Deadpool Creator Rob Liefeld Reacts To Third Movie News

Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld is ready to celebrate news that a third film is in active development with Ryan Reynolds at Marvel Studios. The news -- which comes as little surprise, given Disney CEO Robert Iger's history of praise for the Deadpool franchise -- came from an interview with Reynolds made in support of his new Netflix action movie, 6 Underground, from Transformers director Michael Bay. Appearing on Live With Kelly and Ryan, Reynolds said that the movie is in the works now and that "everybody" is involved. Some had wondered about the future of the R-rated franchise, which lampoons superhero movies, after Fox was bought out by Disney -- a family-oriented company whose superhero movies have routinely been its most successful films in recent years.

In case there wasn't enough of a case based on the enormous success -- both financially and critically -- of the first two Deadpool films, an R-rated comic book movie (Joker) became one of the few non-Disney movies this year to crack the $1 billion worldwide box office mark. With that, and Logan, to back them up, it seems clear that R-rated comic book fare is something that appeals to a segment of the audience.

"Time to break out the gin," Liefeld tweeted, a reference to Aviation Gin, a company fronted by Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds, who owns a stake in the distillery.

Liefeld has been one of the most vocal advocates for the franchise, praising Disney at the time of the Fox acquisition and saying that he had briefly met and spoken to Iger about Deadpool at a Marvel event. He later questioned what Marvel was doing when it seemed they were putting the brakes on the R-rated franchise.

"You know, I just hope they can get it together," Liefeld recently told Variety. "Fans want it. Fans want to see it. The whole thing about Deadpool is that culture moves so fast now and two years ago feels like twenty. There were two R-rated movies — and they were R-rated movies — that together made $1.2 billion and yes, I looked at those and counted them up."

There's no clear indication of when Deadpool 3 might be showing up. The next (untitled) Spider-Man movie from Marvel and Sony is expected to hit theaters on July 16, 2021. First, Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow will finally get her own solo movie, due out May 1, 2020. Other upcoming Marvel Studios projects include The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall of 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If…? In Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021.