Credit: 20th Century StudiosMarvel Studios President Kevin Feige has broken his silence on the development of Deadpool 3 and Ryan Reynolds’ involvement in bringing the Merc with a Mouth to the blockbuster Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise.
There has been a lot of pressure on Kevin Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe lately. No longer is criticism reserved for just one entry every few years (read: Iron Man 3 and Ant-Man and Wasp), but the franchise as a whole has suffered near catastrophic blows since 2021.
Three years ago marked a major turning point for Disney and Marvel’s MCU. What was once just a series of films appearing on the big screen became a multi-platform interconnected story spanning cinema and television.
While WandaVision was praised for its depiction of grief and led by the ever-popular Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch), the oversaturation of TV content has severely weakened the franchise. Sure, shows like Loki and Moon Knight were praised, but entries like Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law failed to secure large audiences (even though they were great).
With that said, there is no stopping the powerful force that is the MCU. Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger has been vocal about his problems with the MCU’s current direction, and Feige was quick to act.
From stripping the 2024 slate of multiple projects, leaving just one, to launching the Marvel Spotlight banner, which Head of Streaming Brad Winderbaum says is akin to how the comic book enterprise is run, and reworking the highly-anticipated Daredevil: Born Again Disney+ series, Feige is orchestrating somewhat of a rebirth for the MCU.
The project that stands alone, the one that is anchoring the MCU in 2024, is Deadpool & Wolverine. After two successful movies under 20th Century Fox, Ryan Reynolds will make his live-action Marvel Universe debut in the film.
As the title suggests, Reynolds’ Wade Wilson/Deadpool will not be alone. Hugh Jackman also makes his MCU debut as X-Men Logan/Wolverine in a film that will mark the Mouse House’s first foray into R-rated Marvel storytelling.
During the 2019 acquisition of Fox, Disney CEO Iger stated there would be a place for the R-rated in the franchise, and judging by the two trailers already dropped, the promise has been kept.
Deadpool & Wolverine has been drawing hype for months, and the arrival of the latest trailer only strengthened the fan excitement. That said, it wasn’t easy bringing the wise-cracking, gun-slinging Deadpool to the MCU.
In a discussion with Empire, Reynolds reveals that Kevin Feige turned down and canceled his original Deadpool pitch. The basis of this failed pitch saw Deadpool 3 as a Rashomon story about the two titular characters told from multiple different angles.
“It was a way to make a large-scale movie in a very small way,” Reynolds explained. Rashomon is a narrative device that finds multiple characters telling the same story from a different, and often contradictory, perspective.
Despite Deadpool‘s popularity following his appearances in Tim Miller’s Deadpool (2016) and David Leitch’s Deadpool 2 (2018), after a widely panned role in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), Feige was unsure of how to bring in the character to the interconnected MCU.
“The truth is, I wasn’t even sure how to incorporate Deadpool yet,” the Marvel boss told the outlet. “I was very much thinking about how to bring mutants and the X-Men into [the MCU], and I thought it needed to be more than just playing the hits. But the truth is, Ryan is an idea machine. So he may have pitched that to me, but he also pitched 25 other thoughts and ideas.”
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From Sundance-style movies to big budget, Reynolds goes on to say he tried many different ideas for the third Deadpool movie, but once Hugh Jackman signed up, production moved swiftly.
Directed by Shawn Levy, Deadpool & Wolverine is said to bring about a major change in the MCU. From the trailer alone, it can be gleaned that Multiversal elements will be at play, with Wade Wilson being snapped up by the Time Variance Authority (TVA) to–in his words–change the cinematic universe forever.
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Teamed with knowledge that the movie will also take place in the Void for three-quarters of its runtime, and the many confirmed and reported cameos, Deadpool & Wolverine looks set to not only be the movie of the summer but the movie Marvel Studios needs to course-correct its turbulent franchise.
The latest news out of the production is that the cast has returned to film reshoots–a common practice for most movie studios–and will reportedly be adding a number of cameos into the final cut.
Rumors have flared about who will be joining the already-stacked cast, but fans will have to wait until July 26 to find out the truth. The latest trailer included clips of Lady Deathstrike and Azazel, both characters from the various Fox X-Men films.
Not only that, but early reports suggest the post-credits scene is “mind-blowing…”
Are you looking forward to seeing Deadpool return to the big screen this year? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!
Director: Shawn Levy
Screenplay: Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, and Shawn Levy.
Cast: Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool, Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine, Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova (Charles Xavier’s evil twin sister), Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, Rob Delaney as Peter, Matthew Macfadyen as TVA agent Paradox, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Aaron Stanford as John Allerdyce/Pyro, and Jennifer Garner as Elektra Natchios.