Back in November, a report came out saying that 20th Century Fox was not only already moving forward with plans for a Deadpool 3, but that it would be a film that would essentially be orchestrated around the team of mutants known as X-Force. As it turns out, however, this is entirely false. Deadpool 3 is definitely in very early stages, but it's actually being planned as a film built to operate in contrast to the X-Force movie that is being developed simultaneously. Talking with producer/co-writer Rhett Reese this weekend about Deadpool 2, he told me,
I also think it's working in an expansive way towards X-Force, which will really be more of an ensemble. But then that will allow us to do both an X-Force movie and a Deadpool 3, which actually contracts back down.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Rhett Reese and his writing partner Paul Wernick this past weekend during the press day for their new movie Life, and it was at the end of our conversation that we talked a bit about the follow-ups being planned for their incredibly successful Deadpool movie. One topic of discussion was the implementation of new characters like Domino and Cable alongside the beloved ensemble in the first film, and Reese explained how the character balance within Deadpool 2 is something that will feed into their future work on X-Force.
Following up on the comment made by Rhett Reese above, I specifically asked if that meant X-Force and Deadpool 3 are entirely separate projects, and he confirmed by acknowledging that the former is going to function as a big-time team-up blockbuster, while the latter will be much more scaled down, similar to the 2016 hit. Reese explained,
Yeah, Deadpool 3 will be different from X-Force. So I think we'll be able to take two paths. One is where we're launching something bigger, but then another where we're contracting and staying personal and small. So I think best of all worlds, really.
Some of the most encouraging things we've heard about Deadpool 2 have been about the fact that the filmmakers know that scaling up isn't the best idea for the series, and this is really an excellent extension of that. Those members of the audience craving the opportunity to see the Merc With The Mouth save the world (which has indeed happened a few times in the comics) will have the chance to see just that when he unites with Cable, Domino and others for X-Force; but the character will meanwhile still have another title in his own series to continue the trend of more intimate narratives. This is the exact news that Deadpool fans want to hear.
Of course, the timeline for all of these developments is currently up in the air. While no release date has been set for Deadpool 2 yet, it's been said production could start ramping up before the end of the year. If that's the case, it's not entirely outside the realm of possibility that we could see both Deadpool 3 and X-Force before 2020 (though if that does happen, we hope that it's not because Fox is rushing things).
In the meantime, fans will able to see the next work from Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on the big screen this weekend when Life hits theaters on Friday -- and be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more from my interview with the writers!
