While promoting their upcoming film Cherry, directors Joe and Anthony Russo spoke with the Lights Camera Barstool podcast (spotted and transcribed by The Playlist) and revealed they’d still love to get their hands on Marvel’s reboot of Wolverine. The pair continually brings up Wolverine and Secret Wars as things that could draw them back to Marvel Studios.
JOE RUSSO: “Wolverine has always been such a special character for me. To realize him on screen, it’s very hard because Hugh Jackman‘s performance is definitive. It’s like Batman; you have to really think of a way to, you have to really find the right actor to come in and give a really different take to that character. But I would really love to see him on screen.”
However, Joe advises that the studio give the franchise some time before jumping into a reboot.
JOE RUSSO: “I think the best thing is to take a break, without question. You need a [palate cleanser], you need to rinse the towel a little bit, let everyone enjoy what was, and then come up with something new. But I’d love to take a crack at Wolverine at some point.”
We already got some signs from Marvel’s Kevin Feige they’re not in any rush to reboot as they’ve chosen to go with Fantastic Four first. It’s still unknown what they ultimately plan to do with Wolverine and the X-Men reboots. Even though, they’ve introduced things like S.W.O.R.D. and Madripoor that are directly connected to the X-Men comics.
There is a good chance they could be able to convince Marvel Studios to allow them direct a Wolverine or X-Men project if they’re that persistent about being able to play with the characters. They were able to bring new blood to both the Captain America and Avengers franchises, with the latter Marvel now hold the box office record for the highest grossing film as Avengers: Endgame toppled James Cameron’s Avatar.
Given their experience working with large groups of heroes and villains, The Russo Brothers could be alongside screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus might be the team to reboot the X-Men. We’ve already seen Marvel look at their existing directing bench for the Fantastic Four reboot as they announced in December that Spider-Man 3 director Jon Watts would be tackling it.
Wolverine certain could deserve to have his origin retold for the Marvel Cinematic Universe either connected to Alpha Flight or the Weapon X Program. I also believe that a project set during WWII giving them an excuse to have Wolverine in a period action-film. A solo project could give a new actor a great entry point and give the main X-Men reboot some space, as one of the big gripes that fans had with the Fox franchise is that Wolverine was the predominate character when he isn’t supposed to be.
Ryan Reynolds revealed on Twitter last month that one of the ideas they had for Deadpool 3 before the merger was convincing Hugh Jackman to end his retirement as they wanted Logan and Wade to do a road trip movie. They could also eventually meet up in an X-Force film.
It’s critical to have open, honest and healthy discussions around mental health. By retweeting #BellLetsTalk you can make a difference. In case that’s not enough, before Disney bought Fox, Deadpool 3 was gonna be a road trip between Deadpool and Logan. Rashomon style. For real.
While it was revealed at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, that Marvel Studios‘ X-Men reboot would be at least five years away the promise of Deadpool 3 seemingly would see mutants introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe beforehand.
The rights reverted directly back to Marvel after the merger between Disney and 21st Century Fox led to those Marvel Comics characters attached to both X-Men and Fantastic Four headed into the hands of Kevin Feige. You might remember one of Kevin’s first big Hollywood gig was working for X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner on the original films at 20th Century Fox.
It looks like X-Men internal discussions are already happening at the studio as revealed by Kevin while speaking with Screen Rant. A good sign as they’ve already announced that Spider-Man 3‘s Jon Watts will direct Fantastic Four and likely already have an idea what they’re going to do there.
FEIGE: “You know how much I love the X-Men. I already said that’s where I started. I can’t tell you anything before we actually announced it, but rest assured, the discussions have been long and ongoing internally.”
Feige also recently reaffirmed to Collider that Deadpool 3 will indeed keep it’s R-rating (echoing previous statements made by Disney’s Bob Iger and Alan Horn) and finally confirmed the sequel would be taking place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
While fans have been trying to convince themselves that Marvel will keep the Singerverse version of the franchise for future movies, the headache of those film’s connection to director Bryan Singer, who is during the era of #MeToo a PR nightmare, would be the worse idea imaginable for Disney. Removing that baggage completely with a fresh hard reboot is the best way to go considering those Fox movies weren’t terribly faithful to the comics and characters to begin with.
We have good example of this thanks to Marvel’s Spider-Man reboot bringing in TomHolland as their MCU version for Captain America: Civil War and other films.
It’ll be interesting who they ultimately hire to direct and write this franchise reboot for them. I’ve been extremely curious what that lineup will ultimately look like because for every era of X-Men, the mutant lineup looks completely different and there is an overwhelming characters to choose from.
Fans have all been pushing for their own ideas who should be recast in various roles for the reboot but it seems like the most important casting will be finding the right actor to fill Hugh Jackman‘s boots as Wolverine given he’s their biggest crossover character from the X-Men franchise. I wouldn’t be shocked if we saw his debut before the main X-Men film.
While speaking with Collider, Marvel’s Kevin Feige has reaffirmed previous details about Deadpool 3 that the film is rated R and will be indeed be set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the latter seemed to be slightly up-in-the-air given the maturity of the franchise.
FEIGE: “It will be rated R and we are working on a script right now, and Ryan’s overseeing a script right now… It will not be [filming] this year. Ryan is a very busy, very successful actor. We’ve got a number of things we’ve already announced that we now have to make, but it’s exciting for it to have begun. Again, a very different type of character in the MCU, and Ryan is a force of nature, which is just awesome to see him bring that character to life.”
We officially know that The Molyneux Sisters from Bob’s Burgers are currently writing the film alongside Reynolds overseeing that work. Oddly enough, previous screenwriters and producers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese were absent from trade articles concerning the new script suggesting they might not be involved creatively.
Deadpool 3 would likely mark the first mutant film for the studio and be released before the main X-Men reboot. What I think fans are still curious about is if the previous two films will be treated as canon moving forward and if they’ll bring back folks like Josh Brolin as Cable.
It’s still slightly unclear when they plan on shooting it, who will direct it, and what branch of Disney will ultimately end up distributing.
People after San Diego Comic-Con 2019 started making theories on when Phase 4 would end that led to plenty of assumptions what would end up becoming Phase 5 projects, however, a brief comment from Kevin Feige is suggesting he’s not ready to say when Phase 4 is ending and when Phase 5 begins. Because of the pandemic Phase 4 will kick-off with WandaVision instead of Black Widow, which was originally set to be released in May 2020.
Murphy’s Multiverse asked Kevin Feige during a WandaVision press conference for clarification if the Marvel Studios president would reveal when in the release schedule we’ll see the end of Phase 4 and got a straight-up “no” in response.
We’ll just have to wait and see when they want to reveal that information publicly.
It’s worth mentioning that Phase 3 included 11 feature films starting with Captain America:Civil War and ended with Spider-Man: Far From Home. There is a good chance that Marvel might extend Phase 4 further than where they originally wanted.
I think the delays in release could also make things a little more complicated.
Something like James Gunn’s Guardians of The Galaxy 3 might be something that could end Phase 4 if they want to push the slate into 2023-2024.
WandaVision begins airing on Disney+ starting January 15th.
Here’s a reminder of the current MCU movies that are set for release and is still subject to change.
Marvel Studios had a rather large presentation at last week’s Disney Investor Day event and Kevin Feige had a lot of information to share in such a short period. Below is a rundown of most of the new information and adjusted release dates.
What seemed like the biggest announcement made during the massive amount of information was that director Jon Watts has been selected by the studio to reboot The Fantastic Four for them. Watts having worked with Marvel Studios to reboot the Spider-Man franchise with Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and the untitled Spider-Man 3 (currently filming in Atlanta as The November Project).
When Fantastic Four will begin shooting is unknown as Jon will be busy with Spider-Man 3 until it’s release in 12 months and they failed to mention any screenwriters. This will mark the first Marvel film for Watts that won’t have Sony Pictures’ involvement and might suggest that he won’t be coming back for Spider-Man 4.
Fandom has collectively chosen to campaign for John Krasinski and Emily Blunt to play the roles of Mister Fantastic and The Invisible Woman, however, there hasn’t been any concrete casting news concerning the project as it only just got confirmed.
Feige had telegraphed back at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 that Fantastic Four was the priority former Fox property they were aiming to reboot ahead of the X-Men. There is a possibility that Dr. Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm could appear in other films first.
One of the more frustrating things concerning Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings is that they kept most of the cast unofficial for the entirety of the shoot but they’ve now announced a good chunk of the cast, while not all of them. The cast so far includes actors Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tony Leung as Wenwu aka The Mandarian, Awkwafina as Katy, Meng’er Zhang as Xialing, Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan, Ronny Chieng as Jon Jon, Fala Chen as Jiang Li, and Florian Munteanu as villain William Young aka Razor Fist.
Shang-Chi along with Black Widow are still set to be released in theaters, not on Disney+, with the Destin Daniel Cretton martial arts action film set for July 9, 2021.
Director Sam Raimi has started filming Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness is officially shooting and will not only connect to WandaVision but also Jon Watts’ Spider-Man 3. While Kevin didn’t confirm it, there is a good chance that Tom Holland‘s Peter Parker and other characters carrying over to the Doctor Strange sequel.
However, he did confirm that that Xochitl Gomez will be playing America Chavez aka Miss America. The young newcomer joins Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as villain Baron Mordo.
It’s release date is set for March 25, 2022.
We finally know Christian Bale‘s character in Thor: Love & Thunder as he’ll play the film’s villain Gorr The God Butcher. A role we assume will be done with motion-capture given the design of his comic book counterpart.
Deadline recently reported that Jaimie Alexander will reprise the role of Lady Sif.
The rest of the cast consists of Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, and director Taika Waititi will return to the role of Korg.
Filming begins next month in Australia and it’s release date has been moved once more to May 6, 2022.
Captain Marvel 2 director Nia DaCosta was finally confirmed alongside the return of Brie Larson as Carol Danvers. New additions to the franchise are Ms. Marvel‘s Iman Vellani co-starring as Kamala Khan and WandaVision actress Teyonah Parris as the adult version of Monica Rambeau aka Spectrum.
There is a good chance that it will connect to Secret Invasion as it will also shoot in the United Kingdom.
The film’s date was bumped to November 11th, 2021.
Marvel revealed the title for Ant-Man 3 will be Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. Peyton Reed will be back as director with Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lily, Michael Douglas, and Michelle Pfeiffer returning as part of the main cast. The title suggesting the film will be entering the Quantum Realm or have strange things come out it.
The big announcement concerning the film is that Kathryn Newton (Freaky) has been recast as Cassie Lang aka Stature with rising-star Jonathan Majors (Lovecraft Country) confirmed as villain Kang The Conqueror. It remains to be seen if the third installment will help introduce The Fantastic Four before their own solo film from Jon Watts given Kang’s connection to the former 20th Century Fox heroes.
A release date wasn’t mentioned but is expected something in 2022.
James Gunn is officially back for Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3 with them aiming for a 2023 release date. They’re also developing a holiday special and Groot shorts for Disney+.
Kevin Feige didn’t give much in the way of details for Black Panther 2 but revealed they would not be recasting Chadwick Boseman‘s role of T’Challa. He stopped short from explaining what they are doing with the sequel and reaffirmed that writer/director Ryan Coogler is still working on the film.
While we suspect potential delays on the project, they announced the film is coming July 8th, 2022. The spot was previously held by Captain Marvel 2.
Marvel also announced another round of Disney+ shows.
The Nick Fury series was confirmed to be an adaption of Secret Invasion, which involved a bunch of humanity revealed as being replaced with Skrulls. In the comics, it was revealed that a bunch of Avengers were uncovered to be Skrulls too. As assumed, Samuel L. Jackson will reprise the Fury role with Ben Mendelsohn back as Skrull leader Talos.
The Fox portion of the Skrull rights via Fantastic Four are now in the hands of Marvel and could allow for Super-Skrulls to come into play becoming a big threat as they mimic superpowers of various Marvel Comics heroes.
It had been reported that Kyle Bradstreet would be developing the show.
There are signs the series will shoot in the United Kingdom around the same time as Captain Marvel 2, which could suggest a direct connection via S.W.O.R.D. and the Skrulls.
Olivia Wilde is reportedly directing a Spider-Woman film for Sony Pictures. It’s worth mentioning that Jessica Drew is an Agent of S.W.O.R.D. and is one of the characters in the comics revealed to be a Skrull (Veranke The Skrull Queen). Marvel’s participation on that film while assumed hasn’t been made official.
Don Cheadle will lead his own Disney+ series as War Machine titled Armor Wars.
If the series takes cues from the comic book series we could see the return of Sam Rockwell‘s Justin Hammer, another fan-favorite that is still kicking around in the MCU.
We could also see the addition of unused Iron Man villains such as the Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, and others.
An Ironheart series will star Dominique Thorne as whiz-kid Riri Williams, who creates her own advance armor. I wouldn’t be shocked if there happens to be a crossover with Armor Wars.
They revealed new trailers for their upcoming slate of Disney+ series including WandaVision (coming January 15,2021), The Falcon & The Winter Soldier (coming March 19, 2021), Loki (coming May 2021), and their animated series What If…? (coming summer 2021). The trailers give us the first look at X-Men location Madripoor in Falcon and the scale of the Loki series with teases of his return to Asgard.
Additional information concerning the upcoming shows includes that Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye will indeed be aiming for a 2021, something The Ronin reported on earlier this month. Kevin Feige providing an sizzle footage for the former which is impressive given it only recently started shooting in Atlanta.
With She-Hulk, Kevin confirmed that the cast will include Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk, and the return of Tim Roth‘s Abomination. The latter addition could help support previous chatter that we might see William Hurt‘s Thunder Bolt Ross and Liv Tyler‘s Betty Ross in the series as well bring most of The Incredible Hulk cast back.
I’m sure there are more things to be announced in the future as they hinted to upcoming news concerning Mahershala Ali‘s Blade. Although, I’m sure fans were a little upset they left-out Ryan Reynolds‘ Deadpool 3 or an update on the X-Men reboot. There is now overwhelming evidence that The Young Avengers are coming at some point given that most have been cast already.
In a report from Deadline, Mike Fleming claims that Disney will make announcements at Investor Day 2020 on December 10th concerning new projects (theatrical films and television) from Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and Pixar.
Details aren’t mentioned or what those “new” projects will be.
Disney on December 10 will announce its upcoming slate. While the studio will solidify what Deadline revealed recently – that the Tom Hanks-starrer Pinocchio, Peter Pan and the Emma Stone-starrer Cruella will bypass movie theaters to become Disney+ releases, the studio will also announce new projects from Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar that will encompass TV as well as theatrical. It will be a gesture toward not abandoning the exhibitors.
Fans will be curious to hear if Disney will attempt a similar day-and-day model that was recently announced by WarnerMedia for their entire 2021 film slate, as delayed Marvel films such as Black Widow and Shang-Chi could be part of that hypothetical announcement seeing large theatrical films landing on Disney+.
Collider recently suggested that Disney might be considering merging Disney+ and mature content from Hulu into a single service, another big update from Disney that could be announced (if true) at Investor Day this week.
Kevin Feige would likely confirm castings concerning Oscar Isaac as Moon Knight and Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk. A Nick Fury series was announced to be in develop, which we assume will star Samuel L. Jackson and possibly include Skrulls/S.W.O.R.D. but that would need to be confirmed. They could also announce their plans for an MCU reboot of Fantastic Four on the film side or updates concerning things we know are happening officially like Ant-Man 3, Captain Marvel 2, Black Panther 2, Deadpool 3 and Blade.
Concerning Lucasfilm, we know that Star Wars shows such as Boba Fett, Cassian Andor, Kenobi, The Mandalorian (Season 3), and a series coming from Leslye Headland are in varying stages of prep/production. There are a couple of films in development from Taika Waititi and Rian Johnson as well.
They’re also about to begin shooting their Willow sequel series in Wales with director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) and we might finally get a concrete update on James Mangold’s Indiana Jones 5.
Hopefully, we get some new details on December 10th and we’re not hearing new information for projects already made known.
Back on Friday, there was finally an update on the status of Deadpool 3 with Marvel Studios moving forward on the sequel by hiring The Molyneux Sisters (Bob’s Burgers) to write the script. Along with it reaffirmed that the project will keep it’s R-rating, which is something that Disney/Marvel brass have been relaying to the press for years now, although, every couple of months it becomes newsworthy again.
I’ve come up with a list of mutants I’d personally like to see in Deadpool 3 and that would fit this R-rated corner of the MCU very nicely. The rating should discourage Marvel from trying to cram the main X-Men lineup into a violent Deadpool adventure which seems like bad idea when they have access to all these other cool X-Men characters that would fit the mature tone. I still suspect they’re going to allow them to work with a larger budget than the 20th Century Fox films.
Anyways, here is who I’d like to see show up in Deaddpool 3.
PSYLOCKE: Psylocke or Kwannon has a bit of a checkered past as the body of the Japanese woman that Betsy Braddock (sister of Captain Britain) inhabits was once an assassin under the purview of both The Mandarin (as Lady Mandarin) and The Hand/Yakuza. The character is more than weird and I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if they simply go with the Kwannon character instead of the messy body-swap stuff.
Kwannon is sort of more interesting given the connections to The Mandarin (the villain of Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings) and The Hand via Yakuza boss Matsu’o Tsurayaba (Wolverine villain). Having Psylocke start out as a villain for criminal syndicates then redeemed to become a superhero joining the ranks of the X-Men and the more violent X-Force would make for an interesting character reboot since she didn’t even get an origin in X-Men: Apocalypse. Actress Olivia Munn has gone on the record with her frustration with Simon Kinberg and Brian Singer’s lack of knowledge.
Psylocke also has ties to the country of Madripoor which is being introduced in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier. The fictional Southeast Asian island nation could become a pivotal locale in future projects like X-Men films or something like Deadpool 3, as I think it’s about time they moved filming outside of Vancouver and explore some more different locations.
It would also be nice to see another Earthbound female Asian character outside of the Shang-Chi franchise kicking some ass in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, I wouldn’t rule-out having her moonlight as an assassin for the Atlas Empire or The Ten Rings. Then again, when Deadpool 3 shoots they’ll have full access to The Hand again.
OMEGA RED: Interestingly enough, Matsu’o Tsurayaba also connects to the next mutant.
Arkady Gregorivich Rossovich aka Omega Red originally had a bigger in Deadpool 2 as there was concept artwork making the rounds suggesting he was going to be a bruiser like The Juggernaut but he did briefly “cameo” in the mutant prison scenes. I’m not sure anyone would have noticed unless has had pointed it out and means the villain could get a second chance in the MCU.
In the comics, Arkady was a failed super-soldier experiment cooked-up by the Soviet Union and is considered to be one of the most dangerous mutants, giving Wolverine a run for his money. He’s worked has muscle for criminal syndicates like The Hand and feels within the wheelhouse of both Wolverine and Deadpool. I’m not shy about my desire to get this character on the big screen.
Since he’s Russian it could be a good excuse to connect him to Colossus’ time there.
X-23: Ryan Reynolds has been desperate to make his Wolverine vs Deadpool film, while Hugh Jackman isn’t likely return to the role anytime soon, Marvel is going to recast the role for the MCU making that a possibility in the future.
There is zero sign that Wolverine will be ready to go for Deadpool 3 but there is an established character they might want to use in the meantime that could make for an excellent surrogate, X-23.
We’ve seen Marvel Studios give second chances to J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson and Jamie Foxx as Electro for their Spider-Man franchise, so there is some hope they could soft-reboot Laura Kinney aka X-23 while keeping Dafne Keen in that role for their X-Men/Deadpool franchises. It’s a bit of stretch to think they’d ask Keen to return but if they’re unable to use the new Wolverine, X-23 would be an excellent surrogate as her origin has already been covered in James Mangold’s Logan and you can fill in the blanks later.
MISTER SINISTER: There had been some suggestions that Sinister was going to be part of the never-made Gambit film starring Channing Tatum and he certainly is an untapped X-Men baddie that Marvel Studios could use for multiple films. He essentially could become the less conflicted than Magneto and take secure reigns as the main villain of the X-Men franchise before they attempt to bring in Apocalypse or others.
You could easily have Sinister, a former human geneticist turned mutant, be one of the people behind “the Workshop” from the first film and we ultimately see what has happened to those collared mutants that were sold-off as weapons on the black market. Possibly having him as a puppet master of a character like Sugar Man leading to Sinister being a bigger threat in other X-Men films.
ALPHA FLIGHT: Wade is Canadian and there happens to be Canadian Government sanctioned group of mutant heroes called Alpha Flight that have been long over due for a live-action adaptation. Adding Department H to the MCU could be one way to give a better origin to Wolverine and potentially expand the X-Men universe by including the obscure Canadian mutants. I’ve been championing that Alpha Flight be given their own Disney+ series as there is enough there to deserve a series over a feature film. Wilson is eventually going to get on Department H’s radar and could attempt to recruit him to disastrous results, they’re also goofy enough that they’d add to the comedic nature of the film.
CABLE & DOMINO: I’m still of the belief that Marvel will ultimately keep actors like Josh Brolin and Zazie Beetz in their respective franchise roles while potentiality giving their character designs a soft-reboot to look a little more like their comic book counterparts. They’re lower on the list because I think it’s less of a worry that they’ll get tossed. Although, hiring new actors wouldn’t be shocking given that Marvel can replace them if they chose to do so.
There are now plenty of examples of actors playing dual roles in the MCU and having Brolin return to the Cable part after playing Thanos wouldn’t be the strangest move they could make.
I’m sure we’ll start learning more about Deadpool 3 once Marvel Studios does an official panel for it.
We learned yesterday from Deadline that Marvel Studios are finally moving forward on Deadpool 3 almost a year Ryan Reynolds announced publicly that development started at Marvel. While the report mentioned how closely Ryan would be working with the studio as he reprises the role of Wade Wilson and seemingly will keep his position as part of the creative team while two creatives are missing from the report entirely (“team Deadpool” is mentioned) questioning their involvement.
Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, the screenwriters and executive producers on the previous two Deadpool films are absent from the article announcing that The Molyneux Sisters (Bob’s Burgers) would be tackling the Deadpool 3 script.
Have they’ve exited the project?
The two had been originally set to write Deadpool 3 when the project was at 20th Century Fox and post-merger met with Marvel Studios over the summer of 2019 with Ryan. There had been an assumption they had been chosen to write the outline/story for the sequel or at the very least help produce given their success with the X-Men character. However, their names don’t appear in the Deadline report or in the follow-ups from The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.
The screenwriting duo had been tapped by Disney to pen Pirates of The Caribbean 6 (a reboot) before the script changed hands to Ted Elliot and Craig Mazin. They had also reunited with Ryan for Michael Bay’s Netflix film 6 Underground and a mature take on Clue at 20th Century Studios.
We can’t really ascertain why the pair weren’t mentioned in the article, however, this wouldn’t be the first time a key creative walked away from a Deadpool sequel. You might remember that Tim Miller was all set and ready to direct Deadpool 2 only to exit over “creative differences” which led him to team-up with James Cameron for Terminator: Dark Fate and was replaced with David Leitch. Speaking of David, it’s mentioned that while Marvel is open to him returning as director they’re realistic about his busy schedule and will likely end up hiring a new director.
It’s unclear if they’re even producing or consulting on the film. Hopefully, there will be some clarity in the coming weeks given how much they contributed to the success of the franchise.
I guess the talk of Deadpool 3 never coming together at Marvel Studios was just a fevered dream of co-creator Rob Liefeld.
Deadline reports that Marvel Studios has tapped The Molyneux Sisters (Bob’s Burgers, The Great North) to write the third installment and would be a sign that the sequel could be the first official X-Men film produced/released by the studio since the merger brought the film/television rights to Disney.
Sources tell Deadline that Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin to write Deadpool 3 with Reynolds set to reprise his role as wise-cracking superhero.
As we’ve been saying for ages via quotes from both Disney and Marvel brass that they still seem to be keen to keep the film R-rated. Deadline reaffirms this, yet again.
Besides Reynolds return, there is so many factors being worked but sources say the film is still expected to be rated R like the previous two installments.
Ryan Reynolds is set to reprise the role of Wade Wilson but this would be the first film without the involvement of Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, who tackled the last two movies when they were made at 20th Century Fox pre-merger. We don’t know officially if other cast members like Zazie Beetz or Josh Brolin will carry over their roles like Reynolds.
It’s unclear if David Leitch’s schedule will allow him to return for a third installment, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they considered a new director in all honesty given how many projects Leitch is juggling currently.
It sounds like with screenwriters set that we could see the sequel arrive at the earliest in 2023 with production taking place in 2022 if a script is completed in a timely fashion.
Today, Netflix officially announced that actresses Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Star Trek, Guardians of The Galaxy) and Jennifer Garner (Daredevil, Elektra, Peppermint, The Kingdom) have been added to the cast of Shawn Levy’s sci-fi action film The Adam Project, which is said to include time travelling.
The ladies join fellow Marvel alumni Ryan Reynolds as filming began this week in Vancouver and is expected to complete in early March.
The Ronin can confirm that the Brian Smrz will act as the second unit director on The Adam Project and will be overseeing the film’s action sequences. Brian’s credits include X-Men 2, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Iron Man 3, Terminator Genisys, The Predator, Rise of The Planet of The Apes, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
There is word that production designer Claude Pare (IT, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Spider-Man: Far From Home) may have joined the crew as well.
This might suggest the film will skew more in the action realm.
Reynolds has been working closely with Netflix lately with their pricey action films 6 Underground and Red Notice. He previously worked with director Shawn Levy on 20th Century Studios’ Free Guy that had been bumped from a December release to sometime in 2021.
FREE GUY – A bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, decides to become the hero of his own story…one he rewrites himself. Now in a world where there are no limits, he is determined to be the guy who saves his world his way…before it is too late.
Netflix has yet to announce a release date for The Adam Project but late 2021 or early 2022 is a good bet.
THE RONIN 