Bringing Deadpool into the Marvel Cinematic Universe was always going to be a big deal. The character was the most successful and one of the most popular among the Fox/Marvel properties by a mile, so bringing him into the MCU was a no-brainer. But that doesn’t mean that figuring out how to do it was easy.
It’s been five years since Disney bought Fox, so it clearly took a while to figure out just how to make Deadpool 3. While adding Wolverine was a clear win, in the new Marvel Assembled documentary for Deadpool & Wolverine (available with a Disney+ subscription) producer Wendy Jacobson reveals some of the other concepts that were considered. And they were wild, as she explained…
I was going through my notes the other day looking at stuff. We had some crazy ideas. At one point we talked about a frame-for-frame remake of Thor 2, up until the midpoint, with Deadpool in it, and then it would go to another place. We had Deadpool’s Deleted Scenes Extravaganza, we were going to try and show that he was in the MCU the whole time, you just didn’t see his scenes because they were all on the cutting room floor. We were really trying to figure out what was the reason for this movie to be.
Needless to say, a remake of Thor: The Dark World (a movie that is regarded by more than a few as the low point of the MCU) would have been wild. Although one wonders if that idea is what led to the scene of Thor crying that would eventually have Deadpool so curious, considering it bears a resemblance to Loki’s “death” scene in the movie.
And these weren’t the only other options. The documentary shows other concepts that appear to have been legit. They include Deadpool and the Tramp which would have showcased Deadpool and Peter and Deadpool Fiction which would have been a movie for Deadpool and Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury. Reynolds also says he pitched Deadpool 3 as a Sundance movie, which would have had zero action and almost no budget.
It seems that part of the reason that they didn’t simply call the new movie Deadpool 3 is that the idea of doing a third film that was a standalone vehicle for Deadpool was the one thing that was never an option. Deadpool in the MCU needed to have a reason to exist beyond its likely box office success.
Luckily, that reason was found. Hugh Jackman says later during the Assembled documentary that, while he had been serious about leaving Wolverine after Logan, he was the one who decided that he wanted to do a Deadpool film. The decision came at the right time as Reynolds indicates he was running out of ideas and thought he was on his “last pitch.”
And it all worked out quite nicely. Deadpool & Wolverine is now the highest grossing live-action movie of the year. It’s brought the Marvel Cinematic Universe back to its place at the top of movie world. It seems unlikely a remake of Thor: The Dark World would have done as well.
