'Deadpool 3' is 'still in the works': Writers give us MCU update, envision 'Pool opposite Peter Parker
To say the fate of Deadpool hangs in the balance in the wake of the Disney-Fox merger would be an over-dramatization. Disney chief Bob Iger has gone on record saying that not only would the studio continue to make Deadpool movies, they would continue to be rated R. And star Ryan Reynolds got a few hopes up last week when he posted a photo of himself at Disney's Marvel Studios, making news of his official entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe seem imminent.
But until Deadpool 3 is formally announced — especially considering how quickly Deadpool 2 (2018) followed Deadpool (2016) — fans no doubt feel trepidation among the character’s fate. So we asked Deadpool franchise screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick if they could quell those fears with an update (watch above).
"It still is [in a holding pattern]," Reese, who with his writing partner has another new sequel, Zombieland: Double Tap, currently in theaters. "We sat with [Marvel Chief Creative Officer] Kevin Feige before the merger and we're not allowed to talk to him about it. I think Ryan sat down with him more recently. But it's still in the works. … They're trying to work something out and then hopefully we can come through with something cool."
"I think the promise is that Deadpool will live in his R-rated universe that he was living in at Fox," Wernick added. "And then over time hopefully we can play with some of those MCU toys in the sandbox, and bring that into his world and have him brought into their world. So we'll see, it's a fun, exciting time."
Still, Reese and Wernick acknowledged that Once Upon a Deadpool — the late-2018 re-release of Deadpool 2 that toned down the violence and raunch to meet PG-13 guidelines — could possibly have been a proof-of concept stunt from Fox to show to the studio’s new corporate overlord that the series could still flourish without an R rating.
"That was a PG-13 Deadpool, and I thought it worked well," Reese said. "I don't think it's as good as the R-rated version in the sense that it's missing a little edge. But it worked better than any one of us would've anticipated."
With Deadpool on the cusp of entering a new world, Reese and Wernick speculated a tad on who the Merc With a Mouth would match up well against in the MCU.
"The MCU has much better villains than the Deadpool universe at Fox did," Reese said. "Like our villains, there was a very sparse list. … But the MCU has awesome villains. So we're excited to be able to play with that."
"And also good playmates," Wernick added.
"It bums me out, I always wanted to see Chris Evans as Captain America opposite Deadpool, just because I thought that would be the perfect foil," Reese responded. "And that will not happen now. But there's plenty of others."
Like?
"There's Spider-Man," Wernick said, explaining that they'd want to match Reynolds's Wade Wilson with "the square, so he has someone to play off of."
"He's pretty by the book," Reese added. And thanks to the most recent negotiations between Disney and Sony, he's back in the MCU again.
Watch our full interview with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick:
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