If Jon Favreau’s original Iron Man movie is considered to be ground zero of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then its divisive sequel, Iron Man 2, stands as a crucial stepping stone that helped bind Marvel’s grand vision together, even if the film itself suffered as a result.
That’s by no means a slight against Favreau’s direction; rather, Iron Man 2 was simply too busy teeing up various plot points that Marvel’s future-proofing came at the expense of Jon Favreau’s vision. It’s small wonder that the filmmaker broke course from Hollywood’s blockbuster scene to craft Chef, which many view to be a delicious analog to the whole situation.
Nevertheless, if you’re worried that Deadpool 2 will fall into the same trap, don’t; screenwriter Rhett Reese told Cinema Blend recently that regardless of Fox’s future plans (see: X-Force), both he and co-writer Paul Wernick – who are seemingly working in conjunction with Drew Goddard – made it crystal clear that their “first goal is to tell a Deadpool story in an emotional, fun, satisfying way.” The Merc With a Mouth’s second solo movie will still lay the foundations for both the X-Force ensemble movie and a third Deadpool movie, just don’t expect the camera to cut away to a Thanos-like villain who is quietly plotting world domination from the sidelines.
Per Cinema Blend:
“Our first goal is to tell a Deadpool story in an emotional, fun, satisfying way. And then the fact that we’re setting up something in the future — it’s happening, but you’re not gonna see that mustache-twirling villain, who is going ‘Hahaha, [it’s all coming into place].’ You’re just not going to see that, because that’s not our game.
“…Deadpool is a character piece, Deadpool is the leader of this very dysfunctional family. There are new people coming into that family, and there are old people that you’ve fallen in love with — with the conflict between Deadpool and, for example, Colossus and NTW. So yeah, it’s a delicate balance, but primarily keeping a Deadpool movie.”
Despite a rocky start, Deadpool 2 is fast beginning to take shape over at Fox following the addition of Zazie Beetz as Domino. Couple this with the seemingly imminent announcement of Cable and all signs point to David Leitch firing up production before the year’s end. A 2018 release date is purportedly the target, but we’ll keep you posted as more information comes to light.
