Ryan Reynolds Reveals Why Deadpool 3 is Taking So Long

It’s been some time since Disney purchased 20th Century Fox and its properties, but it has yet to make any sort of official announcement regarding the future of its biggest Marvel asset from the acquisition. Ryan Reynolds‘ lucrative and acclaimed Deadpool franchise is simply waiting to be used, with the cast and crew all seemingly on board for more adventures. What’s taking Disney and Marvel so long? Well, according to the Merc himself, a mystery still needs to be solved before the series can continue.

On Tuesday, Reynolds took to Twitter to share a video spoof of the popular Unsolved Mysteries TV series. The music plays in the background while footage of the first Deadpool movie rolls in a montage. Exactly five years ago, footage from the initial Deadpool film leaked online, and Reynolds claims that he’s been spending too much time trying to catch the leaker, which has delayed Deadpool 3.

“It’s why the next Deadpool film is taking so long,” Reynolds wrote in the tweet. “Still trying to solve this. Happy Leakaversary.”

This is an obvious joke by Reynolds, and clearly has nothing to do with the actual delays facing Deadpool 3. Marvel hasn’t announced anything regarding any of its properties in months, so keeping info about Deadpool in the dark shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

Then again, this could be a way of Reynolds trying to nudge Marvel about his franchise, showing just how much interest people have in Deadpool. After all, it’s a tactic this team has allegedly used before. There are insiders who believe that Deadpool director Tim Miller was actually the one who leaked the initial footage. Fox was hesitant about making the film the way Miller and Reynolds had envisioned it, but the response to the leak proved the creative team was right. It was the leak that ended up convincing the studio, and Deadpool went on to set box office records.

So we really don’t know what’s holding Deadpool 3 up at this point. Perhaps Disney is still debating whether or not to keep the franchise R-rated or tone it down in order to get it into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Either way, here’s to hoping we find out soon enough.