For the first ten years of the MCU, Robert Downey Jr. was the face of the franchise (sorry Chris Evans, but it’s true). We got our introduction to this universe via Tony Stark in Iron Man and his heroic sacrifice closed out the Infinity Saga in Avengers: Endgame. Since then, it’s felt like the Marvel Cinematic Universe could use another prominent poster boy. Sure, we still have Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch and so on, but they just don’t feel like frontmen. That could all change soon, however, as Ryan Reynolds is now set to make his MCU debut in Deadpool 3.
After a lengthy period of silence, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige opened up about the threequel in a recent interview and confirmed that the Merc with the Mouth is indeed making the leap to the franchise as the sole refugee from Fox’s X-Men pics, that the movie will be rated R, and also that it’s not filming in 2021. But Feige heaped praise upon Reynolds and Deadpool, too, saying that he’ll represent something very new for the shared universe.
“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. Again, a very different type of character in the MCU, and Ryan is a force of nature, which is just awesome to see him bring that character to life.”
That ‘force of nature’ is in high demand at the moment. Free Guy is coming on May 21st, with The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard arriving on August 20th and Netflix Original Red Notice landing in mid-2021. He’s also got another Netflix pic, The Adam Project, in production, Everyday Parenting Tips on the way from producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, a long-in-development remake of Clue and a new take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Beyond all that, we know that Wade Wilson is very close to Reynolds’ heart and he’s undoubtedly working on the script while all these other movies are coming together. Judging by Feige’s comments, though, the threequel won’t shoot until early to mid-2022, meaning it’ll likely land sometime in 2023. That’s a long wait, but with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Spider-Man 3 set to grapple with all sorts of cross-dimensional shenanigans, there’s a chance we could see the Merc cameo in the MCU way before Deadpool 3 debuts.