Rob Liefeld Rips Into Marvel, Says Studio Has “Zero” Plans for Deadpool 3

Disney's acquisition of Fox makes it hard to imagine Deadpool 3 arriving any time soon

It took ages to bring the first Deadpool movie to the screen, but the blood, sweat and tears of everyone involved really paid off. The unconventional anti-hero’s origin story turned out pretty well in the end, and with a global box office to the tune of $782 million, a sequel blasted onto screens within two years, racking up another $785 for its studio, Fox. The sky was the limit for the franchise, despite its content being aimed at older fans.

For those who were looking forward to a third Deadpool movie, or maybe even an X-Force spinoff, worrying news arrived last year when Disney acquired Fox and, in turn, the Merc with a Mouth. Would the family-friendly Disney be willing to release R-rated projects like Deadpool? And could a foul-mouthed, ultra-violent character like Wade Wilson fit into the future of the MCU?

On Christmas Eve, star Ryan Reynolds appeared on Live with Kelly and Ryan with some hopeful comments for those waiting for news of a possible Deadpool 3.

“Yeah, we’re working on it right now with the whole team,” he confirmed. “We’re over at Marvel [Studios] now, which is like the big leagues all of a sudden. It’s kinda crazy. So yeah, we’re working on it.”

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Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld was decidedly less positive about Marvel Studios’ plans when he sat down for a new interview with Inverse last week, however.

“I can’t gloss it up,” he said. “You want to know the plan with Deadpool right now? They have a goose egg, zero, zero.”

Liefeld expanded on his feelings about the state of the franchise, explaining that Deadpool‘s momentum has been seriously affected by the huge Marvel plans already in motion.

“I feel like Deadpool, the movies, they’ve set sail. We got two brilliant movies, and we live in a culture that always looks forward because all they’re ever selling us is ‘next, next, next.’ It’s the fever. For me, as the fever calms down, people just need to calm down and realize that Deadpool 1 and 2 were released within two years of each other, 2016 and 2018, and I just can’t… I’m not really that crazy about Marvel’s plan right now.”

He went on to explain “It’s the first time I go, ‘Hey, [Kevin] Feige, did you even have a plan? Your plan was Eternals and Shang-Chi? That was your plan? And Black Widow?’ So they close the door, Chris Evans says goodbye, Robert Downey Jr. says goodbye, Black Widow falls off a cliff says goodbye, they almost lose Tom Holland to Sony… but you’re a genius, Marvel, you’re geniuses.”

Liefeld has been doing the rounds, and also dropped in for a conversation with Comicbook, where he continued to address the uncertainty over Deadpool‘s Disney future.

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“If Ryan isn’t making Deadpool 3 right now, that’s because Marvel hasn’t allowed it to be yet and that’s all I’m saying,” he said. “So, do I have a lot of faith in that system? Dude, I have no idea. So this is where I’m not that, I’m not giving you the answers you want. I’m like yeah, yeah. Look if it happens, terrific.”

The co-founder of Image Comics has noted that even if the Deadpool team started work on a third movie today, it probably wouldn’t see the light of day for about four years, and maybe the time will have passed for Wade Wilson to gel with other OG MCU characters.

“How old am I gonna be when that happens? And literally I used to be like, yeah, Mark Ruffalo, Hulk and Deadpool would make for a funny movie right? But, none of these guys are getting younger, right okay?”

We’ll bring you news on Deadpool 3 if anything ends up happening with it.