There were a lot of Marvel easter eggs inside the megahit Deadpool. There were innumerable references to the X-Men universe as well as several comic book characters that are not part of Fox’s deal with Marvel. However, Tim Miller needs to make it clear to everybody that one of the references that we thought we saw was, in fact, not what we had assumed it was. There was no S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier in Deadpool, is that understood?

Deadpool’s climactic battle takes place in a shipyard where the primary object of note looks remarkably like one the helicarriers that Nick Fury and company likes to fly around in during the various Avengers movies. This seemed like an odd easter egg to include, as anything directly related to S.H.I.E.L.D. is not part of the rights agreement that Marvel currently has in place with Fox. We thought it was a fun little in-joke, since there was really no way to be sure it actually was a helicarrier. However, Tim Miller has now come out and made an unequivocal statement to Collider, that what you saw in Deadpool was not what you thought it was.

No, it's clearly not the Helicarrier. I just want to say for the record, there's a lot of groups in the Marvel universe who use flying combat platforms. It's not just the Helicarrier. A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics) has some. It could have been anything but a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. Because that would be outside of the purview of the Fox/Marvel arrangement.

To be clear, director Tim Miller has a growing grin on his face as he says all of this. However, certainly for legal reasons it all needs to be said. While it’s unlikely that Marvel will actually file suit, the fact that there are other flying platforms within the Marvel universe is the, um, shield, that Miller and Fox can use to be sure that something like that doesn’t happen. Previously, the concept artist that designed the...flying platform, has said that he started with a helicarrier as his design, though, to be fair, he did not say, S.H.I.E.L.D., but had to make significant changes to it in order to be sure that the two could not be confused.

So, for the record, in case anybody asks, that was not a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier that you saw in Deadpool even if you really thought it was. Also, Bob was not in Hydra and nobody knows who leaked the test footage. This is their story and they’re sticking to it.