Ryan Reynolds Says Disney Rejected His Deadpool-Bambi Crossover Idea: They 'Shut That Down'

Ryan Reynolds once wanted to see Deadpool crossover with a Disney classic, but the company wasn't exactly on board.

On Tuesday, the 44-year-old actor told IGN about his proposal for a dark film featuring his popular MCU character and the hunter from the 1942 animated film Bambi. Rather than attempting to seek vengeance for the death of Bambi's mother, however, Reynolds said Deadpool would actually revere him in the film.

"I wanted to do a short film of Deadpool interrogating the hunter who killed Bambi's mom. But the whole gist of it is that Deadpool is actually just a huge fan," Reynolds told IGN.

"He's not interrogating — he just wants to know how he could be the most loathed Disney character in the history of Disney," he added, "and of course, Disney was like, 'Well, I don't think that's ever going to happen.'"

Joe Lederer Deadpool

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On Wednesday, Reynolds opened up about his love for short films during an appearance on SiriusXM Radio. The X-Men star told host Jesse Cagle that he had originally planned to attach a short to his new movie Free Guy, which hits theatres on August 13.

Reynolds joked he was well-aware of Disney's "pretty storied history" with shorts, but opted to propose the Deadpool-Bambi crossover anyhow.

"The rug pull of it though is that you think that Deadpool's going to kill the hunter, but Deadpool was actually just a huge fan. He wants to know how he too can be as loathed as the hunter is in the Disney universe. And they, they just, I, they just, they just shut that down immediately. Like [they said] 'There's absolutely no way you're doing.'"

Reynolds told Cagle he initially "wasn't sure what to expect" when Walt Disney Studios acquired Fox, now known as 20th Century Studios, in 2019. Though the company wasn't keen on the Deadpool-Bambi idea, the actor said Disney has been "nothing but obscenely supportive," especially with his new film.

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Deadpool did eventually get a crossover — with Korg. The 4½ -minute promotional video shows the two heroes reacted to a preview of Free Guy.

Reynolds said the idea for the short was created by George Dewey, his' partner at their marketing company called Maximum Effort. This time, Disney was on board.

"Disney was accommodating, but I was shocked that they said yes because Korg is not cheap. Like, that's an expensive character to put on the screen," Reynolds confessed to Cagle. "You know, a lot of, a lot of work goes into making Korg and Taika [Waititi] was game for it."

Reynolds said the short was filmed and turned around "pretty quickly." It has been viewed more than 12 million times since its release on July 13.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Ryan Reynolds

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"It kind of broke the internet," Reynolds. "There was a lot of fun."

"I believe you said, if you include Deadpool's cocaine rider, this is the most expensive reaction video ever made," Cagle said of the Free Guy promo video. "I believe it."

"That's a true story," Reynolds said with a laugh and a smile. "I think it actually, we can hold Guinness doesn't recognize stuff like that because they're lazy obviously. But yeah, it should be in the Guinness Book of World Records."