The Marvel Cinematic Universe is famed for its crossovers, with almost every feature film or Disney Plus exclusive featuring at least one character audiences met in an entirely different standalone franchise. What If…? creator A.C. Bradley admitted that she wanted to expand those horizons even further by having Luke Skywalker cameo in the upcoming animated series, and now Ryan Reynolds has revealed his pitch that would have taken things into uncharted and incredibly bizarre territory.
Deadpool made his official MCU debut at long last when he teamed up with Thor fan favorite Korg to break down the latest trailer for Free Guy, produced by a Disney-owned subsidiary with Reynolds in the lead role and Taika Waititi lending support. That makes several degrees of sense, but in a new interview the star detailed how he pitched the Mouse House an idea for having the Merc with a Mouth drop into Bambi, which the studio unsurprisingly wasn’t keen on.
I wanted to do a short film of Deadpool interrogating the hunter who killed Bambi’s mom. But the whole gist of it is that Deadpool is actually just a huge fan. He’s not interrogating, he just wants to know how he could be the most loathed Disney character in the history of Disney. And of course, Disney was like, ‘Well, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen’.”
Disney are happy to let Kevin Feige do all the cross-pollination that his heart desires, but it would appear the company is much more protective of its other well-known properties. Of course, Bambi is a beloved family film that was first released in 1942 and Deadpool is a foul-mouthed, self-aware and hugely irreverent superhero, so you can understand why they wouldn’t bite on Reynolds’ proposal.
A live-action remake of Bambi is on the cards and heading to Disney Plus eventually, so maybe Disney didn’t want the current generation of film fans and MCU enthusiasts to have Deadpool be the first thing that comes to mind as they go about reinventing one of the most famed animated classics in the back catalogue.