When Disney completed their protracted takeover of 20th Century Fox, fans were overjoyed at the prospect of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four finally joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, one of the biggest question marks surrounded how the studio would tackle Deadpool. The Merc with a Mouth’s two solo movies may have earned over $1.5bn at the box office, but the character’s distinctly R-rated nature seemed ill-at-ease with Marvel Studios’ family-friendly output.
As someone who knows that they’re part of a comic book movie, Deadpool has the creative leeway to appear in the MCU in any number of ways, with rumors encompassing everything from a straight-up sequel to a Disney Plus show. While it hasn’t yet been confirmed that Deadpool 3 is in active development under Kevin Feige’s creative purview, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick revealed in a recent interview that Wade Wilson will officially become part of the long-running superhero franchise, saying the following:
“We definitely want to play in the sandbox. One of the great things about the MCU is how rich and broad it is. For instance, just think about the world of villains, how great the world of villains are. We’re never able to use a lot of those villains because they were in the MCU. Well, now we can. So, right away, we’re definitely excited about getting the shot to do that. I think Ryan is too. I think the MCU people are too, just the idea of throwing Deadpool into the mix is exciting to them.”
Obviously, the duo are giving very little away about what they have in mind for Deadpool 3, but they seem excited to bring the character into such an established franchise. Whatever it is they’ve got planned, though, Deadpool will need to be handled with a lot of care creatively, as it won’t be the easiest task to drop a foul-mouthed, fourth wall-breaking antihero into a series of movies with over a decade of interconnected storytelling behind them. Hopefully Marvel don’t interfere too much and let Ryan Reynolds cut loose for a third time without any shackles.