It’s been three long years since we last saw Deadpool and we still have years to wait until the Merc’s third film arrives. During this gap, Fox merged with Disney, and the House of Mouse has been deciding how best to bring Ryan Reynolds’ foul-mouthed and violent antihero into the PG-13 MCU. We know he’ll be back soon, though precise details of how the character will make the leap between universes and what he’ll be doing are as yet unknown.
But a new Instagram story (see below) posted by Reynolds has fans across the internet freaking out as it indicates that we may get Wade Wilson in the MCU sooner rather than later. The image in question showed the actor’s Deadpool mask shoved into a travel bag, teasing that he’s off to film something as the character. Where could he be heading, though?
The most optimistic theory is that we’ll see him in Loki, which premiered this week on Disney Plus. It would make sense if the Time Variance Authority took an interest in him after the time-hopping shenanigans of Deadpool 2 and it’d be fun if in the final moments of the season we saw Wade Wilson being interrogated by Owen Wilson’s Agent Mobius.
There’s also a convincing argument that he’s set to appear in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which recently wrapped its shoot in England. The title indicates that universes are set to collide, giving them a natural way to get him into the MCU. There’s also Spider-Man: No Way Home, which could build upon Deadpool’s fractious comic book relationship with Spidey. But if Reynolds is shooting scenes after most of the cast has departed the set, don’t expect him to be interacting at length with any MCU heroes.
Either way, it seems all but certain we’re going to see Deadpool back in action long before his threequel slashes and blasts its way into theaters. Let’s hope the MCU is ready for him.