Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld is sick of waiting around for the comic books of his childhood finally premiering in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Back in 2019, Disney acquired 20th Century Fox. The acquisition made it possible for valuable Marvel properties like X-Men, Fantastic Four, and even Deadpool to coexist with the likes of Dr. Strange, Thor, and Ant-Man in the MCU (rest in peace Iron Man, Black Widow, and OG Captain America).
“Everything they showed you in Black Widow is the Bronze Age of comics,” Liefeld said on a recent The Big Thing podcast. He was referencing the 2021 MCU spy thriller film starring Scarlett Johansson as the titular Black Widow and how it largely, in his view, drew inspiration from the comic book era that spanned from 1970 to 1985.
“In 2021, we got [the Bronze Age in the MCU], which is my childhood, and I keep going, ‘Can we just have the X-Men? Just give us what we want.’ What I want is, I want to see Fantastic Four, I want to see the X-Men,” Liefeld continued.
Liefeld expressed a lot of admiration for Ryan Reynolds and his handling of the comic book films he starred in and produced, 2016’s Deadpool and 2018’s Deadpool 2. But now that Disney also owns the rights to Deadpool, he voiced worry whether the House of Mouse can properly handle the R-rated antihero.
Liefeld hopes that rather than Disney attempting to take their own stab at reimagining the character for the MCU, which has never released a movie with a rating above PG-13 (unlike both Deadpool films’ R-rating), the comic book creator said he hopes the studio simply gets out of Reynold’s way.