Was Ben Affleck supposed to be in Deadpool & Wolverine?
Though Ben Affleck's Daredevil was a hot topic for conjecture about a possible cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine, the reality behind these speculations is yet unknown. Inspired by Disney's acquisition of Fox, Deadpool & Wolverine boasts a plethora of cameos from past Marvel characters; but, there were other rumored cameos that never materialized. Daredevil is among them.
Ben Affleck Deadpool & Wolverine Rumors Answered
The rumors about Ben Affleck's possible participation in Deadpool & Wolverine grew more intense in the months before their premiere. Driven by rumors of Affleck's presence on set, fans felt sure the actor would make his MCU debut as Daredevil. Late June 2023 saw the emergence of these rumors, which aligned with the beginning of main filming for Deadpool & Wolverine.
But in September 2023 insiders mostly discounted these rumors. Presumably because of their planned use of covert techniques, the filmmakers managed to keep some of the more important cameos under wraps despite leaked set images showing different developments like Nicepool and Sabertooth's severed skull.
The Daredevil Return May Have Been a Fake Leak by Ben Affleck
Producer Wendy Jacobson of Deadpool and Wolverine recommended that the crew purposefully spread misleading information to guard the film's most sensitive secrets. The many well-known cameos "confirmed" by insiders clearly show this tendency; Ian McKellan's Magneto was one of them but never made it into the final edit. The filmmakers even went so far as to purposefully leak James Marsden in a comic-accurate Cyclops suit on location, only to subsequently confirm his absence from the picture, therefore exposing their dishonesty.
Another well-known cameo prediction was Taylor Swift, for which the directors refrained to verify or refute for several months. Though none of the original reports regarding Ben Affleck's appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine have been verified, this supports the hypothesis that the producers themselves may have purposefully generated them.
Deadpool and Wolverine Made Reference Notes Ben Affleck and Daredevil
Though there was no official confirmation, the speculations about Ben Affleck's Daredevil cameo set Deadpool & Wolverine into a meta-joke. The trio says Cassandra Nova has killed off Daredevil alongside several other resistance members during a scene where Jennifer Garner's Elektra, Wesley Snipes' Blade, and Channing Tatum's Gambit are exposed. This particular reference together with several other supposed cameos clearly imply that the leak was a planned tactic.
This reference let Deadpool & Wolverine launch a funny barb at Affleck. Following the death of Daredevil, Deadpool shows his sympathies, which Elektra dismisses haphazardly as "It's fine". Her contemptuous comment seems to be a clear allusion to the actual 2017 divorce between Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, therefore adding still another level of meta-humor to the scene.
