Ryan Reynolds penned a sweet note to actor Jennifer Garner, who made a surprise cameo in Marvel's Deadpool & Wolverine, currently in theaters smashing box office records.
Garner reprised her superhero character Elektra Natchios from the Daredevil franchise in the latest MCU film for a multiverse crossover scene in which she teams up with Wade (Reynolds) and Logan (Hugh Jackman) for a crucial mission.
As the leading man of the juggernaut franchise, Reynolds, who also co-produced and co-wrote Deadpool & Wolverine, has been expressing gratitude for the actors who were brought back in a major way on screen for the wildly successful R-rated third sequel to the Deadpool movies since its premiere last weekend.
On Monday, he gave a special shout-out to Garner, with whom he co-starred in the 2022 sci-fi action comedy film The Adam Project.
He shared a carousel of photos from the production and praised one of Garner's cherished qualities, writing on X (formerly Twitter):
"This Jen Garner person. She has a black belt in kindness but has inside her: an unblinking hurricane of vengeance."
"I’ve worked with Jen twice now. She brings a completely different scope of skills to each movie but can’t hide one detail: I don’t care how talented someone is… you can’t hide humanity."
The 47-year-old Deadpool actor continued gushing about Garner, saying:
"She’s not only one of my favourite performers, she’s one of my favourite people."
"I love her and I will now and always, owe her one. Five. What a baller."
His post was followed by a #ElektraForever hashtag as a nod to her Marvel character.
The threequel featured dozens of other unexpected cameos, including Wesley Snipes reprising his Blade character, Channing Tatum, who debuted as Gambit, after he had been previously attached to star as the title character in a now-canceled project, and Dafne Keen who played X-23 in Logan.
The three characters, along with Garner's Elektra, were part of a resistance group that joined forces with Wade and Logan to destroy The Void's ruler, supervillain Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin).
Fans loved the tribute.
Fans last saw Garner as Elektra in the titular film in 2005, which was a follow-up to 2003's Daredevil starring her ex-husband Ben Affleck as the title character.
In response to Reynolds' touching post, Garner took to her Instagram story and wrote:
"I'll fight bad guys for you any day, @vancityreynolds, thank you so much for having me and for your years of kindness and generosity."
@jennifer.garner/Instagram
The humbled actor also shared director Shawn Levy's photo of her with Tatum and Snipes as Gambit and Blade, respectively, to convey the "Pinch me" moment.
@jennifer.garner/Instagram
Garner posted a montage clip of her getting back into Marvel-level fitness with a caption of gratitude for the opportunity to get back into Elketra's suit.
"I didn’t know that Elektra and I needed an ending, but Shawn and Ryan did," she said of her former director and lead from The Adam Project.
"They are gifted in many ways, but seeing and elevating people around them is at the top of the list."
The 52-year-old Alias star and mother of three also said she and her stunt double Shauna Duggins "were in heaven" on the Deadpool & Wolverine set working with Jackman, Keen, Tatum, and Snipes.
She continued:
"Shooting the fight was so fun, being there all together—truly like a dream."
"I’m proud of my friends and grateful to be up there with them. Thank you doesn’t cut it, guys, but it’s a good placeholder until I figure out what does."
Before Reynolds posted his special shout-out message, he responded to Garner's Instagram post, saying:
"I love this. And I have a post about you coming soon. You are legendary."
@jennifer.garner/Instagram
Reynolds also gave a heartfelt shoutout to Tatum for his involvement as Gambit.
"Gambit is a guy Chan was born to play. His story is similar to my road on Deadpool — in that Chan spent a decade trying to put the most comic-accurate version of Gambit on the big screen," wrote Reynolds, referring to Tatum's canceledGambit movie that traumatized the actor.
Reynolds mused about Gambit being spectacularly brought to life by Tatum, saying:
"Remy LeBeau is grafted to his soul and needs to come out and deal. Some characters can only exist with a one in a billion pairing and this is it."
"Gambit found his author in Chan. He’s one of the coolest, smartest characters in Comics and still largely unexplored."
The planned Gambit project was dropped after Disney's 2019 corporate takeover of Twentieth Century Fox.
“Once Gambit went away, I was so traumatized. I shut off my Marvel machine," said Tatum.
He continued:
"I haven’t been able to see any of the movies. It was just too sad. It was like losing a friend because I was so ready to play him.”
Now that moviegoers got a taste of seeing Tatum's skilled card-throwing mutant brilliantly come to life, perhaps Disney and Marvel Studios will revisit the abandoned live-action MCU project.
An animated version of the character created quite the buzz in March when Gambit was featured wearing a crop top in the new Disney+ animated series X-Men '97, a continuation series picking up after the events of X-Men: The Animated Series, which ran from 1992 to 1997.
"I want more," wrote Reynolds of Tatum's portrayal of Gambit, adding, "and from what I saw in theaters, you do too."
Reynolds lauded Tatum as one of the "great, hardest working, kindest people in this entire industry" and said he couldn't be "more thrilled to see Tatum "pull Gambit from the dead and bring him to life at the perfect time and perfect way."
Garner commented on Reynolds' adulatory post of Tatum, writing:
"I’m ready for a Gambit movie, sequel, three-quel. Buying tickets now, @channingtatum."
@vancityreynolds/Instagram
On Monday, the Free Guy actor also praised Blade star Snipes with an Instagram carousel of photos of them in and out of costume.
Reynolds gave special props to the 62-year-old action star veteran, who just broke two Guinness World Records for having the longest career as a live-action Marvel character, saying:
"There is no Fox Marvel Universe or MCU without Blade first creating a market. He is Marvel Daddy. Please share for a Logan-like send off."
Fans appreciated Reynolds' humbleness as a leading actor.
The Deadpool & Wolverine lovefest also included a message of thanks from Chris Evans, who in a surprising twist in the movie resurrected his Fantastic Four character Johnny Storm / Human Torch instead of MCU's Steve Rogers from Captain America.
Evans shared an epic on-set group photo of him in costume and thanked Reynolds, Jackman, and Levy for letting him "be a part of such an incredible movie," adding they were "three of the nicest guys you'll ever meet."
As of August 4, Deadpool & Wolverine continues to dominate the worldwide box office with a total international gross of $824.2 million.
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