The Shang-Chi concept artist who drew Deadpool fighting Proxima Midnight has explained the origins of the painting, and it’s bad news if you thought the Merc’ With A Mouth was about to join the MCU anytime soon. The painting depicts Wade Wilson battling Thanos’s henchman in Shang-Chi’s sister, Xialing’s underground fighting ring.
Fans immediately began to speculate if this meant Deadpool had been meant to cameo in the action movie. Unfortunately, the artist who drew the piece, Andrew Kim, has come forward and said that he’s sorry to disappoint people, but that was never the case.
“Well, long story short, sorry to disappoint you, but there was no involvement of Deadpool or Proxima in the early going,” Kim told Chatter Box Film. “When I was designing the fight club, my PD mentioned to me that we could see other Marvel characters fighting in the ring when we first revealed the scene. Deadpool and Proxima was my idea to put in as I thought their dynamic fighting styles could be a perfect fit in the ring like that. (you know, they don’t fly…haha) And Deadpool’s red was a nice pop against the bluish background.”
We’re hardly surprised to hear Deadpool wasn’t going to be in the movie. The biggest hint that it was just concept art should have been that Proxima Midnight was Deadpool’s opponent.
The last time we saw Proxima Midnight, she was being erased from existence by the Infinity Stones. Listen, we know death is a revolving door in the Marvel Universe, but it’s difficult to ‘get better’ from being atomised.
This isn’t the first time concept art has explored some wild concepts. Ryan Meinerding, the creative director of visual development at Marvel Studios, once shared some of his initial designs for Spider-Man’s suit in Homecoming.
One design bore a startling resemblance to the suit worn by the Superior Spider-Man, but we doubt anyone at Marvel ever planned on Docotr Octopus stealing Peter Parker’s body in his first MCU movie.
If you are excited to see Deadpool join the MCU; check out our guide on the best X-Men characters or our guide on Doctor Strange 2, which may feature a certain mutant headteacher.