It might be a while before we get to Deadpool 3, but when we do, it should feature Deadpool killing the rest of the Fox Marvel X-Men universe. Coming off the success of the first two Deadpool movies, the current plan is to pivot slightly to instead make a film about X-Force (but not the same as the actual X-Force movie), the team Deadpool and Cable were heavily associated with in the ’90s. It’s a smart play, since it allows them to flesh out this part of Fox’s X-Men universe while still including Wade Wilson, and make sure his schtick as the fourth-wall-breaking, convention-subverting superhero doesn’t get tired.
But since that’ll carry on the X-Force storyline begun in Deadpool 2, where does that leave a big Deadpool trilogy-ender? The demand for the Merc With A Mouth surely won’t be satiated with being a mere co-star among a selection of other heroes, and X-Force is the place where the themes of family and being heroic will get developed. The latter, though it sounds troubling, is actually a blessing, because it frees up Reynolds and co. to explore Wade’s dark side in what’d be the biggest and bravest move yet: adapt ‘Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe’ as ‘Deadpool Kills The X-Men Universe’.
It’d be tricky to pull off, but they’d be making a film nobody else could ever touch and they’d be showing audiences the fullest extent of what Deadpool is capable of as a character. Wade Wilson’s a vigilante as much as he is a hero, if not more so, and there’s a darkness to that that having him mow through Fox’s cinematic universe would display, complete with the inherent and intense satire of the premise.
- This Page: It’s A Big Story Only Deadpool Can Do Page 2: It’s The Perfect Reset For The X-Men Movies
It’s A Big Story Only Deadpool Can Do
The red-and-black spandexed mercenary is unique to the comic book movie landscape. No one other character has the kind of storytelling power he does. There’s so much he’s capable of that his movies have only really scratched the surface. He can bounce through timelines and dimensions and mediums without so much as a second look, and he does it all with a wry smile to the audience, like he’s always in control of his surroundings, even though quite often nothing could be further from the truth.
Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe is one of the greatest examples of the kind of extremes the character can be written for. Written by Cullen Bunn and drawn by Dalibor Talajic, as the name implies, he goes on a killing spree throughout the Marvel comic book universe, killing a selection of the most prominent and famous heroes before eventually turning his sights on the authors themselves and moving to murder them too. It’s classic Deadpool delivered in an appropriately sinister, apathetic fashion that deconstructs and plays with the medium.
Obviously killing the entire Marvel universe isn’t an option because this isn’t the MCU, and even if it was, no way is Deadpool going to be allowed murder Tony Stark in a movie. Not now, probably not ever (though a meeting with Chris Evans’ Captain America sounds good to his writers). But the X-Men cinematic universe, that’s totally negotiable. Fox themselves have been flippant with the production of these films, creating a timeline that makes absolutely no sense across two full trilogies and a selection of spinoffs. Two of them are among the least regarded comic book adaptations ever made anyway, and the franchise has died a death with fans on more than one occasion, Hugh Jackman single-handedly keeping them afloat through iteration after iteration.
That creates an interesting proposition for the one hero who’s allowed enter any timeline, dimension, or previous installment he likes. The post-credits for Deadpool 2 have already broken this barrier, having him kill the Deadpool from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and then go one further and pop a bullet in the head of Ryan Reynolds before he could make Green Lantern. The precedent is there for the new and improved Wilson to carve his way through X-Men’s cinematic history and then take it to the next level.
And the idea is made more viable by the regard of the franchise to fans – seeing them all get sliced-and-diced would be welcome catharsis from the difficult treatment Fox has given the X-Men from day one. There’s no love lost, and thus Ryan Reynolds and whoever writes it – presumably Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick – can do whatever they want. It’s a unique crossroads where a popular character has the power to just slaughter their series forebear and the audience would lap it all up without a second thought.
Page 2: It’s The Perfect Reset For The X-Men Movies
It’s The Perfect Reset For The X-Men Movies
Nobody is sure what’s going on with the X-Men continuity. You’d think that the films, being linear, would have an easier time than the comics keeping the wherewithal of the X-Men in some sort of order, but alas, they have not. After the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix, there’ll likely be another soft reboot that changes a few actors, moves to a different decade, or both. And that’s if Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters isn’t back under the Disney umbrella with plans to integrate them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe underway.
The X-films could do with a cleanse of their past sins to bring them out from the baggage of previous failures. Part of why Logan was so effective is that it acknowledged that the best way for the series to move on is for a clean slate, with a new cast and a new direction and fresh voices. Hugh Jackman was far and away the most valued member of those involved in the first X-Men pictures and he’s already had his big send-off. An attempt at similar with the rest just won’t have anywhere near the same effect, coming off as melodramatic rather than deeply moving.
Getting a hole torn through them by Deadpool would make for a big finish that has audiences talking and one that levels the playing field for a new creative outlook. The idea here is that key scenes would be replicated, with performers returning to reprise their roles, and then the katana-wielding mercenary would interrupt and slaughter everyone in some ridiculous fashion. So there’s a nostalgic slideshow built into the very structure of the work, it’s just swiftly followed by Deadpool tearing each snapshot up one-by-one.
Actors wouldn’t be needed for any more than a day or two of work for most scenes, as they’d be replaced by stunt doubles or CGI for the big action when Deadpool does his thing. Considering the meticulous detail Reynolds, Reese and Wernick and their directors have put into the Deadpool movies already, and with a comparatively smaller budget than their contemporaries, none of this would be beyond them. They even managed to get Brad Pitt into one of these things for a cameo, and Matt Damon too. They’re clearly dedicated to finding ways and means to maximize the jokes and surprise appearances for these productions. And for those that can’t show up, special effects and some effective editing can work wonders.
The Disney acquisition does make the very idea of this complex because, if it goes through, the proximity of Deadpool and his R-rated wonderland to everyone else is a question mark. Deadpool himself will be fine because he makes money and can be kept in a neutral position to surrounding heroes. Cablo, Domino and the X-Force can generally live with him too. But inter-mingling with the X-Men, a banner Marvel team who’ll be marketed hard towards a family audience under Disney’s watch, likely with direct ties to the Avengers initiative? That’s going to be a hard sell to Marvel Studios, who’d rather not have to worry about traumatizing the seven-year-olds that frequent MCU releases.
On the other hand, this could be the swansong everyone looks for to put a cap on what Xavier’s team were before they settle into their new home on the Disney lot. The audience would be predominantly people who grew up with Bryan Singer’s version anyway and the Deadpool-heavy marketing would allow them to keep it from seeming like an X-Men film in and of itself. The people that were there to usher in this generation of silver screen mutants will get their goodbye before a new generation gets to see a complete Marvel cinematic landscape.
If Deadpool 2 is anything to go by, Deadpool 3 will be something to behold regardless, but seeing him take the entire universe down literally in the same way he’s come to over-shadow would really be something special. And who knows, it might even tempt Hugh Jackman back for that fight everyone’s dreaming of.
- X-Men: Dark Phoenix Release Date: 2019-06-07 New Mutants Release Date: 2020-08-28
