As you no doubt already know by now, Avengers: Infinity War featured a very long list of casualties. However, who could have ever guessed that Deadpool 2 would feature almost as many? After all, while the battle between the Merc with the Mouth and Cable was clearly always going to have high stakes, there were more casualties in the follow-up than expected and some big names met their makers.
What you'll find here then is a look at all of Deadpool 2's most shocking deaths as we rank them from least to most surprising. After all, there was probably at least a few you saw coming but others...well, if you managed to figure those out in advance, there's a very good chance you have your own Cerebro!
It goes without saying that major spoilers for Deadpool 2 follow from this point on and that you should probably stop reading now if you haven't seen the sequel yet. However, if you're just curious about what's to come or want to see if you agree with our ranking, then click the "View List" button below.
12. The Headmaster
Heading into Deadpool 2, speculation started running rampant that Ray Donovan star Eddie Marsan might be playing Mister Sinister. After all, Fox has been teasing the villain's arrival since X-Men: Apocalypse was released (admittedly not long on the grand scheme of things but that's considered good planning outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and it made sense for him to show up here.
Alas, it didn't happen. Instead, the institution run by Marsan's abusive headmaster was simply named after Nathanial Essex and the man Russell hated so much was killed off in short order at the end of the movie. That wasn't surprising but how he went out most definitely was as Dopinder ran him down.
11. Bedlam
Terry Crews' Bedlam was shown in the trailers taking someone down in the middle of the street but it's since been revealed that scene was shot solely to mislead fans. In reality, the Brooklyn Nine-Nine star has a relatively minor role and is quickly killed off when he parachutes head first into a bus. This definitely came as a surprise but did any of us really expect Bedlam to play a key role in the movie?
10. Zeitgeist
IT star Bill Skarsgard shows up in this movie as Zeitgeist, a relatively obscure character who is capable of spitting acid. At first glance, it looks like he may be able to help turn the tide against Cable but when he lands in a wood chipper, his demise comes quickly and brutally and the mutant winds up taking out poor Peter at the same time (his death doesn't really count, though, as he's later resurrected).
9. Peter
It's clear that the plan was to make Peter the breakout character of Deadpool 2 and while the movie goes some way in achieving that, it's just a shame most of his best moments were spoiled in the trailers. His death at the hands of Zeitgeist's acid spray wasn't but he later returns via time-travel.
8. The Vanisher
Vanisher's role in Deadpool 2 is a punchline from the start but it ultimately pays off in a big way. As the wind takes the invisible member of X-Force off course and straight into some power lines, we learn that he actually looks a whole lot like Brad Pitt (that's because it is him). The sequel killing off the A-List actor in such an over the top way is definitely a huge surprise and pretty damn hilarious as well.
7. Weapon IX
In a bid to make things right, Deadpool also travels back to the events of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and promptly shoots Weapon IX in the head (and multiple other parts of his body) in order to fix the timeline and help us all forget about whatever the f*** that was supposed to be. It's a funny moment, a surprising cameo - achieved with camera trickery and stock footage - and satisfying to watch play out.
6. Hope Summers
Literally no one predicted that the reason for Cable's journey back in time would be because his family died but Deadpool 2 quickly reveals that the time-travelling mutant had a wife and kids before the evil future version of Fire Fist murdered them. While they're later brought back to life thanks to Deadpool changing the timeline, who'd have guessed this sequel would have the balls to kill Hope Summers?
5. Ryan Reynolds
Yes, one of the movie's mid-credits scenes does indeed revolve around Deadpool killing Ryan Reynolds. The actor can be seen reading the Green Lantern script and proclaiming that he's finally about to hit the big time only to then receive a bullet to the head, sparing the world from the DC Comics movie.
4. Shatterstar
The fact Shatterstar confirms he's from Mojoworld is nothing short of awesome, especially as that's the sort of comic book reference Fox's X-Men movies have seemingly gone out of their way to avoid. Given the potential you'd think he has, the hero being shredded by helicopter blades - which sends his green blood spraying everywhere - is seriously shocking and, well, something of a waste thinking about it.
3. Deadpool
Yes, the Merc with the Mouth himself ends up being killed off in his sequel...on more than one occasion, in fact! However, while he comes close to death after blowing himself up and being taken down by Cable, a more permanent demise comes in the final act when he dons a power inhibiting collar and takes a bullet for Russell to make it clear to the youngster he doesn't have to be a villain.
It takes a while but Wade Wilson does ultimately die and it's only when Cable goes back in time that he manages to change the timeline and stop the hero from sacrificing himself on a permanent basis.
2. Black Tom Cassidy
Ahead of Deadpool 2's release, it was widely speculated that Black Tom Cassidy (Jack Kesy) would be the movie's lead villain, hence why The Juggernaut has been rumoured to appear from the very start. Unfortunately, we never get to see those two team-up because Tom is inadvertently killed by Cable during that prison transport sequence and that's since been blamed on some budget concerns.
1. Vanessa
Deadpool revolved almost entirely around the relationship between Wade Wilson and Vanessa Carlysle so the fact that she's gunned down by someone the Merc with the Mouth failed to assassinate is definitely surprising. Her demise is what essentially leads to him becoming a hero and so an argument could be made that she needed to die in order for the sequel to play out the way it did.
Unfortunately, Vanessa's death is somewhat cheapened by the fact Deadpool later travels back in time to save her. Sure, that's satisfying for fans understandably horrified that the movie had the audacity to kill her off but it definitely robs what happened earlier in the film of any sort of significant impact.
Honourable Mention: The Juggernaut
I'm not sure why so many fans are under the impression that The Juggernaut dies in Deadpool 2, especially when Colossus talks about him waking up and we actually see Cain Marko attempting to climb out of the fountain he was electrocuted in. To be fair, I can see why some of them have made that mistake, hence why he's given an honourable mention here. What comes next for him, though?
Well, we're obviously not going to see him join X-Force but it would be very cool seeing him suit up in his classic comic book costume as opposed to the prison jumpsuit we saw in the Marvel movie.
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