Ryan Reynolds’ Rejection Letter From The Avengers Is Twitter’s New Favorite Thing

Apparently, as far as scoring a coveted spot on the Avengers' famed fictional super-squad is concerned, Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool doesn't quite make the cut. Just kidding — but Reynolds penned a mock rejection letter from the Avengers addressed to his Deadpool character, which the actor proceeded to dispense out into the Twittersphere on Sunday, April 29.

For everyone out there wondering why on Earth Reynolds would go through the trouble of crafting a phony rejection letter just to share a snapshot of his well-timed joke on social media — well, let's just say the actor had a pretty good reason. And, given that many of the Avengers (as well as Deadpool) are known for their sardonic one-liners, it seemed entirely appropriate that the "celebration" in question was couched in — you guessed it — a whole lot of sarcasm.

As Reynolds' dedicated fan following is likely well-aware, the Deadpool star is sort of famous for silly remarks on social media. But in this case, Reynolds' Twitter-fueled hoax touted a sort of double meaning: In addition to expressing what could conceivably be a smidgen of bitterness regarding his character's exclusion from the Avengers team (a byproduct of licensing complications between Deadpool and Avengers' distributors, according to Entertainment Weekly), Reynolds' "rejection letter" primarily served as a means of paying tribute to his fellow Marvel stars' remarkable recent success.

Responding to the weekend's exciting bout of news regarding Avengers: Infinity War, which broke major box-office records over the weekend with the most profitable film debut of all time, Reynolds took to Twitter on Sunday morning to offer his congratulations to the cast and crew behind the history-making movie. And of course, he managed to do so in the most on-brand way possible: with some clever wit, a splash of drollery, and a ton of charm.

"From a guy who never knows when to quit, I'm glad you guys never did," Reynolds wrote in the caption. Continuing, he kept his congratulations short and sweet, "Congrats #Avengers." But it was the photo that seemed to glean the most attention on Twitter, where fans have been riddling the tweet's comments section with X-Men-inspired GIFs for the better part of the last 24 hours.

And after taking a closer look at the photo, which prominently features the crafty mock rejection letter addressed to Reynolds' Deadpool, it's easy to understand why the now-viral tweet (which has racked up more than 400K likes and counting) has garnered so much hubbub. Because, while Reynolds' so-called "rejection letter" might technically be a phony, its layout is hilariously realistic.

Judging by his tweet, the "rejection letter" appears to have been printed on a sheet of sturdy stationary paper — one that prominently features a letterhead reading "Stark Industries" in bold print. (For the record, Stark Industries is the fictional aerospace and advanced tech company helmed by Avengers frontman Tony Stark, otherwise known as Iron Man.)

The actual letter — which is dated April 14, 2012, the day after the first Avengers movie's world premiere — appears to reflect a fictional correspondence between Stark and Reynolds' Deadpool, who'd apparently petitioned the Avengers hero for a spot on the team. Below the letter's subject line, which reads, simply, "Re: Joining the Avengers," Reynolds penned a mock would-be response from Stark that easily could have come from the Avengers' writing team. Writing as "Stark," Reynolds didn't mince words in the faux rejection response: "No. Absolutely not. Go bother Prof. X."

The reference to the famed X-Men professor alludes to Reynolds' (and, by proxy, Deadpool's) licensing contract with Fox, which, as EW reported, has relegated him to the X-Men branch of Marvel's Cinematic Universe. At least, for the time being. Of course, knowing that the famously acid-tongued Tony Stark probably couldn't bring himself to pen any variety of rejection letter without really hammering in the rejection part, Reynolds finished the phony message by tacking on an extra "No" for good measure.

So, who else is planning to take a note from Reynolds' pop cultural witticisms the next time they're in need of a creative means to shoot a "congrats" someone's way? While it seems safe to say the cast and crew of Avengers: Infinity War have seen loads of similarly congratulatory messages these last few days (with good reason) Reynolds' particularly inventive "congratulations" memo will likely be a tough one to forget. Who knows? Maybe it'll be enough to earn Deadpool a cameo in the next Avengers flick — though Tony Stark would probably suggest not holding your breath on that one.