Ryan Reynolds is ready to bring Deadpool into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even if that means playing the character in another MCU movie before Deadpool 3.
Reynolds spoke with ComicBook.com about his experiences bringing The Merc With a Mouth to life, including his recent appearance as the character opposite the MCU's Korg (Taika Waititi) in an ad for Free Guy. "[I] did love the idea of playing with Deadpool and Korg in some of the marketing materials given the fact that Taika [Waititi] and I are in the movie. So, I kinda got to scratch the itch, inevitably anyway," Reynolds said.
Despite being delayed after the Disney/Fox deal in 2019, Deadpool 3 is actively moving forward and has Bob's Burgers writing duo Wendy Molyneaux and Lizzie Molyneaux-Loeglin penning its script. Marvel Studios President and Marvel Chief Creative Officer Kevin Feige confirmed the film will also keep the R-rating of the first two Deadpool movies earlier this year, making it the first MCU film designed with a rating other than PG-13. In the meantime, however, Reynolds said he's open to Wade Wilson showing up elsewhere in the MCU first.
"I think both are pretty warranted," Reynolds said. "I think you're always gonna zig when everybody's expecting you to zag when it comes to that character. As long as Disney's open to doing some pretty wildly divergent or having some wildly divergent uses of Deadpool then I dig it, man. I think it's all great."
At the time of writing, Marvel Studios has nine MCU films with release dates, including sequels centered on Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Thor, the citizens of Wakanda, Ant-Man and the Wasp and the various superheroes associated with the Marvel mantle. With MCU reboots of the Fantastic Four, Blade and X-Men movies also in the works, Deadpool 3 seems unlikely to arrive any sooner than the second half of 2023.
On a related note: It remains to be seen whether Marvel Studios pairs Deadpool with the core X-Men characters or keeps the MCU's mutants separate, similar to how Fox kept Deadpool's solo films in the same space as the studio's X-Men movies without fully crossing them over after Wade Wilson's poorly-received introduction in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This even provided the basis for a running joke in the Deadpool films, culminating with Deadpool 2's brief X-Men cameo and recycling of X-Men: Origins footage during one of its post-credits scenes.
Source: ComicBook.com