Ryan Reynolds Reacts to Shocking News That He’s Been Replaced as Deadpool

Reynolds has portrayed Wade Wilson, a.k.a. Deadpool, since 2016, when the first Deadpool film became a surprise box office smash and critical hit. Long before that, he played a very different version of the character in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a widely panned take that he later mocked in the Deadpool series itself.

Over the years, Reynolds has become synonymous with the role, helping revive the character’s reputation and turn him into a fan favorite – particularly in last year’s Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), where he finally got to star alongside Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine on the big screen.

While Reynolds has teased future appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it turns out that we’re getting new Deadpool quicker than you may have thought.

Neil Patrick Harris Takes Over as Deadpool

This week, we received confirmation that a Deadpool VR game is in the works. Sadly, it was also confirmed that Ryan Reynolds won’t reprise the role, but that How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris will voice the “Merc with a Mouth.”

Now, Reynolds has reacted to the news.

Starring in a video shared on X, formerly Twitter – in which Reynolds is dressed akin to Harris as Dougie Howser in the show of the same name – Reynolds humorously remarked, “Today I learned a lesson about buttholes they don’t teach you in medical school. People who steal your signature role are the biggest buttholes of all.”

How I met a real mother f’er. pic.twitter.com/ARcMTDTr6X

— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) June 7, 2025

He went on to say, “No. I don’t blame Meta Quest. Neil Patrick Harris is an amazing actor with the nurturing voice of an angel. But even though I haven’t hit puberty yet. I still know when you’re getting totally screwed.”

The video itself was also titled “How I Met a real m’fer,” in reference to Harris’s role of Barney Stinson in the sitcom.

How do you feel about Neil Patrick Harris taking over the role of Deadpool?