Deadpool 3Â officially has a director.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel Studios has tapped Shawn Levy to helm the Ryan Reynolds-led Deadpool threequel. Levy, who directed two recent films starring Reynolds -- 20th Century Studios' Free Guy and Netflix's The Adam Project -- recently expressed interest in tackling the Merc with a Mouth next. Reynolds himself celebrated the news on social media, writing, "The third film in my Shawn Levy trilogy will be a tad more stabby."
Reynolds first played the fan-favorite Marvel Comics anti-hero Wade Wilson/Deadpool in 20th Century Fox's 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine -- albeit a controversial, heavily-altered version of the character. Reynolds got the chance to portray a more comics-accurate Wade Wilson in 2016's Deadpool, which was directed by Tim Miller. Reynolds subsequently reprised the role in 2018's Deadpool 2, directed by David Leitch.
Deadpool 2 and Deadpool are the two highest-grossing films in Fox's 13-film X-Men franchise, earning a worldwide total of $785 million and $782.6 million, respectively. Upon its release in 2016, Deadpool also set the record for the highest-grossing R-rated film in history -- a record that was subsequently broken by Deadpool 2 in 2018. (Deadpool 2's record was ultimately beaten by Warner Bros. Pictures' DC film Joker in 2019.)
The Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox in 2019, meaning X-Men characters that previously resided with Fox -- including Deadpool -- can now appear in Marvel Studios' Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, for a time, it was uncertain whether the Merc with a Mouth would get a third film under the Disney banner, given the fact that Marvel Studios doesn't typically do R-rated movies. Nevertheless, a third Deadpool film starring Reynolds entered development, with Marvel boss Kevin Feige confirming that it would be part of the MCU, R-rating and all.
Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick wrote the script for Deadpool, with the duo returning alongside Reynolds himself to pen Deadpool 2. According to THR, Reese and Wernick are now working on Deadpool 3. The threequel was previously being written by Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin, of Bob's Burgers fame. While Reynolds is definitely returning for Deadpool 3, it remains to be seen if any of his co-stars from the Fox era will join the fray as well.
Deadpool 3 does not have a release date.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter; Twitter