The MCU Easter Egg We Never Saw In Deadpool

Superhero fans have been buzzing since Kevin Feige's 2021 announcement that not only is Ryan Reynold's infamously foul-mouthed hero Deadpool (aka Wade Wilson) officially bound for the MCU — at some point, anyway — but that when the new film fronting the "Merc with a Mouth" debuts, it will be the first R-rated film in Marvel history. While little has been heard of the tentatively titled "Deadpool 3" since that initial announcement, Deadpool's MCU arrival remains every bit as exciting a prospect as that of the X-Men themselves.    

However, it turns out the wisecracking Wade Wilson's infectiously raunchy tale nearly crossed over with the MCU way back in the first "Deadpool" movie. 

That film tells the horrifying origins of Reynold's gun-loving, katana-wielding mutant, and eventually finds Deadpool facing off against a villain who calls himself Ajax (Ed Skrein), the very mutant who viciously helped trigger his superhuman healing abilities in the first place. With a little help from his X-Men pals Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Briana Hildebrand), Deadpool eventually bests Ajax in battle before killing him, in vintage Deadpool style. 

It seems, though, that there was a version of "Deadpool" where Wade doesn't kill Ajax at all. And in that cut, the vile mutant would've instead paid a visit to a major MCU locale.  

That alternative cut of "Deadpool" was teased in a deleted scene from the film that has since made its way to YouTube. That scene indeed finds Ajax alive, and in the custody of federal marshals. It also finds him on a boat, and headed towards a location designated "The Raft Prison." 

Yes, that's correct, eagle-eyed Marvel fans: the Raft almost made its big screen debut in 2016's "Deadpool," a full year before it actually turned up in the MCU to host a few Sokovia Accords-breaking Avengers in "Captain America: Civil War." As Marvel fans would tell you, the Raft was specifically designed to house powered people who found themselves on the wrong side of the law. And by all accounts it's not a place anyone should want to visit, if only because folks who go to the raft rarely get out ... unless, of course, Captain America himself (Chris Evans) shows up to liberate you.

As for the version of the Raft we glimpse in "Deadpool," it's a far cry from the all-but impenetrable, ocean-bound fortress we see in the MCU. Rather, it's accessible by a tiny passenger vessel, and appears to be located just off the coast of a little port village. In any case, it's not surprising the "Deadpool" scene featuring The Raft was ultimately left on the cutting room floor, because Deadpool's hilarious offing of Ajax is sort of a formative moment for the character, and the film just wouldn't have rang true without it.