As Deadpool himself says in the opening of the first film, “You’re probably thinking, ‘My boyfriend said this was a superhero movie, but that guy in the red suit just turned that other guy into a f**ing kabab!’”
Well, after that we mean, where Wade quickly adds that Deadpool isn’t just a superhero movie: it’s a love story. And that love story wouldn’t exist without Vanessa Carlysle, played by Morena Baccarin. She and Wade share a sharp, sarcastic, and deeply passionate relationship that endures even after Wade’s transformation into the scarred, red-suited antihero we know and love.
Vanessa plays a central role in the first two Deadpool films, but in Deadpool & Wolverine her appearance is brief due to the film leaning more into the bromantic buddy-action comedy angle between the Merc with a Mouth and the adamantium-clawed Logan.
Despite her limited screen time, Baccarin wants to return as Vanessa with a bigger role in Deadpool 4, expressing genuine excitement about revisiting the character and exploring her story in greater depth.
“It’s been such a long journey. I can’t [believe] it’s almost 10 years since we shot the first one,” Baccarin told Variety in a recent interview promoting her new show Sheriff Country on CBS. “I never would have imagined in my wildest dreams that that’s what it would have turned out to be.”
Baccarin added, “We had so much fun shooting it. It was such a fun world. I hope that I get to do more of it and participate a little bit more than the last one. But I understood that it was the bro comedy.”
In a past interview with The Playlist’s “Discourse” podcast, when asked if there were any differences between making Deadpool & Wolverine for Disney and the previous Deadpool films under 20th Century Fox, Baccarin joked, “Yeah, I was hardly onset. That was the big difference.”
She added, “No, I’m kidding. It was a huge film in general. You know, Marvel is a big studio and they do things a certain way. So it did feel very different from [the others]. I mean, you have to remember the first film was essentially an independent, big-budget film, relatively speaking. But not at the scale of what it is now. And we were making this film that was a little odd – like it was our sense of humor, but are other people going to think it’s funny? So it felt very, very different and very indie at the time, actually.”
What do you think of the fact that Morena Baccarin wants to return as Vanessa with a bigger role in Deadpool 4 (if and when that film gets made, of course). Do you think Vanessa could make an appearance alongside Deadpool if he ends up showing up in Avengers: Doomsday or the ensuing Secret Wars film crossover? (Spoiler alert: And if so, for fans of the comics, should they pursue intriguing paths with Vanessa — ones that would align more closely with her comic book arc?) Let us know in the comments.
