The Deadpool movie was full of a ton of Marvel related easter eggs, literally more than we could count. Most of them were obvious, a few were subtle, and a couple were actually dangerous. Deadpool made some direct references to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, something which the character is decidedly not a part of. One of those references has now been officially confirmed by the concept artist who designed it. Yes, that is a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier in the finale fight scene.
Here's Deadpool, falling off the crumbling helicarrier... which we now know, for sure, is a helicarrier!
Emmanuel Shiu is the artist who designed the helicarrier for Deadpool. He tells iO9 that he was specifically asked to make the craft as different from the MCU version as possible. It’s also seen in pieces, as it is either being taken apart or put together when Deadpool and his team arrive in the shipyard that Ajax has chosen as the location for the final fight. It’s got to be literally the biggest easter egg in the entire movie. Also, in standard MCU fashion, by the end of the battle, the thing is completely wrecked. Helicarrier lifespan is surprisingly short, even when Nick Fury isn’t directly in charge.
While the helicarrier in Deadpool is far from a carbon copy of the Marvel version, and ultimately you get few clear shots of it in order to recognize it as such, it is most certainly a large military type carrier with several vertical rotors. Unlike nearly everything else that Deadpool comes across, it’s never specifically referenced, so most movie fans probably didn’t even notice. They likely never really gave the large ship a second look, simply seeing it as any old military craft.
While Deadpool spends much of its time making references to comics and comic book movies, it saves most of its shots for either other X-Men-related properties, or Green Lantern. The helicarrier is, however, a pretty direct reference to the MCU. It goes right along with the closing credits scene’s reference to Samuel L. Jackson in a leather jacket, or the brief appearance from "Bob from Hydra" which is technically a character that 20th Century Fox doesn’t have rights to use, but the reference was vague enough that it’s not likely to set off any alarm bells in the Marvel Studios legal department. Right?
We’ve already been promised a Deadpool 2, hopefully with Keira Knightley co-starring as Cable. We can’t wait to see what that movie does to up the ante. We can only assume they’ll have a lot more money to create even more crazy references.
