Ryan Reynolds Details Kevin Feige Meeting About Deadpool In The MCU

Ryan Reynolds is sharing details about his initial meetings with Kevin Feige regarding bringing Deadpool to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Reynolds, currently one of the most reliable box office draws in Hollywood, has been trying to make Deadpool a larger figure in the Marvel superhero landscape onscreen since 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. As fans of the beloved Marvel mercenary were less than pleased with the character's appearance in the film, someone, (most likely Reynolds himself) leaked test footage for a Deadpool movie. This ultimately led to the ultra-successful Deadpool in 2016, and its sequel Deadpool 2 in 2018.

Though the wait for a Deadpool 3 has been long and arduous for fans of both the character and franchise, last month it was announced that Disney had officially slotted the sequel on its calendar for November 2024. Reynolds, who has kept his Deadpool costume and will occasionally use it for promotional material for his other films, released a video teasing the sequel, as well as announcing that Hugh Jackman will be reprising the role of Wolverine for the first time since 2017's Logan. The news sent shock waves across the internet, with Marvel fans, MCU personnel, and even the director of Logan wondering how Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige had pulled this off.

Now, thanks to an interview with Variety, Reynolds has detailed that conversations with Kevin Feige about bringing Deadpool to the MCU have been going on for three and a half years. Reynolds, who is beginning his promotion for Netflix's Spirited, says conversations began around initial news of the Fox/Disney merger, and how the inclusion of Wolverine in Deadpool 3 wasn't a viable option until recently. Check out the full excerpt below:

According to Reynolds, he first met with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige three and a half years ago after Disney acquired Fox. The first two “Deadpool” movies were released by Fox and each grossed in the $780 million range worldwide. Now that Disney owned Fox, the door was open for Deadpool to enter Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“I got Kevin to talk what, if anything, the future holds for Deadpool in that transaction,” Reynolds said of his first meeting with Marvel following the Disney-Fox merger. “The subject was coming up in the meeting about if we could find a way to do a Deadpool-Wolverine pairing. It wasn’t possible then. For this to be happening now is pretty damn exciting.”

What Took So Long For Deadpool To Come To The MCU?

Since 20th Century Fox merged with Disney in 2018, the character's place in the larger Marvel universe has been largely up in the air. As Fox owned various Marvel properties such as The Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and, ultimately, Deadpool, negotiations to make a Deadpool 3 have been slow, with director Shawn Levy and writers Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin, joining the project in the last two years. Plus, with the MCU taking its time with Fox characters, and only now being able to introduce mutants into preexisting projects, the ink on the contracts is now dry enough to allow for concrete MCU versions of these properties.

Reynolds corresponding with Feige for this long does point to some possibilities for Deadpool 3. If conversations have been going on for this long, and amicably, it could mean that Reynolds is working on securing an R-Rating, and pushing for the predecessors' level of violence and strong language. It also indicates that Feige knows how much of a moneymaker the Deadpool franchise was for Fox, and wants to capitalize on that box office, much as the MCU has benefitted from Sony's collaborations for the Spider-Man films. And with the possibility of Wolverine becoming more real as the franchise progresses further, the MCU may be on the precipice of even more integration with the Fox properties as more and more scheduled projects drop. Still, the prospect of an MCU Deadpool 3 is one that should excite all Deadpool fans, including Ryan Reynolds himself.

Next: Deadpool 3 Now Carries A Burden The MCU Could've Avoided

Source: Variety