Ever since Deadpool finally gave Ryan Reynolds a hit in the comic book genre at the fourth time of asking and became one of the most successful movies of his career in the process, the actor has stuck steadfastly to his motor-mouthed and sardonic screen persona. In fact, when Red Notice arrives on Netflix next year, it’ll mark the tenth movie in a row that requires him to deliver essentially the same performance.
The ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach that the 43 year-old has applied to his career in recent years could also apply to the Merc with a Mouth’s upcoming debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With the previous two installments having earned over $1.5 billion at the box office, the foul-mouthed, fourth wall-breaking formula is a proven success, but there’s nonetheless been continued speculation that Marvel are getting cold feet over taking the plunge into R-rated territory.
The very nature of Deadpool as a character means that he can technically be parachuted anywhere into the franchise and it could be quickly explained away in typical meta fashion, but we’ve heard that the studio are now considering taking an entirely different angle and having Wade Wilson start off as an assassin-for-hire that will eventually lead to a transformation into the beloved antihero we all know and love.
According to our intel – which comes from the same sources who told us Ryan Reynolds had a secret cameo in Hobbs & Shaw and Netflix has greenlit an Extraction sequel, both of which were correct – the current idea being discussed is for Deadpool to start off doing the bidding of the Weapon X program, carrying out assassinations for them, which both ties back to his comic book origins and would also provide some connective tissue towards bringing the X-Men into the MCU. Of course, this would make him more of a villain to begin with, though we’re told he’ll eventually turn towards being the antihero we’re all familiar with from the previous films.
From the sounds of things, we’re still a long way away from seeing Deadpool 3, but if Marvel are adamant on establishing their version of Deadpool as an entirely different entity from Fox’s, then tweaking his origin story while retaining the essence of the character would certainly be a smart way of going about it.
