Much as fans wanted it to happen, it didn’t happen. Deadpool, the Ryan Reynolds superhero blockbuster, was snubbed by the Academy on Tuesday as it announced the 2017 Oscar nominees. Reynolds promised fans he would don the iconic red and black suit for a “ridiculous reaction video” if the film got nominated, a sight the world may now never experience. The Academy instead nominated such titles as La La Land, Manchester by the Sea, and Arrival, with the final winners set to be announced in a star-studded show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on February 26.
Deadpool was one of last year’s major critical and commercial successes. It scored 84 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. “Fast, funny, and gleefully profane, the fourth-wall-busting Deadpool subverts superhero film formula with wildly entertaining — and decidedly non-family-friendly — results,” the critic consensus reads. Over the three-day Presidents’ Day weekend, Deadpool took in a staggering $150 million, raking in over $700 million globally on a budget of around $50 million.
In many ways, it’s possibly for the best that Deadpool didn’t get the nomination. Although the world will never see Reynolds in the reaction video to end all reaction videos, there’s no telling what his character would have done to the award had he won it. Character co-creator Fabian Nicieza told fans he would “be worried about what Deadpool would do with the Oscar… that thing is not shaped in a way that would allow him to resist…”
Reynolds and his fellow cast members are expected to return for Deadpool 2 in 2018. Fans were shocked when Reynolds posted a photo of himself sitting with Hugh Jackman and Pierce Brosnan on Instagram last week. The post led to speculation that Brosnan could be featured in the sequel as Cable, Deadpool’s mutant buddy.
Ahead of the big announcement, the team posted an Oscar nomination video that bragged about the film’s many achievements. The 35-second video lists accolades like “600 lbs. of chimichangas,” “12 humiliating minutes on a casting couch,” and “42 rejection letters from Fox.”
Still, there’s always Deadpool 2.
