This Is Actually the Best Use of a Cameo in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’

We know now that there were plenty of cameos in Deadpool & Wolverine, but one of them stood out as better than the rest for me and was truly the only way that this could have worked in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I am talking about Chris Evans returning to the MCU. Set up to make us believe that Captain America Steve Rogers was in the void, ready to fight alongside Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) and Logan (Hugh Jackman), the scene shocked fans when they heard foul language come out of “Steve’s” mouth. Imagine Steve Rogers saying, “Dick for brains!” Even Wade gasped, and then we all prepared for Captain America to say, “Avengers Assemble.” Instead, we heard Johnny Storm’s iconic catchphrase erupt out of Evans’ mouth.

That—pulling a switch and featuring Evans in his pre-MCU Fantastic Four role—ended up being a great choice, in my opinion. Yes, we want to see our heroes back in action, but do we really want to ruin things like Captain America with Mjölnir? Getting to see Evans back as Johnny Storm and swearing up a … storm … in Deadpool & Wolverine felt like some kind of fever dream.

Personally, this cameo from Evans worked for me. If they made him come back as Captain America and threw it all away for some joke, I just feel like I would have been disappointed by the end result. Bringing Johnny Storm in from the Fox universe and making him aggressive and loud, and then having him die a horrific death because of Wade Wilson? I wouldn’t want it any other way!

Evans himself wanted to come back as Johnny

In the past, when asked about returning to Marvel, Evans talked about how he didn’t think Johnny Storm had the run he should have in his Fantastic Four movies: “He didn’t really get his day. That was before Marvel found its footing,” he said, and he is right. The hope with The Fantastic Four: First Steps is that we’ll get to see the team without the flaws of the previous attempts.

It would have been easy to get Evans back as Steve in the void, but I don’t think that it would fit with what Deadpool & Wolverine was doing. So bringing back Johnny Storm for one last outing? Giving his swan song to Deadpool & Wolverine? It really worked for me. We could have had this movie just be a series of cameos that meant nothing, but instead, they still gave us the people we wanted to see in a movie with a lot of heart in it.

My second favorite cameo in the movie was Channing Tatum as Gambit, because it felt like they were showing how even when someone was going to take on a role, it wasn’t always for the best. (Tatum was so funny in Deadpool & Wolverine though.)

I just think that this movie could have made fun of everything, but it used its cameos to give fans one last ride with some our favorite characters, and I think that is really what makes this special. Watching Johnny Storm swear and curse about Cassandra Nova will now live rent-free in my head.