Credit: 20th Century StudiosMore updates have surfaced regarding the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with one entry looking to be the next Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).
At present, Kevin Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe is moving through Phase Five. It’s hard to believe that the end of the record-breaking Phase Three was almost five years ago. With Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) stretching further and further into the past, Marvel Studios is desperate for its next string of big hits.
Phase Four changed everything when Marvel began airing in-universe television shows on The Walt Disney Company’s streaming service, Disney+. In doing so, the superhero studio demanded more and more from its audience, and the eventual content saturation pushed the MCU into dangerous territory. Alongside the likes of WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki, Marvel did release several feature films during Phase Four.
It started with Black Widow (2021), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and Eternals (2021), and then went on to consist solely of sequels. Spider-Man: No Way Home was followed by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Thor: Love and Thunder, and finally, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). Marvel didn’t stop releasing sequels as Phase Five commenced, either.
After the box office failings of Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger (who has content curation top of mind) spoke at the 2023 Morgan Stanley conference about the need for superhero sequels–a sentiment he would expand on at this year’s conference by saying that Marvel does not have a fatigue problem; they just need to make great movies.
So, following the release of the third Ant-Man movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), and the biggest flop in MCU history, The Marvels (2023), Disney and Marvel now find themselves at a crossroads. And, apparently, the answer is Deadpool.
Deadpool 3 Replaced?
In 2017, the writers of Deadpool (2016) and Deadpool 2 (2018) told CinemaBlend their plan for the future Deadpool 3 movie. Rhett Rheese and Paul Wernick shared that the Deadpool franchise would expand with a splashy X-Force movie, as well as a quieter, more personal third Deadpool film.
Starring Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool, Deadpool and Deadpool 2 were big hits for 20th Century Fox, netting over $1.5 billion collectively at the global box office. The revival of the Merc with a Mouth following his negatively-received appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) proved to be popular with the masses thanks to Reynolds’ portrayal and its R-rated nature.
However, only a year after Deadpool 2‘s release, The Walt Disney Company acquired 20th Century Fox, now 20th Century Studios, for $52.4 billion. This meant that characters previously owned by Fox would now be under Disney and Marvel Studios–the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Deadpool were now in with the Mouse.
Before the 2019 buyout of Fox, Bob Iger curbed potential worries of a PG-13 rebranding of Deadpool by stating that “we think there might be an opportunity for a Marvel-R brand for something like Deadpool. As long as we let the audiences know what’s coming, we think we can manage that fine,” per The Hollywood Reporter.
Related: Original X-Men Confirmed For ‘Deadpool 3’
Fast forward to 2019, and Disney has abandoned all of Fox’s X-Men franchise plans, including Deadpool 3, X-Force, and any potential Fantastic Four projects. It would be in late 2019 that Ryan Reynolds would announce a third Deadpool movie was in the works under Disney and Marvel.
Despite Once Upon a Deadpool being released in 2018, Dopinder actor Karan Soni recently told ScreenRant that the original premise for Fox’s Deadpool 3 was to have Wade Wilson journey to the North Pole to save Christmas. This, of course, has been scrapped and replaced with Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), which may prove to be the most important MCU film in many years.
Deadpool & Wolverine in the MCU
What is Deadpool & Wolverine?
Deadpool & Wolverine is an upcoming MCU movie directed by Shawn Levy. The third in the Deadpool series and 34th in the MCU overall, Levy follows on from Tim Miller and David Leitch, who directed Deadpool and Deadpool 2, respectively. The Marvel film will be Deadpool’s first feature-length MCU appearance and is written by Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, and Shawn Levy.
Per information acquired from the U.S. Copyrights Office, the Deadpool & Wolverine synopsis is as follows: “In Marvel Studios Deadpool & Wolverine, Wade Wilson is confronted by the [Time Variance Authority], which pulls him from a seemingly quiet life and results in Deadpool being unleashed.”
Deadpool & Wolverine is scheduled to be released on July 26, 2024. The film is produced by Marvel Studios, Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort, and Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps Productions.
Who is in the cast?
Deadpool & Wolverine stars Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool, Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine, Emma Corrin as Charles Xavier’s (Professor X) evil twin sister Cassandra Nova, Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, Rob Delaney as Peter, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Matthew Macfadyen as TVA agent Paradox, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Aaron Stanford as John Allerdyce/Pyro, Jennifer Garner as Elektra Natchios, Stefan Kapičić as Colossus, Shioli Kutsuna as Yukio, Randal Reeder as Buck, and Lewis Tan as Shatterstar.
The characters Sabretooth and Toad from the X-Men movies are also slated to appear following behind-the-scenes leaks.
What are some of the rumors about Deadpool & Wolverine?
One of the biggest and near-confirmed parts of Deadpool & Wolverine is that the upcoming Marvel movie will reboot the MCU. As Deadpool–or “Marvel Jesus”–says in the trailer, “The cinematic universe is about to change forever.” Teamed with the rumor that the film will introduce a new mechanic called “The Anchor,”–which sees Multiversal worlds destroyed when their Variant is killed in the “Battleworld-style” area–this statement seems all the more important.
Looking ahead, Marvel Studios will eventually release the next two movies in the Avengers series: Avengers 5 (formerly Avengers: The Kang Dynasty) in 2026 and Avengers: Secret Wars a year later in 2027. In the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer, an issue of “Avengers: Secret Wars” can be seen. The issue, which is number five in the comic book run, spends a lot of its time exploring how Doctor Doom set up the Battleworld featured in “Avengers: Secret Wars,” and with The Fantastic Four (2025) also being set outside of the current MCU, could this be a nod to the villain arriving in the franchise?
Related: ‘Deadpool 3’ Cuts Two Fan-Favorite Characters
Two new leaks have surfaced recently that suggest Deadpool & Wolverine may be about to have a more cameo-stacked cast than Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). What Marvel and Sony did with that looks like what Marvel and Fox are doing to the third Deadpool movie.
According to entertainment scooper Caleb Williams, Jessica Alba will reprise her role as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman from Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), where she will play the wife of Earth-838’s Reed Richards–the Reed Richards John Krasinski played in Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness before the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) destroyed him. There, he was joined by the likes of Patrick Stewart (Professor X) and Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel).
Another leak comes by the way of a merchandise listing. Funko is often where Marvelheads can glean upcoming information about a film or TV show, thanks to merchandise being commissioned and made months in advance. Per a new listing reported by Comic Book Movie, a future Deadpool Funko Pop figure will be a Variant of the Merc with a Mouth himself, Lady Deadpool.
Wanda Wilson from Earth-3010 is the female Variant of Deadpool, with close links to the X-Men. Both Blake Lively and Taylor Swift have been rumored for roles in Deadpool & Wolverine, with the latter also being tapped to appear as Dazzler in the upcoming MCU film. The rumor involving Lady Deadpool is akin to those floated back in early 2021 when Lady Loki was speculated to be debuting in Tom Hiddleston’s Loki series. This eventually came to be in a way with Sophia Di Martino appearing as Sylvie, a female Loki Variant.
Another “confirmation” from Scooper Can We Get Some Toast revealed that Superman and Enola Holmes actor Henry Cavill would be appearing as a Wolverine Variant in this third Deadpool movie. An actual confirmation from Marvel or Disney has not been made.
There is a high chance, though, that many of these cameo rumors will come to be as the latest information floating online is that 70-75% of Deadpool & Wolverine will be spent inside the Void, meaning the potential for Variant appearances is pretty much unlimited. As seen in projects like Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Loki, and What If…?, the Multiverse is still a hugely untapped resource, and Deadpool & Wolverine may be the MCU entry that blows it all wide open.
What is your favorite rumor about Deadpool & Wolverine? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!