The WGA strike ending won’t do the sequel to a $785.8 million Marvel movie any favors

After 148 days of uncertainty, the WGA strike has officially ended. It means that scribes can return to their respective writers’ rooms — the hard part is over and the formalities are finished, so the writing part of productions can resume. But sadly that means diddly squat for one Marvel film, as its exceptional writer will still be unable to contribute to the script.

The board of the WGA West as well as the council of the WGA East unanimously okayed the deal and what it offers, allowing writers to resume work. This is good news for Marvel films like Blade, which had hired True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto to pen its script right around the time when the WGA strike began.

But the strike ending won’t do much for Deadpool 3, which is set to be the Merc with a Mouth’s official MCU debut even though he has been around for years now. Given Marvel’s penchant for sidestepping making films exactly like Deadpool and Deadpool 2 — which went on to nab $785.8 million at the box office, thank you very much — a lot hinged on Ryan Reynold’s much-appreciated history of customizing and adding new lines to his character. But in light of the writers’ strike, he was strictly prohibited from making this contribution in Deadpool 3, effectively robbing the mercenary of what makes him… well, him.

At the time, Deadpool 3 went ahead with its filming, without any witty ad-libs from Reynolds. But Deadpool creator, Rob Liefeld, suggested an unethical solution to the problem — Reynolds could do the needed improvising during ADR — i.e., re-recording his lines for his masked scenes. 

But even the tempting-yet-immoral route got dumped when the SAG-AFTRA strike commenced — which, unlike the WGA action, has yet to reach its conclusion. Yep, 75 days and counting. So, now, while Reynolds could have made his funny quips as a writer, he can’t do so as an actor, so long as the second strike is not resolved. Until that happens, one of Marvel’s biggest projects, which has sparked equal parts apprehension — how on Earth-616 will MCU respect Deadpool’s foul-mouthed reputation? — and hope — will it drag the franchise from the dredges of decline? — remains bereft of its most potent weapon necessary for its presumed success.