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One line in Deadpool & Wolverine didn’t make the cut. According to the movie’s star, Ryan Reynolds, it happened at the request of Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger. But not before his own instincts to keep the line kicked in, and ultimately gave way to “second thought[s].” Ahead, how Reynolds reacted to Iger’s request and why he felt removing the line was the “right” thing to do. Plus, the “equally dirty” joke from Reynolds about Pinocchio that replaced it. 

‘Right’ to cut joke, Ryan Reynolds says

Reynolds, who reprised his titular Marvel character while co-writing and producing Deadpool & Wolverine, revealed at the Fast Company Innovation Festival in New York that one line didn’t make the final cut. 

“There was only one line in the entire film that they asked me to take out,” he told the crowd (via Deadline). He didn’t, however, share the details as a murmur swept through the audience. “No. No. No! And they were right!”

Deadpool & Wolverine, which hit theaters in July 2024 with much box office success, saw Reynolds team up with his friend, Hugh Jackman, who reprises his own Marvel role as Wolverine. (The two have a long and well-documented history of roasting each other.) 

So, what happened with the line? Reynolds went on to share that it got cut at Iger’s request. 

The ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ star thought: ‘Must keep line!’ before rethinking it

Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds, who replaced a line Bob Iger requested he remove with one about Pinocchio, at the 'Deapool & Wolverine' premiere
Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds | James Devaney/GC Images

Initially, Reynolds continued, his first reaction to Iger’s request was to keep the line in the script. “As soon as somebody says something, like, ‘Ryan, Bob Iger here. Would love it if you’d take that one line out. It’s really going to make our life hard over here.’ As soon as they say that, there’s just something in my brain that goes, ‘Must keep line! Precious!’” 

With time, however, his thinking changed. “And then as soon as the fog of war lifts and you have a second thought, it’s like, ‘Of course I can take that out. Can I say something about Pinocchio instead? And the answer is yes!”

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ director, Reynolds will never reveal the line they removed 

Deadpool & Wolverine director, writer, and producer Shawn Levy previously opened up about removing the line at Iger’s request with Entertainment Weekly. Noting the team had, as the outlet put it, “free reign to go as filthy and depraved as they wished,” one joke took it too far for the Disney CEO. 

“There was only one line in the entire movie that we were asked to change,” Levy said before noting the content wouldn’t be revealed. “We have made a pact, Ryan and I, to go to our grave with that line.” 

In its place, they used something “equally dirty” in reference to the classic Disney puppet character, as Reynolds referred to above. “But I will say that it was replaced with an equally dirty line of dialogue about Pinocchio shoving his face up Deadpool’s a** and starting to lie like crazy.” 

“I was like, ‘Ryan, that’s your replacement line in response to, ‘Can we clean it up?’” Levy added. “That’s Ryan Reynolds for you, audacious to the very edge.”

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