Deadpool 2 screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are “unsure” if Ryan Reynolds‘ Deadpool will become part of Disney-owned Marvel Studios’ Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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“Not sure,” the writing duo wrote during a “ask me anything” session on Reddit when asked if the Merc with a Mouth will join the shared universe populated by the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Spider-Man.
“The lawyers won’t let anyone from either side talk to each other yet,” they wrote. “We tried to initiate a conversation with [Marvel Studios chief] Kevin Feige using smoke signals, but the [Los Angeles Fire Department] was called in. Not great.”
More seriously, the writers told ComicBook.com their hopes for Deadpool to become integrated into the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe and interact with A-listers Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr).
“The good news is that with Disney taking over Fox, or the impending take-over of Fox, that list of characters that we have access to will grow quite a bit and really brings a huge smile to our face moving forward,” Wernick told us.
Wernick joked the pair had a draft teaming Reynolds’ Wade Wilson with Spider-Man “that only lived in our heads and not on paper.”
In December, Disney closed a deal to acquire 21st Century Fox’s film and television assets for $52.4 billion.
The deal would see Marvel Studios acquire the screen rights for currently Fox-owned Marvel Comics characters and properties, including Deadpool, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four.
Disney CEO Bob Iger, whose tenure saw The Walt Disney Company acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in 2009, confirmed in December the Fox characters would be brought under the Marvel Studios banner, saying the company is “looking forward to expanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe to include X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool.”
The regulatory process surrounding Disney’s landmark acquisition is expected to take about “12 to 18 months,” according to a December report from Variety.
Earlier this month, CNBC — who first reported the Disney-Fox deal — revealed Comcast, who owns NBCUniversal, could upend the deal with an all-cash bid topping Disney’s $52.4 billion.
Such a proposition remains contingent on a long-pending AT&T-Time Warner deal. If United States regulators approve AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, Comcast would then move forward with their bid for Fox.
Deadpool leading man and Deadpool 2 co-writer Ryan Reynolds told EW earlier this month he “genuinely [doesn’t] know a thing” about the looming Disney-Fox merger, but expects to stay on as the character, whose first movie remains the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time.
“I read that Bob Iger felt that there’s plenty of room in that universe to have a rated-R character like Deadpool,” Reynolds said. “This is completely conjecture on my part, but I wouldn’t imagine that Disney bought Fox to dismantle it or something like that. I think that Disney bought Fox so it could have that in its arsenal.”
Deadpool 2 is now playing in theaters.
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Image Credit: Marvel Studios, Marvel Comics
