Shared movie universes are all the rage these days. There's the Marvel and DC Cinematic Movie Universes, of course, but Paramount is also working on a Transformers shared universe, Universal is working on a Universal Monsters shared universe, Sony may (or may not) be working a Ghostbusters shared universe, and so on. But let's not forget about the other big comic book universe currently in the works - the one owned by 20th Century Fox.

Fox, of course, has the rights to almost every X-character and Fantastic Four character. Their current slate of films includes Fantastic Four, X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool, and Gambit, all of which will be releasing either this year or next. But where does Deadpool - played by Ryan Reynolds - fit into the shared universe as a whole? And what kind of crossovers (or surprise appearances) might we see from him in the coming years?

We recently interviewed Reynolds for his new movie, Self/less, and asked him that very question.

Screen Rant: You’ve recently finished shooting Deadpool.

Ryan Reynolds: I sure have.

SR: And the big thing in movies now is the shared movie universe, crossovers, that kind of thing. Can we expect to see Deadpool appear in a future X-Men movie or maybe Wolverine?

RR: That’s a damn good question. You tell me. It would be kind of hard, wouldn’t it? Because you have a character - let’s say you have a character who knows he’s in a comic book movie, that sort of breaks the fourth wall [and] has a tendency to kind of say people’s real names instead of their characters’ names. How do you introduce that into another universe that…does not do that? So…I don’t know. I’d be curious to say. I’m not saying that’s not going to happen. I don’t know if it’s going to happen. I would love to see that.

SR: So would I.

RR: You have to be very careful about how you do that because  you don’t want to do a disservice to any one of these characters that are beloved by everyone.

Reynolds brings up a lot of interesting issues here. Would inserting Deadpool into an X-Men or Wolverine movie - where we probably wouldn't see things from his unique perspective - jettison much of what makes him entertaining? If you look to the comics, the answer is a resounding 'no.' On many occasions, Deadpool has appeared in ensemble stories or team stories and it hasn't detracted from what makes him so beloved.

Colossus vs Deadpool

In fact, Rick Remender's take on the character in Uncanny X-Force is often considered to be one of the best depictions of him. People who were usually annoyed by Deadpool's shtick appreciated it more in small doses, and that book does a good job of using him well without overusing him.

Ultimately, I think if Deadpool is successful next year, it's not a matter of if Deadpool will cross over into other X-movies but when. These questions about whether or not he'd work outside of his own standalone films remind me of the questions people had about Thor (a magic-based character, though not in the films) appearing in The Avengers or Wonder Woman appearing in movies with Superman and Batman. Filmgoers, by and large, don't actually have a problem with that sort of thing. Make believe is make believe. As long as everything makes sense from film to film, everything'll be all right.

What say you, Screen Ranters? Do you want to see Deadpool in an X-Men movie? Or possibly fighting Wolverine again? Drop us a line in the comments.

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NEXT: Hugh Jackman on Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Retiring from Wolverine

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Fantastic Four opens August 7th, 2015, Deadpool on February 12, 2016, X-Men: Apocalypse on May 27, 2016, Gambit on October 7 2016, Wolverine 3 (not the official title) on March 3rd, 2017, Fantastic Four 2 on June 9th, 2017, and some as-yet unspecified X-Men film on July 13th, 2018.