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Not only did Deadpool & Wolverine feature tons of characters from the bygone era of 20th Century Fox’s Marvel movies, but it also included references to and jokes about the ones who didn’t make it on screen, including Ben Affleck’s Matt Murdock/Daredevil.
WARNING: The rest of this article will contain major spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine — DO NOT read past this point if you do not want to have any of the cameos in the film spoiled for you.
Near the start of the third act where Deadpool and Wolverine encounter the ghosts of 20th Century Fox — Wesley Snipes’ Blade, Dafne Keen’s x-23, Channing Tatum’s Gambit, and Jennifer Garner’s Elektra — and find out that Ben Affleck’s Daredevil was killed. Deadpool then offers condolences to Garner’s Elektra, who icily and knowingly quips, “It’s fine.”
This, obviously, is a reference to the A-list couple’s marriage and subsequent divorce, having gotten hitched in 2005 before splitting in 2018.
While it’s unlikely that the Deadpool & Wolverine writers and/or Ryan Reynolds reached out to Affleck to get this joke approved, it’s difficult to imagine he’d care all that much considering that A) Affleck has always been open to poking fun at himself and B) he and Jennifer Garner have a famously healthy post-divorce relationship and get along quite well, thus taking the sting out of her joke.
Besides, seeing how incredible the 52-year-old Garner looked in her Elektra costume probably hurt Affleck far more than any written joke could.
Prior to beginning their relationship, Affleck and Garner starred together in the 2001 Michael Bay film Pearl Harbor and 2003’s infamous Daredevil. Two years later in 2005, Garner would star in an Elektra spin-off that wound up being just as reviled as Daredevil.
Deadpool & Wolverine, which set the record for the highest-grossing debut weekend that an R-rated film has ever had, is now playing in movie theaters.