Ryan Reynolds Spoofs 'Doogie Howser' After 'Butthole' Neil Patrick Harris Steals Deadpool Role For VR Game

Ryan Reynolds didn't care for the recasting of his most famous role in Marvel’s Deadpool VR game.

The new virtual reality game offered by Meta Quest 3 and 3S announced in a video game trailer that the “merc with a mouth” character will be played by How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris.

Reynolds did not take the news well. In a YouTube video released on his channel, the original Deadpool actor appears dressed in glasses and a lab coat similar to Neil Patrick Harris’ child star role in Doogie Howser, MD.

In the video, titled “Ryan Over-Reacts to Marvel’s Deadpool VR,” Reynolds spoofed the narrative voiceover from Harris’ show:

“Today, I learned a lesson about buttholes they don’t teach you in medical school. People who steal your signature role are the biggest buttholes of all.”

Reynolds filmed the video in a set similar to the one-bedroom apartment where Harris’ character, Howser, would narrate from his journal entry, typed on an old-school IBM computer.

Premiering in 1989, Doogie Howser, MD was a medical dramedy starring Neil Patrick Harris as a physician with a high IQ and exceptional cognitive abilities who had to balance practicing medicine with the everyday challenges of being a teenager.

And it's a role that Reynolds apparently thinks Harris should stick to instead of playing Deadpool.

The actor went on to narrate:

“No, I don’t blame Meta Quest. Neil Patrick Harris is an amazing actor with the nurturing voice of an angel, but even though I haven’t hit puberty yet, I still know when you’re getting totally screwed.”

Reynolds was then conveniently interrupted by Harris’ love interest in Doogie Howser, Robyn Lively, who is also the half-sister of Reynolds’ wife, Blake Lively. Robyn Lively, who played Nurse Michele Faber on the show, was adopted by the father of Blake Lively after Robyn’s mother married him.

You can watch the awkward in-law reunion below:

- YouTubeRyan Reynolds/YouTube

Robyn Lively also starred in Teen Witch and The Karate Kid, and she made a brief cameo scene in Blake Lively’s controversial film It Ends with Us. Reynolds even had his own hand in rewriting the rooftop scene, which made headlines as his wife is suing co-star Justin Baldoni.

Despite losing the chance at reprising Deadpool for the Marvel VR universe, Reynolds plugged a commercial advertisement for the game.

The game’s plot is described as:

“He [Deadpool] signs a sketchy contract without reading any of the fine print, and then it's off to visit a bunch of locations from across the Marvel Universe, battling against iconic (and not-so-iconic) villains. It's real metaverse stuff – in the Marvel Universe sense, not the VR one.”

You can view the (age-restricted) trailer for Deadpool VR below:

Marvel’s Deadpool VR Announce TrailerMarvel Entertainment/YouTube

Deadpool and Doogie Howser fans had a lot to say about the friendly rivalry:

Deadpool VR is scheduled to premiere in late 2025, only on Meta Quest, where gamers can role-play as the antihero fighting against several Marvel villains.