Deadpool and X-Force creator Rob Liefeld has little confidence in Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige when it comes to the future of the Merc with a Mouth, it seems.
Fox released two incredibly successful Deadpool movies to the tune of $1.5 billion in global box office. Not only are they the most profitable films within the X-Men universe, but until Joker was released last fall, they were the highest-grossing R-rated comic book movies by a mile.
But despite all of that success, the future of the character and the franchise was thrown in doubt with Disney purchasing Fox. Before this, filmmaker Drew Goddard was planning an X-Force spinoff with Deadpool and Cable (Josh Brolin), but these lofty plans, in addition to the eventual Deadpool 3, were put in limbo with the merger and Liefeld apparently is not happy with the direction that the studio is now moving in.
Of course, Deadpool 2 teased an X-Force movie, but when asked by Inverse about the future of the project, Liefeld said: “I don’t know. Here’s what people don’t want to hear, but thank God I’m a realist. 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,” Liefeld continued. “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.”
The immediate plan for Marvel is to give fans what they wanted, a Black Widow movie, and then introduce them to a whole new set of heroes to transition into the next phase of the franchise, including The Eternals and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
“It’s the first time I go, ‘Hey, Feige, did you even have a plan? Your plan was Eternals and Shang-Chi? That was your plan? And Black Widow?’” Liefeld said. “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 [Spider-Man actor] Tom Holland to Sony… but you’re a genius, Marvel, you’re a genius.”
If Marvel Studios started production on Deadpool 3 this year, Liefeld said, “it would come out in four years. I can’t be excited about that.” Saying he “can’t gloss it up,” Liefeld added, “you want to know the plan with Deadpool right now? They have a goose egg, zero, zero.”
Disney only just purchased Fox a year ago and Feige and Marvel spend years planning out the MCU, so Liefeld’s comments about Deadpool 3 arriving in four years is right. But it’s not because they have zero plans. It’s because the Merc jumped on the speeding train that is Marvel. They already have the next few years mapped out so the R-rated character will have to wait his turn.
Of course, it’s still hazy as to whether the character would exist inside of the MCU given the nature of him, but Reynolds has been working with Disney and he’s hopeful about the partnership. It’s his baby, after all. And other than maybe Avatar, Deadpool is the biggest franchise the Mouse House acquired under the Fox deal. They know the potential of the series and no doubt want to please the fans.
Liefeld’s confidence may be waning because he’s the creator of the character, but these comments are still overblown. Marvel Studios knows what they’re doing and Liefeld just needs to have a little patience.
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
