Deadpool included Marvel character Fox weren't actually allowed to use

'That’s why he’s just called Bob'

Deadpool has been breaking box-office records around the world, surpassing all expectations and leading to the new Wolverine film vying for an R-Rating.

Unsurprisingly, many cinema attendees weren’t hardcore Marvel fans, and so may have missed some of the ‘in-jokes’ told throughout. *Beware, spoilers for Deadpool below*

Some of the obvious ones including showing a Green Lantern playing card on-screen (lead actor Ryan Reynolds once played the DC hero), having the X-Men Origins: Wolverine adaptation of Deadpool appear on a cake, and for the titular hero to ask which Professor X was going to appear: “McAvoy or Stewart”.

One of the more subtle references came towards at the end of the film when Deadpool takes on Francis’ henchmen. Just before pummelling one such goon, the anti-hero suddenly stops to have a conversation with the man, recognising him from somewhere.

“Bob!” the Merc with a Mouth exclaims, pricking the ears of any Marvel fan in the cinema. Why? Because, in the comics, one of Deadpool’s frequent side-kicks was Bob, an Agent of Hydra.

There’s a problem, though. If this really is Hydra Bob, Fox - the company behind the film and the X-Men series - don’t have the rights to use Hydra affiliated members, as Marvel Studios own the right to Hydra. The writers don’t seem that bothered, though.

Speaking to Cinema Blend, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick explained: “That’s why he’s just called Bob. The hardcore fans will go, ‘Oh my God, is that Hydra Bob?’ but the lawyers at Marvel won’t go, ‘Wait, that’s Hydra Bob, they don’t have the rights to it.’ We did take some liberties.

“Fox has a list of characters that they own and that we can use, and Simon Kinberg, who is a producer on the project, is the keeper of the X universe. So he was a great source for us in knowing what we can use, how it’s going to play into the larger story, and overall arching stories of the X universe.

“So between Simon and legal, they kind of guided us to what we can and can’t do or have access to, and then it was up to us to see how we were going to use those characters creatively, once we knew we really did have the rights.”

In other Deadpool news, director Reynolds recently revealed there is enough extra footage from filming to release a Deadpool 1.5 before the inevitable sequel.