Ryan Reynolds reflected on his experience playing superheroes and spoke about his business ventures at the 2025 Time 100 Summit on Wednesday.
Previously on Time‘s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World himself, Reynolds sat down with Time correspondent, Eliana Dockterman for a “Business of Creativity” panel, to discuss his film and TV studio, Maximum Effort, and how his journey working as an actor led to his career as an entrepreneur.
Though he and others involved with the 2011 Green Lantern film have famously looked back on that project, which was poorly received at the box office and by critics, as a failure, on Wednesday, Reynolds said the experience was actually educational.
“I learned all the most amazing lessons I could ever have in the creative space from that movie,” he said. “On that film I saw a lot of money being spent on special effects, all sorts of stuff. And I remember suggesting, ‘Why we don’t we write like a scene the way people would talk? I don’t know, it could be a fun exchange of dialogue that all doesn’t cost anything?’”
He said he takes the “lesson” of “character over spectacle” particularly to heart.
He also shared, “The greatest superpower I ever had in my life, I’m not saying about just my career or anything, was knowing who I am.”
Maximum Effort has worked on films like Deadpool movies, Free Guy, IF, Shotgun Wedding and more.
Deadpool & Wolverine, which hit theaters in July 2024, is now the top-grossing R-rated film of all time.
To close out the panel, Dockterman asked Reynolds about the possibility of Deadpool being in an upcoming Avengers film, asking specifically if viewers could see his famed superhero show up as a supporting character.
Reynolds replied, “I do,” before pivoting to his experience making the Deadpool films after the character was poorly received in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
“The whole movie was an allegory for Disney buying Fox. I pitched 18 different movies to them,” he said. “I was really grateful to get to tell a story, to see people like the characters that we made with Wesley Snipes, who should have a third act in this moment. … That feeling of gasp … it’s a feeling that I just want more of. And I think I would be able to do that as a supporting actor.”
Reynolds then teased an upcoming project: “I’m writing a little something right now that is an ensemble.”
Reynolds previously scored a spot on the Time 100 list in 2017. He also had a spot on the Celebrity 100 list in 2020. However, this year, his wife and Another Simple Favor star, Blake Lively, earned a spot on the prestigious Time 100 list, with the pair expected to attend the Time 100 gala on Thursday night.
More to come.
