Kevin Feige Says Deadpool 3’s Taking So Long Because Of Ryan Reynolds’ Popularity

As far as reasons go for delaying a movie, the wild popularity of the lead actor isn’t a bad one to have to deal with.

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige recently gave an interview in which he opened up about Deadpool 3. Up until now, fans had a lot of questions about the project. For instance, will it be set in the MCU? Will it maintain the franchise’s R-rating? And, perhaps most importantly, when is it coming?

Well, now we know the answers. Or at least, some of them. It appears that the Merc with the Mouth is indeed making the leap to the MCU as perhaps the sole refugee from Fox’s X-Universe, with my bet being that the dimension-hopping shenanigans in Spider-Man 3 and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will open the door for him.

We also know that the film will be rated R, a first for the MCU. It’ll be interesting to see how Disney go about promoting it, then, especially in regards to Deadpool’s participation in future team-up movies in the vein of Avengers: Endgame.

The final question is a release date, which is the only disappointing reveal from the interview, as Feige confirmed that:

“It will not be [filming] this year. Ryan is a very busy, very successful actor. We’ve got a number of things we’ve already announced that we now have to make, but it’s exciting for it to have begun.”

The producer isn’t wrong about Reynolds being busy. Right now, he has Free Guy in the can, with The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard and Red Notice in post-production. Beyond that, he’s got Netflix Original The Adam Project to finish shooting, Everyday Parenting Tips coming from producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, a long-in-development remake of Clue and a new take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

But you sense that Deadpool 3 has got to be Reynolds’ dream project right now, and it’s nice to know he’s at least hard at work on developing it. Still, with an incredibly packed 2021 ahead of him (and that’s if COVID-19 doesn’t delay everything again), I wouldn’t expect his entry into the MCU to be shot before summer 2022 with a 2023 release window in mind. Let’s hope it’s worth the wait.