s movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Director Shawn Levy‘s movies and TV shows are often full of references to ’80s pop culture — see Stranger Things and The Adam Project — so the fact he’s carrying this trope over to DP3, but with a slightly more NSFW flavor, shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Seeing Gosling in any kind of Marvel context, however? Now, that is a surprise.
Could Ryan Gosling ever show up in the MCU for real?
As hilarious as this visual gag is, it’s only making us hungry to see Gosling in the MCU for real. Whether Kevin Feige has actually reached out to the La La Land star or not remains a mystery, but Gosling has certainly been frequently linked to various Marvel characters over the years — most recently, the role of Sentry in Thunderbolts (that ultimately went to Lewis Pullman).
Once upon a time, Gosling did say he’d love to play the part of Ghost Rider, but it seems this was just an example of the puckish sense of humor that we ended up seeing a lot more of during his Barbie era as his Fall Guy co-star Emily Blunt later admitted that he was just kidding when he said this and he doesn’t really have any ambitions about being our next Johnny Blaze.
Having said all that, in a film that is finding room for everyone from Jennifer Garner’s Elektra to the most obscure X-Men from the Fox era to Taylor Swift (allegedly), we can’t entirely rule out the possibility that Ryan Gosling could make an actual cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine. Still, we’re pretty sure his only appearance in the movie will be on Ryan Reynolds’ body. Wait, that’s not how it sounds.