Matt Damon
Wait. Matt Damon was in this movie? Believe it or not, yes, he was. This is the cameo that everyone missed, probably because you were distracted by the urge to figure out if that was actually why Alan Tudyk was suddenly in the movie. Fresh off his cameo in another superhero movie, “Thor: Ragnarok,” under a heap of prosthetic makeup, a wig, hat, and fake beer belly, is Matt Damon trying to figure out the best way to wipe. This was reportedly Zazie Beetz favorite cameo. She was quoted as saying, “he’s not even listed in the credits…They don’t even give his real name and he’s in complete prosthetics.” Damon’s character is credited as Dicky Greenleaf who is the name of Jude Law‘s character in “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” the person Damon’s Tom Ripley character wants to become. Perfectly meta and clever.
Stan Lee
This is a Marvel movie, so you know that Stan Lee is going to pop up somewhere, but this cameo is different than his appearances in other films, considering it isn’t a speaking role. Some may have missed this one entirely if they weren’t paying attention to what was going on in the background or if you blinked. Lee is present as a giant mural done in psychedelic colors on a building in the background of the shot of Domino parachuting through the air.
Hugh Jackman
Deadpool is obsessed with Wolverine and the character is mentioned and seen a few times in this film so it may surprise you that Hugh Jackman’s likeness also makes several appearances, but it’s actually not new footage. In the first of Jackman’s appearances, a little musical mini version of the famous “Logan” death scene is shown, with the titular character impaled. Then, we see his face on a cereal box, which Deadpool subsequently signs as Ryan Reynolds. However, the most memorable is in Jackman’s post-credits scene. In footage taken from “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” Jackman appears opposite the horrible version of Deadpool that plagued that shitty prequel, but before too much happens they get interrupted by present-day Deadpool, who kills his past-self in an effort to “clean up the timelines.” Fun fact: when Deadpool dies in the movie, the score in the background is lifted from the death scene in “Logan.” Director James Mangold had to agree first and the “Deadpool” team were worried he would say no, but luckily, he found the scene funny and agreed.
David Leitch
Director David Leitch does what, presumably, all of us would do if we were in his shoes and puts himself in the film. We only see him for a split second, as he is one of the mutants that is chucked off the back of the truck when the fighting breaks out between Cable and Deadpool.
Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese
Much like Leitch, screenwriters Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese also make a brief appearance. You wouldn’t have seen them unless you were looking for them, assuming that you would recognize them. Wernick and Reese portray the news helicopter pilot and cameraman, who are the unfortunate recipients of Shatterstar’s innards when he is chopped to smithereens on top of the helicopter.
Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds was sprinkled all over in this film besides playing the titular character of course. The first mention of Reynolds the actor, not the person who plays the title character, is when his name was signed on the cereal box. As mentioned earlier before, Reynolds, of course, portrays the “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” version of Deadpool, but what fans might not know is that the facial capture and the voice for the unstoppable CGI character Juggernaut was, also, Reynolds. And if you stay through the credits, you know that isn’t the last we see the actor. In the post-credits scene where Deadpool is “cleaning up the timelines,” he takes away our misery by executing Ryan Reynolds as he holds the script to “Green Lantern.”
The beyond-meta “Deadpool 2” is in theaters now.