Green Deadpool Does Not Exist, But the Internet Can’t Stop Asking Why

Ryan Reynolds has spent almost a decade turning down one color request. Fans keep asking if Deadpool’s suit could ever go green, and the Merc with a Mouth’s own mythology has already answered that question more than once.

The joke actually predates the first ‘Deadpool’ movie hitting theaters, born out of Reynolds’s messy history with a different superhero entirely. Before he was Wade Wilson, Reynolds starred in 2011’s critically panned ‘Green Lantern,’ and that film has haunted every Deadpool project since.

The Joke that Started It All

The gag first landed hard in the marketing for the original ‘Deadpool.’ In one trailer, Reynolds delivers the now-famous line, “Please don’t make the super-suit green… or animated,” a direct jab at both ‘Green Lantern’ and any animated adaptation attempts.

That single joke set the tone for how the franchise would treat its own star’s past. ‘Deadpool 2’ escalated things further with a mid-credits gag where Deadpool travels back in time to the moment Reynolds signed on to star in ‘Green Lantern’ and shoots him before he can take the role. Screenwriter Rhett Reese told The Hollywood Reporter that Reynolds pushed for the moment himself, wanting to “go change some personal events from my life,” specifically referencing Wolverine and Green Lantern.

Director David Leitch backed up just how personal the joke was for the star, and the film’s marketing team leaned into it too. After ‘Deadpool 2’ opened, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment publicly ribbed Reynolds on social media, posting a ‘Green Lantern’ still and joking they needed the power ring back.

Canon Deadpool Comics Have Their Own Green Twist

Marvel’s comics have played with the concept in a stranger, more literal way. In the pages of Marvel canon, a character called “Greenpool” exists as one of many clones of Deadpool, created by a bored, alternate-universe version of Zeus using samples of Deadpool’s own DNA, seemingly just to watch the clones fight each other.

Greenpool has appeared exactly once in the comics, and the character’s fate after that battle remains unknown. It’s a blink-and-you-miss-it joke buried in Marvel’s sprawling multiverse, but it’s proof the “green Deadpool” idea has genuine, if obscure, roots in the source material.

Merchandise Keeps the Joke Alive

While the character himself has never worn green on screen, retailers have had no such hesitation. Marvel apparel listings include a “Kelly Green” ‘Deadpool’ Christmas graphic tee and a military-green colorway of a ‘Deadpool’ X-Force “Trainee Maximum Effort” shirt, both sold across major retail sites.

The merchandise doesn’t reflect anything from the films or comics directly, but it shows how flexible the character’s branding has become. Deadpool’s red-and-black suit is iconic, yet apparel lines regularly experiment with alternate colorways for fans who want something different off the rack.

The Joke Came Full Circle in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’

By the time ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ arrived in 2024, the ‘Green Lantern’ baggage had become as much a part of the character’s real-world mythology as his healing factor. Promotional material for the film was even framed around the idea of Reynolds finally letting go of the role that started the whole running gag.

Director David Leitch, who also worked as an action coordinator on ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine,’ has noted that the Deadpool franchise’s willingness to mock its own creators’ careers is part of what makes it work. Fans, he suggested, have come to expect the self-aware jabs as a core part of the experience.

So while an official green Deadpool suit has never appeared in live-action, the color has quietly followed the character everywhere, through trailers, mid-credits gags, obscure comic clones, and novelty T-shirts. It’s a strange, distributed running joke, but Reynolds and the franchise around him seem to enjoy keeping it alive.

Would you want to see Deadpool actually don a green suit on screen, even as a one-off joke, or should the color stay strictly off-limits? Let us know in the comments.