As of yesterday, Disney’s historic takeover of Fox is complete. For superhero fans, the headline of this deal is that Marvel Studios now has the rights back to the X-Men. It hasn’t been confirmed as yet exactly what the Mouse House plans to do with the mutant-based franchise that’s been ongoing since 2000, but it’s widely assumed that Marvel president Kevin Feige will hit the reboot button. Word has it, though, that one character will survive the move unchanged.
As you could probably guess, even if the post title didn’t tell you, it’s Deadpool. The Hollywood Reporter has shared that Marvel intends to keep Ryan Reynolds on as the Merc with the Mouth but the rest of the X-Men will be recast when the time comes to fold Professor X and his super-powered charges into the MCU. Not that this will be anytime soon, mind you, as THR confirms that Feige doesn’t plan to do anything with the X-Men until 2021 or 2022.
As evidence that Disney’s keen to continue the adventures of the Regeneratin’ Degenerate, Deadpool has even been added to the Walt Disney Company banner on the corporation’s official website, alongside other new assets like The Simpsons, Avatar and The Shape of Water. Tellingly, the Dark Phoenix cast, which arrives this June, are nowhere to be seen on the banner.
Of course, DP fans might be worried that Disney will water down Wade Wilson’s signature near-the-knuckle humor to better fit with their family-friendly brand, but CEO Bob Iger has previously commented on the Deadpool situation and has maintained that they’re open to making more R-Rated movies with the character. Besides, Ryan Reynolds has already welcomed the move to Disney, in typical Deadpool style, on social media.
Maybe this means that the planned X-Force and Deadpool 3 are back on. Or perhaps Disney wants to keep Reynolds but reboot the film series he stars in? It’s all up in the air right now, but hopefully things will become a bit clearer sooner rather than later.
