Deadpool 3: The MCU Questions and Connections
Deadpool 3 will apparently be part of the MCU. That brings up a lot of possibilities and a whole lot of questions about what this means for the Merc with a Mouth.
Deadpool is coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the X-Men Cinematic Universe fizzled out as Disney bought out Fox, it doesn’t take a marketing genius to remember that Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson is a license to print money. Much like JK Simmons reprised his role as J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: Far From Home, we’re once again going to see Reynolds as Deadpool because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! And even if he was broken, Deadpool has the innate ability to fix hims—
Sorry, got lost there.
They aren’t just going to reintroduce the character like Jameson, though. We’re getting Deadpool 3 and it’s going to be rated R. This will be a sequel…but in a different continuity than its first two films. Interesting novelty.
Deadpool 3 is the ultimate wild card because we don’t really know how it’s going to really work. Just the idea of Deadpool 3 being part of MCU canon fills the room with elephants. So while we have a long time to wait on this, here are some questions that arise about Deadpool 3.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR CABLE?
We got one Thanos joke in Deadpool 2, but if Cable’s coming back, then expect even more references to Josh Brolin’s other big Marvel role.
Cable’s a tough nut to crack here. On one hand, he was such a major fixture in Deadpool 2 and it felt like a given that he’d be sticking around as Deadpool’s long-suffering gun buddy. He even chooses to stay in the present and save Deadpool because he feels he can fix the future by making a better world.
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But…what future? Cable’s future is null and void at this point. While Deadpool 2 didn’t go into canon connections, Cable’s father hasn’t even been established in the MCU. Not to mention the headaches that come from mixing and matching X-Men-style time travel and how it works in the MCU.
He’s too big a name to just ignore, but he’s also going to be a square peg in a round hole.
WILL X-FORCE BE CONSIDERED THE FIRST MUTANTS OF THE MCU?
Deadpool 3 doesn’t have a release date, but realistically, it can’t be showing up any earlier than 2023. We’re going to have two-to-three years of a stacked Marvel movie release calendar going on before we get to see Colossus and the others again.
Now, they haven’t announced any X-Men movies during that time (yet), but that doesn’t mean that mutants won’t be popping up. We all know that making mutants work as a concept in a superhero universe that’s been around for nearly a decade and a half is something that’s going to need some thought, but if they do figure it out, they could always sprinkle characters into different movies and shows. For instance, it would absolutely make sense for Mystique and/or Rogue to show up in Captain Marvel 2.
There are even rumors out there that a certain tentacled, Soviet mutant will be making his debut in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Man, did they really go thirteen X-Men movies without giving us Omega Red and his MUTANT DEATH FACTOR?
Then again, there’s also the possibility that X-Force and the like won’t get any real screentime, focusing just on Deadpool, Vanessa, and maybe Dopinder.
WILL THE CONNECTION BE PART OF THE NARRATIVE?
Even from the original screenplay, Deadpool and its sequel were really loose about its connections to the other X-Men movies. Deadpool mentions he doesn’t know which Xavier actor he’d be meeting, established characters are extremely different from their previous appearances (Deadpool included), and even the X-Men’s public status as superheroes isn’t really something you see in the main movies outside of the first act of Dark Phoenix. Good luck figuring out how Wade’s movies tie into X-Men movie canon.
It would be absolutely forgivable if they kept that loose approach with the MCU. The difference is that the MCU is actually coherent. The X-Men movies are a gigantic pile of contradictions and retcons that leave you with a bunch of jigsaw pieces that just don’t fit well. Even when they tried to fix it all with time travel, they still screwed it up immediately after.
Also, why the hell did nobody age between First Class and Dark Phoenix?
Ahem. So anyway, the MCU has its cracks, but its pride comes from the fact that the movies and some of the higher-profile spinoffs tie together and do it well. You’re more likely to see Deadpool 3 play ball a little more specifically with the world around him.
But how important is this change of scenery? Is it an unexplained alteration that we aren’t meant to question and barely notice or is it going to be part of the storyline? This is a time when we’re already getting WandaVision, Spider-Man 3, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness so close together and they’re all about exploring and mixing realities. For all we know, Deadpool might even show up in the Doctor Strange 2 post-credits. It would make as much sense as anything.
WHAT BIG NAMES ARE GOING TO GET ROASTED?
Deadpool’s already made references to the MCU here and there, like doing the Hulk lullaby to Juggernaut, fighting on a Helicarrier, being old friends with a guy whose very identity is tied to being from HYDRA, and whatnot. What happens when he goes full ham? Are we going to see Weasel recast with Ed Norton or Terrance Howard?
But really, we have dozens of movies to go on. Lots of stuff to poke fun at. Did he lose Vanessa again due to the Snap and then get her back? Is he unsure whether or not he’s allowed to talk about Venom? Is he going to be meta about the fact that it’s probably for the best that a Ryan Reynolds character didn’t show up until after the Scarlett Johansson character was killed off?
WHAT SMALL NAMES ARE GOING TO GET ROASTED?
Making jokes about Thanos and the Infinity Stones is one thing, but I’m into the obscure jabs. There are rumors going around about certain Netflix Defenders characters popping up in MCU projects, such as Daredevil being in Spider-Man 3. That means I only want Deadpool to dig deeper.
While I wouldn’t be against seeing knocks on Runaways or Cloak and Dagger, the real target I’m interested in is Inhumans. Inhumans, the property that Marvel spent years and so much effort trying to overshadow mutants with only to absolutely fall on their face when the movie was changed to a TV series and then flopped in its first season. The kind of project that is supposedly one of those “never bring it up or you will be fired” blunders.
Hey, they put that series on Disney+. Might as well give everyone a reason to check it out.
WHO WILL BE THE VILLAIN?
Deadpool’s rogues gallery hasn’t always been too impressive. During his defining Joe Kelly run, his big bad was T-Ray, but following writers proceeded to phase him out of importance. Even though Ajax was from the Deadpool comics, he was mainly there for one story arc before getting killed off (he did get briefly resurrected after the first movie came out, but even then only had one appearance). Deadpool 2 had Juggernaut and Black Tom, who were more plug-and-play X-Men villains in general who only had a limited connection to Deadpool himself.
Really, if anyone’s going to be the villain in Deadpool 3, it’s Mr. Sinister. Deadpool has dealt with him a few times in the comics and he was, for whatever reason, the main villain in the aggressively mediocre Deadpool video game. Thing is, if Deadpool 3 is the last true gasp of the X-Men Cinematic Universe as it transfers into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then it’s probably going to be the big villain that they spent several movies building up (X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool 2, New Mutants, and technically Logan) only to never have him appear.
Besides, it’s not like Sinister is above fourth-wall breaking humor. You could loosely base the story on What If #100, a story where Sinister became aware of his fictional nature and tried to break free from its imprisonment.
Why should Deadpool have all the self-aware fun?
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Gavin Jasper is a buffalo wing enthusiast who loves the hell out of comic books and professional wrestling. In the end, that makes him an expert…