It looks as though the three Deadpool movies will have three different directors. After Tim Miller made Deadpool in 2016, and David Leitch stepped into the director’s chair for Deadpool 2 (2018), The Hollywood Reporter states that Deadpool 3 will be helmed by frequent Ryan Reynolds collaborator Shawn Levy.
Levy directed Reynolds in Free Guy in 2021, and also in The Adam Project which has landed on Netflix on March 11, 2022. Levy is also a director on Stranger Things, alongside the Duffer Brothers. He previously directed the Night at the Museum trilogy, the Pink Panther reboot starring Steve Martin, Cheaper by the Dozen (also with Martin), Date Night, Real Steel and The Internship.
Deadpool as a property has been in a kind of limbo since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, who owns the rights to the X-Men. Deadpool is a kind of off-shoot of X-Men. As Disney already owns the MCU, both X-Men and Deadpool could be enveloped into that cinematic universe. Although it’s not that easy in Deadpool’s case, due to the foul-mouthed, R-rated nature of the character.
The first two Deadpool movies grossed over $780 million at the box office each. They demonstrated an appetite for raunchy, sweary and ultra-violent superhero movies. The Netflix Marvel shows, which are similarly R-rated, have just been added to Disney Plus, showing a willingness by the mouse house to acknowledge the more adult end of one their big money-spinners.
Now that Spider-Man and X-Men are potentially part of the MCU, along with other characters such as Venom and Deadpool, the possibilities are being thrown wider open than ever. You have to keep your eyes open, because you never know who is going to pop up in post-credits cameo next.
Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick will return to writer the threequel. If you’re trying to wrap your head around all things Marvel, check out our guide to Marvel Phase 4.