When Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, that meant Marvel Studios finally scored access to the X-Men and Fantastic Four. So naturally, the plan is for these properties to be rebooted for the Marvel Cinematic Universe… with one exception. The Mouse House is still keen on keeping Ryan Reynolds around as Deadpool, and word’s come in that Deadpool 3 has finally made some significant progress by hiring scriptwriters.
Bob’s Burgers fans, rejoice, as Deadline is reporting that writers Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin have boarded Deadpool 3. The outlet mentioned that Ryan Reynolds has been meeting with writers over the last month to hear their pitches for the threequel. Ultimately, Reynolds and Disney thought the sisters were a great fit for Deadpool 3, so they’ll be handling screenplay duties.
Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin succeed Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who wrote the first Deadpool movie on their own and co-wrote the sequel with Ryan Reynolds. It’s unclear if Reynolds will also assist Molyneux and Molyneux-Loeglin with the Deadpool 3 script, although given how much this character/property means to him, one would imagine him at least giving them some notes. Along with being writers and executive producers on Bob’s Burgers, the sisters are also the creators of the new Fox series The Great North, while their film credits include the upcoming adaptation of the book The People We Hate At The Wedding and the female-centric 21 Jump Street spinoff in development, which is reportedly titled Jump Street: Now For Her Pleasure.
Along with both Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin confirming on social media that they’re working on Deadpool 3, the main Deadpool account amusingly commented on their involvement with the following tweet:
Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld also commented on the hiring thusly:
Rob Liefeld has a point. Even ignoring how the current health crisis has wreaked havoc on the filmmaking industry, as things stand now, the earliest Marvel Studios release date that hasn’t been taken (at least publicly) is October 7, 2022. Following that, there are four open slots in 2023, and given that Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin were only recently hired for Deadpool 3, it’s probably a safer bet that the threequel won’t arrive until that year, rather than be rushed for late 2022. Assuming that’s the case, by the time Deadpool 3 arrives, it’ll have been roughly five years since Deadpool 2’s release.
Deadpool 3 has been in the works since late 2016; back when 20th Century Fox was still a separate film stdio, the plan was to deliver both the threequel and have Deadpool appear in an X-Force spinoff. However, following the merger with Disney, it doesn’t look like X-Force is happening anymore, but Disney is still keen on keeping Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool around. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in April 2019 that Disney’s then-CEO Bob Iger told him to take an “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” approach with the character, and last December, Reynolds said the threequel was in the midst of development.
While Marvel Studios wants to tackle the X-Men with a clean slate, because of Deadpool’s fourth wall-breaking nature, it’s easy enough to bring back Ryan Reynolds as the Merc with the Mouth. Frankly, I’d be disappointed if he didn’t poke fun at the MCU and Disney of it all during Deadpool 3, though it’d be even better if some MCU heroes were able to cameo. Whether or not supporting characters from the Deadpool movies will return, such as Morena Baccarin’s Vanessa, Josh Brolin’s Cable and Zazie Beetz’s Domino, remains to be seen.
Deadline’s sources also say that like the first two Deadpool movies, Deadpool 3 is expected to be R-rated. This is intriguing considering how Marvel Studios has thus far only churned out PG-13 movies, not to mention there’s already been some experimentation with a PG-13 cinematic Deadpool story thanks to Once Upon a Deadpool. But as indicated earlier, evidently Disney wisely doesn’t want to mess with something that’s already working incredibly well. David Leitch, who helmed Deadpool 2, also isn’t expected to return for Deadpool 3 due to his busy schedule, so the search for a new director is underway.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on how Deadpool 3 is coming along. Be sure to browse through our Marvel movies guide to learn what else the MCU has coming down the creative pipeline.
