WARNING: This post contains SPOILERS for Deadpool 2.

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Deadpool 2 features the death of a major character, Wade Wilson’s girlfriend Vanessa Carlysle. But thanks to Cable’s time travel device and Deadpool 2’s mid-credits scenes, she may not really be dead. And, Vanessa may even return in Deadpool 3 or X-Force. That is, of course, if Deadpool 2’s credits scenes are canon, which they likely are.

Introduced in 2016’s Deadpool, Vanessa was a key character in the first film. In fact, the movie largely revolved around her relationship with Wade. When Deadpool 2 picks up, Vanessa and Wade are still a happy couple and living together - they even briefly discuss starting a family. However, Vanessa is killed early on in the movie, with her death acting as an inciting incident for the bulk of Wade’s character arc. While fans may be disappointed to see the character go, Deadpool 2’s post-credits scenes pull off an interesting twist. In the two credits scenes, Cable’s time travel device is fixed, then Wade uses it to go back in time and save Vanessa from the stray bullet that killed her.

Still, since the credits scenes are largely played for laughs, it may leave fans wondering whether Vanessa really was saved at the end of Deadpool 2. As far as we can tell, the Deadpool 2 credits scenes are canon, which would mean that Wade really did save Vanessa from dying. Additionally, the writers of Deadpool 2 confirmed Vanessa is alive after the events of the credits scenes. What exactly that means for the timeline of Deadpool 2, whether it’s entirely changed or course-corrected to include Vanessa, remains to be seen. However, it should mean that Vanessa can return in future movies, including Deadpool 3 and/or the X-Force spinoff.

Since Vanessa was saved at the end of Deadpool 2, it leaves the door open for her to evolve into the character fans know from the Marvel Comics. In the books, Vanessa Carlysle is a mutant named Copycat who possesses shape-shifting abilities. In her early life, she’s a prostitute in love with Wade Wilson, though she later becomes a mercenary and faces off against Deadpool. The Deadpool movies adapted aspects of Vanessa’s backstory, but she doesn’t have the mutant powers of her comic book counterpart. However, with Vanessa actually surviving the events of Deadpool 2, perhaps she could appear in X-Force and become a member of the team after somehow receiving her abilities.

Even if the franchise doesn’t develop Vanessa into Copycat, bringing her back to life at the end of Deadpool 2 could go a long way to appeasing fans who may be angered by her death in the first place. Undoubtedly, Vanessa’s death and Wade’s subsequent arc in the sequel follows the clichéd comic trope referred to as Women in Refrigerators. Named for a particular Green Lantern storyline, the trope is essentially that a male hero’s female love interest is killed in an effort to further his emotional arc. Bringing Vanessa back to life somewhat redeems Deadpool 2 for fridging her, but not entirely - not until the character is given an arc of her own.

In that respect, since Deadpool 2’s credits scene brings Vanessa back to life and change the film’s timeline, hopefully future Deadpool or X-Force movies will give her more to do. Whether that means she evolves into Copycat or gets a human-specific arc, fans would no doubt like to see Vanessa return in another film.

  • Deadpool 2 Release Date: 2018-05-18 X-Men: Dark Phoenix Release Date: 2019-06-07 New Mutants Release Date: 2020-08-28