“Deadpool & Wolverine” marks Marvel Studios‘ first big entry into live-action mutants ahead of their reboot of the “X-Men” franchise that is currently in development. The Multiverse-focused movie has over-delivered at the box office and is on the path to surpassing the first two movies within weeks. Deadline is now projecting that the R-rated superhero event pic should earn $205 million domestically and $438.3 million at the worldwide box office.
The success of “Deadpool & Wolverine” is obviously going to give the studio confidence that people will show up to more R-rated projects if they offer them. Marvel’s Kevin Feige has already confirmed their “Blade” reboot, starring two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali, is aiming to be another R-rated MCU entry with the mature angle being “inherent to the character.”
This certainly should give Marvel Studios an extra incentive to proceed with things like “Deadpool 4,” “X-Force,” and potentially the Canadian-based mutant team Alpha Flight. Some other characters that might deserve the R-rated movie treatment include Punisher (Actor Jon Bernthal already reprises Frank Castle in “Daredevil: Born Again”), Deathlok, Psylocke, and the new Wolverine with his solo adventures in Madripoor (established via “The Falcon & The Winter Soldier”) or his Weapon X Program origin.
While the Multiverse angle of “Deadpool & Wolverine” (No spoilers) seemed to point toward Wade’s appearance in “Avengers: Secret Wars,” what’s next for the Merc With A Mouth and the TVA isn’t entirely clear.
A while back there had been a rumor online that singer and sometimes-actress Taylor Swift (“Cats,” “Amsterdam”) could be potentially showing up in “Deadpool 3” in the role of mutant pop star Alison Blaire, aka, Dazzler (Swift keeps getting connected to the character). A lesser-known mutant in the “X-Men” comics but one tailor-made for Swift, pun intended.
Interestingly enough, Swift was spotted this weekend at the Kansas City Chiefs game (See video below) by sports reporter Dianna Russini alongside friend Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman, and “Deadpool 3” director Shawn Levy. While this, of course, could all be a coincidence as this group of people is linked via Ryan/Blake. Still, it does seem to help fuel those earlier rumblings given that a lot of people involved with “Deadpool 3” are hanging out with Swift in public.
Most fans might not be aware but in the original pilot for the 1990s “X-Men” cartoon, Dazzler was supposed to be one of the main team members in the 1989 episode “Pryde of The X-Men” before the revamped Jim Lee era team was used years later for the main series. A live-action version of Dazzler briefly appeared in “Dark Phoenix,” the final main “X-Men” installment in the Singerverse before Marvel Studios took over the rights post-acquisition. The mutant role had been played by Halston Sage (“The Orville’) but it’s been unclear if we’d ever see the character again.
Swift’s biggest acting role to date was in Universal’s disastrous theatrical take on the musical “Cats” which saw the singer transformed into an unsettling cat-creature with the help of some extremely sketchy CGI that set off the uncanny valley. However, considering the rumor mill has already suggested an OVERLOAD of Foxverse cameos such as Jennifer Garner’s Elektra (One of the less annoying cameos that has been confirmed by trades) and the possible return of many many many more of these Fox-era superheroes. It might actually be nice to see something new in the mix too like a new actor playing a version of Dazzler.
It’s also worth noting that Celine Dion appeared in “Deadpool 2” to sing the introduction song, establishing the idea of landing a big-name singer for these films.
Folks might remember the time Taylor borrowed the Deadpool suit from Reynolds for a Halloween party leading to some snaps of her wearing it. Circling back to that friendship Swift has with Ryan’s wife, Blake Lively.
Marvel Studios’s Kevin Feige once mused he was a big fan of Dazzler, according to Fandango’s Erik Davis.
Many years ago I asked Kevin Feige if he were to ever direct his own Marvel movie, which character would he want to focus on. He said Dazzler. He’s a big fan. https://t.co/VZj7S2JL1h
Currently, the “Deadpool 3” production that was taking place in/around London is on hiatus until the SAG-AFTRA strike is resolved with the AMPTP as the union that represents 160,000 actors is seeking a fair deal for its membership.
Sometimes in the world of superhero films, there are a lot of “what-if” casting situations where actors might have auditioned or had been offered a role but that simply doesn’t come together. We’ve seen this with how Hugh Jackman was a replacement for Dougray Scott as Wolverine in the original “X-Men” film. Other examples include Tom Cruise nearly playing Iron Man and Leonardo DiCaprio playing Spider-Man for James Cameron. It looks like actress Aubrey Plaza had once almost scored a second Marvel Comics project on her belt with a part in “Deadpool 2.” Long before joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In a year-old interview with Cosmopolitan (spotted by Aubrey Plaza Updates), the comedic actress reveals that while she was still shooting the FX/Marvel series “Legion” (an “X-Men” adjacent project) she had auditioned for a role in “Deadpool 2” and all signs point towards the role of Domino, given that was the big female part that was being filled for the sequel.
“There are a lot of roles that I really wanted that I didn’t get, but everything happens for a reason. I don’t know, the one that sticks out to me for some reason I think it was ‘Deadpool 2’ I had just come off a plane and I think I was shooting ‘Legion’ at the time. And I really wasn’t in a good zone cause auditioning. You have to be in an auditioning zone and I was in a ‘work zone,’ that one hurt. Me and Ryan Reynolds, what could go wrong? We Would be great together,” Plaza said of nearly nabbing a part alongside Ryan Reynolds in “Deadpool 2.”
That part would eventually go to Zazie Beetz and oddly enough is one of the few previous actors not confirmed for a return in “Deadpool 3” (Then again, Josh Brolin’s Cable not returning is a little puzzling for us as well). There were others vying for that part as Mackenzie Davis was once in the mix. The exit of director Tim Miller seemed to stem from creative/casting frustrations and eventually saw Davis take a leading role in Miller’s “Terminator: Dark Fate” which had James Cameron’s involvement.
This isn’t an uncommon thing as “Eternals” actor Kumail Nanjiani almost played the Dopinder role in the first installment and that part would end up going to Karan Soni (returns for “Deadpool 3”), so, sometimes it does work out for the better. Perhaps, we’ll see Plaza and Reynolds tangle with each other in the MCU down the line since she’s part of the cast of the upcoming Disney+ series “Agatha.”
You can watch that full interview with Plaza below.
Aubrey Plaza says she auditioned for ‘DEADPOOL 2’ around the time she was shooting Marvel's ‘Legion’:
“I mean me and Ryan Reynolds, what could go wrong? We would be great together.” pic.twitter.com/nLSiIYoG0G
Just yesterday, it was revealed that “Deadpool 3” was only halfway into production when filming was paused in the United Kingdom. Not only that, but the film’s director Shawn Levy (“Stranger Things,” “The Adam Project”) revealed that the first “X-Men” film under Marvel Studios would be a “descendant” of classic hybrid comedies like “Midnight Run,” “48 Hours,” and “Planes, Trains, & Automobiles.” A clear confirmation that Ryan Reynolds got his “road trip movie” with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, which was his original idea from the jump for the third installment.
But that isn’t the only thing the Canadian director is dishing about the sequel.
Levy is doing press rounds at the Toronto International Film Festival for the upcoming Netflix series “All The Light We Cannot See” and was asked to comment about his reaction to all the rumors surrounding “Deadpool 3.” Signaling that not everything rumored on the internet about the film is actually accurate, what a shocker.
“I’d rather not weigh in on that, but I’ll say this,” Levy teases when asked to comment on the endless string of casting/character rumors. “The rumors of actors, singers, sports stars who are all apparently in ‘Deadpool 3’ are fabulous. If all I read was the internet, I would have the greatest cast ever assembled in the history of cinema, so I’ll simply say that some of those rumors are true, and some of them aren’t.”
The laundry list of who has been rumored for the film is a mile-long from Channing Tatum getting to play his version of Gambit (after the solo film was snuffed out) to the entire cast of all Fox-era Marvel films showing up. The latter just sounds like a miserable waste of a film’s runtime to be nothing but a cameo factory for characters that won’t be carrying over to the mainline MCU. However, Levy does seemingly refer to the Taylor Swift as Dazzler rumbling specifically (something that already seemed fishy since she is famously on a massive tour and way too busy). We should point out that the report of Jennifer Garner reprising the Elektra role was widely circulated by trade outlets and likely means that one is the real deal. Other rumors without much backing from trades or any might be less real.
On the topic of putting Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in a version of the comic book costume, the director wasn’t hiding his personal excitement.
“Like the rest of the world, I’ve waited two decades to see Wolverine in a whole movie with Deadpool, and I don’t know if this is our last shot at Wolverine on screen, so I was going to make goddamned sure we get the old yellow and blue just once, and that we get it right,” Levy told EW. “It also helps that I’m making this movie within the MCU, so I have access to an army of the nerdiest nerds available to a Marvel project,” he continued when talking about the multiple iterations the Wolverine suit underwent.
Others officially returning to the franchise alongside Reynolds include Morena Baccarin, Brianna Hildebrand, Shioli Kutsuna, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Stefan Kapicic, and Rob Delaney. Some of those new casting additions on “Deadpool 3” are Emma Corrin (“The Crown”) and Matthew Macfadyen (“Succession”), who are expected to be playing villains. We’ll likely have to wait on Marvel to confirm/debunk other cast members that have been rumored for the last couple of months/years along with the rumored plot elements including the TVA and the Multiverse (Set photos seemingly have confirmed the potential destruction of the Foxverse).
One of the many films that were in the middle of filming before the Hollywood strikes impacted productions and placed them on hiatus was “Deadpool 3.” It will be the first big “X-Men” movie made by Marvel Studios after acquiring the franchise during the events of Disney’s merger with 21st Century and there were some high expectations when it landed a Marvel-level budget. When it was revealed that Hugh Jackman would be reprising the Wolverine role after giving a perfect send-off to the character in “Logan” there were some skeptical fans worried. Jackman has since tried to ease the nerves of die-hards by saying the film takes place before those events.
Director Shawn Levy (“Stranger Things”), who has recently worked with Ryan Reynolds on “The Adam Project” and “Free Guy,” was tapped to helm the film that had been shooting in the United Kingdom. He’s now talking about the film with Deadline and says the sequel is “very much an R-rated film,” reiterating every single other person from Disney or Marvel when speaking publicly about “Deadpool 3.”
“I’ll say this while making [‘Deadpool 3’], I only know how to make something that I love. Long before I loved Ryan Reynolds, I loved ‘Deadpool.’ ‘Deadpool 1’ is, to me, a perfect movie and so I wasn’t going to mess with the DNA of that franchise. Our movie is raw, its audacious, very much R-rated. We went to great lengths not to shoot it on soundstages with digital environments,” Levy said of the new sequel.
The filmmaker also suggested what films he’d compare “Deadpool 3″ to, I would say it’s more a descendant of ‘Mightnight Run,” and “48 Hours,” and “Planes, Trains & Automobiles.” I guess this means that Reynolds finally got his road trip Deadpool movie with Wolverine, which was said to be the original concept of his idea back when Fox was developing the film.
Filming isn’t expected to resume until the strikes have been resolved and with no end in sight, that likely means that fans should be preparing themselves for a release delay on a bunch of upcoming films, including “Deadpool 3” and other Marvel projects.
Marvel Studios is getting ready to begin shooting their first big mutant project since landing the X-Men rights after the big merger between Disney and 21st Century Fox. With Deadpool 3 finally moving forward after early development back during the Fox era, we’ll get to see might be the end of the Singerverse and the third installment becoming the big swan-song with Hugh Jackman reprising the Wolverine one last time (before the main X-Men reboot at Marvel) with rumblings of other Singerverse actors possibly making their return too.
Back in October, The Ronin first learned that filming on Deadpool 3 would be taking place in the United Kingdom (a big pivot as the last two installments shot in Reynolds’ hometown of Vancouver) and this has now been confirmed via The Hollywood Reporter in an article about another upcoming project, Boy Band, as part of their breakdown of the actor’s upcoming filming schedule. Where they name London as the main location for Deadpool 3 as cameras are said to be gearing up to roll sometime in the spring.
#Deadpool3 production is expected to spend time filming in the United Kingdom. Ryan co-owns a Welsh football team, so, filming over there isn't a huge stretch. pic.twitter.com/1HhjrIfYgn
Of course, there have been all sorts of theories of how Marvel Studios will ultimately bring Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson into the hardline MCU (616 Universe), but we’ll have to wait a bit for real confirmation about the film’s story. One of the more mysterious elements of the film is the casting of Emma Corrin (Nosferatu, The Crown) as the film’s unnamed villain.
Deadpool 3, which if you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last five years has been confirmed to be getting an R-rating multiple times by everyone involved with the superhero pic and has a release date set for November 8, 2024. However, given how theatrical releases change all the time, it’s possible the project could be bumped into early 2025.
While we’re excited to see what Marvel’s X-Men reboot will end up looking like, fans will have to wait a bit longer for that. Meanwhile, we’ll be exploring the Singerverse/Fox era one more time with Deadpool 3 (title subject to change) set to bring back not only Ryan Reynolds‘ Wade Wilson but the funny man was able to finally able coax Hugh Jackman out of Wolverine retirement to dawn the claws one more time. It’ll technically become the first official mutant film to release in theaters.
We finally have our first big new casting addition thanks to a report from Deadline. They have revealed that British actress Emma Corrin (The Crown) has been selected to play the sequel’s villain. There is an expectation that filming on the pic that will be helmed by Shawn Leavy (The Adam Project, Stranger Things) will take place in the United Kingdom.
However, there aren’t any character details being mentioned making hard to know for sure if Corrin is playing someone established in X-Men mythology or someone new. There are plenty of female villains that Corrin could be playing such as Spiral, Death, Raven/Mystique, Emma Frost, and Mister Sinister’s cohort Madelyne Prior aka The Goblin Queen. Then again, they could be attempting a new villain or a combination of them from the comics.
Deadpool 3 is officially set to be released on November 8, 2025 and has long been confirmed by Disney/Marvel it’ll indeed keep it’s R-rating, like the previous installments with have a heap of extreme violence and cussing. It’ll be the first of the Marvel Cinematic Universe projects to skew for more mature audiences.
Reynolds, a producer and creative force on the franchise, has officially welcomed Corrin to the Deadpool family with an public post on his Twitter account that you can see below.
New addition to the family! The Deadpool family, for clarity. Which is just like a real family except with less swearing… Welcome, Emma Corrin! ⚔️❤️⚔️ pic.twitter.com/LSobi4AqO9
Ryan Reynolds has people with Deadpool 3 on the brain as he’s been using the character to help promote his new movie Free Guy. He’s also been giving brief thoughts and updates on the project, as technically, he could be the first high-profile mutant to appear in the MCU (excluding Scarlet Witch).
When asked by Collider to give a percentage of the chance that Deadpool 3 begins shooting next year, the actor replied “70%” after realizing it was August.
It’s not a huge update by any means, but he did give some insight with the working relationship between himself and screenwriters. Saying that Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin (Bob’s Burgers) are “so smart” and he’s having a lot of “fun” working with them.
Reynolds also gives the impression they’re not finished the script calling it a daily process concerning the writing, this could explain why a director hasn’t been announced.
However, with a shoot in 2022 this likely means it could end up landing a release date in 2023 or 2024.
There is an expectation that Blade could also be ready to begin shooting soon too, but it’s unknown if Fantastic Four or X-Men reboots will be anywhere ready for production in 2022. We’ll have to wait for Marvel Studios to start announcing new release dates and projects before we get a clear picture of the entire lineup for 2023-2025.
We’re still curious why Marvel Studios hasn’t made a grand announcement about Deadpool 3, as Disney acquired the franchise along with the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Silver Surfer when the Fox rights reverted to Marvel.
Actor and producer Ryan Reynolds is promoting his latest film Free Guy (using Deadpool in the marketing campaign) and appeared on Comic Book’s podcast Phase Zero. Reynolds was asked if he prefers that Wade Wilson be first introduced to the MCU in Deadpool 3 or another unnamed project (Ryan has been extremely keen on the idea of interacting with mainstream MCU characters).
“I think both are pretty warranted. 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,” Reynolds said on the Phase Zero podcast.
It was announced in December that Jon Watt’s (Spider-Man: No Way Home) would direct their Fantastic Four reboot, but we’re still in the dark about mutant projects and if Deadpool 3 will release in 2023-2024 (Kevin had indicted that X-Men won’t be ready until 2025).
Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin (Bob’s Burgers) were previously announced as the film’s screenwriters, but we’re still waiting on a director announcement or an official release date to give us the indication of when it’ll begin shooting. Disney and Marvel have reiterated multiple times that they plan to keep the project R-rated and likely that it could end up distributed by 20th Century Studios (known for handling mature releases).
Disney obviously felt comfortable enough with Deadpool interacting with Thor: Ragnarok/Thor: Love & Thunder character Korg, played by Free Guy co-star Taika Waititi.
Technically, the reaction video could be considered the character’s first MCU appearance.
Using that Disney hype machine to help promote their upcoming film Free Guy, co-stars Ryan Reynolds and Taika Waititi have teamed-up to reprise their Marvel Comics characters to do a parody reaction video highlighting the trailer for Free Guy coming next month to theaters.
Interestingly enough, this is sort of the first film Wade Wilson has ever interacted with a character directly from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (granted this likely isn’t official canon or is it?) since being acquired by Disney. We’re also seeing him in a very PG-13 format which might be new for some given his raunchy foul-mouthed antics.
It’ll be neat to see if Deadpool and Korg do eventually feature together in a future Marvel project as Deadpool 3 feels like a good spot for that interaction. Reynolds had previously teased an idea he had for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine to appear in a road trip film and now I can’t only think about how cool it would be if Taika’s Korg took that spot instead.
As it sits, Deadpool 3 will officially kept it’s R-rating and has a script being penned by The Molyneux Sisters (Bob’s Burgers), however, a director hasn’t been named. I think it would be nifty if Taika Waititi, a noted workaholic, tried to sneak in and direct Deadpool 3 before another Thor installment or possibly even his Star Wars movie. Taika works fast and could likely churn-out a sequel pretty quickly as fans are patiently waiting for the mutants to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
THE RONIN 