They say that shared trauma binds people together.
So perhaps it was the experience of filming the mess that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine that cemented the strange, sexually charged bond between Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds. Certainly Reynolds’ appearance in that film as a bafflingly mute version of Deadpool has become fodder for a lot of the comedic jabs between them.
Most recently their love/hate/lust relationship involved Jackman replacing Reynolds in a promotional image for Free Guy and an interview with Australia’s Today in which Reynolds called Jackman “an evil person,” and worse still, accused him of being Canadian. Whatever the original source of this electric energy, Reynolds and Jackman have been going after each other for years, like the kid on the playground tugging pigtails as an expression of love—except that there are two of them, chasing each other in circles.
Their flirt-feud first came to the attention of the general public in 2015, during the filming of Deadpool. In a post on Jackman’s Instagram, Reynolds appeared in full Deadpool makeup and put on a flimsy Australian accent. Claiming to be Jackman, he asked the public to vote for him for People Magazine‘s “Sexiest Man Alive.” Jackman and Reynolds had both already been picked for that honor—Jackman in 2008, Reynolds in 2010—as heavily referenced within the Deadpool films themselves. But the suggestion that Jackman was eagerly seeking to reprise that title—and also that his face is a horrific mass of scar tissue—became the first comedic jab in a back-and-forth that has continued to this day.
From a fake truce involving commercials for each other’s brands to a political attack ad and a complex, deeply sexual bromance-triangle with Jake Gyllenhaal, Jackman and Reynolds clearly want to be the sexiest men alive all over each other. But for some reason, they seem to be permanently stuck in the middle part of the rom-com where they tease each other lovingly, but aren’t quite willing to acknowledge their true feelings. Stop holding back, guys!
Two ripped, charming dudes with killer jawlines should not be kept away from each other by society’s expectations or, you know, committed, loving relationships with their wives. It’s time for the world to call upon Blake and Debora-Lee to sanction this holy union. It’s time for Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman to finally make out, and for the angels to rejoice.
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