Fred Savage Has No Idea Why He's in the Trailer for Once Upon a Deadpool

Hot on the heels of Deadpool 2’s epic triumph at the Clio Entertainment Awards last week comes the trailer for Once Upon a Deadpool, the PG-13 retelling of Deadpool 2 that’s hitting theaters on Dec. 12. 

Fred Savage stars in the trailer, though he seems to have no idea why. This is all a ruse, however, as Fred surely remembers that he shot footage with Ryan Reynolds recently, reportedly as a Princess Bride-esque framing device for the edited-down version of Deadpool 2 that excises the violence and language that earned it an R rating. 

In any case, see the new trailer below, in which the former Wonder Years wunderkind lands some potshots about how Deadpool isn’t really a Marvel franchise. 

“Fox has been asking for a PG-13 basically since the start in 2006,” Reynolds told Deadline earlier this month. “I’ve said no since 2006. Now, this one time, I said yes on two conditions. First, a portion of the proceeds had to go to charity. Second, I wanted to kidnap Fred Savage.” 

Indeed, of every ticket sold, $1 will go to the “Fuck Cancer” campaign, which will be renamed “Fudge Cancer” for this project, in keeping with its PG-13 nature. 

“While my participation in this film was anything but voluntary, I am happy to learn that Fudge Cancer will be the beneficiary of this shameless cash grab,” Savage added. 

Studio execs will be closely watching this repackaging to see if Deadpool makes any sense at all as a PG-13. The move would seem to cast doubts on the franchise’s claim to being a different kind of superhero movie—though on the other hand, a wholly unexpected repackaging is also pretty unconventional, and, as such, on brand.