Rob Liefeld isn’t happy with Marvel Studios and the company’s plan for the next couple of years, and he doesn’t have much faith in “Black Widow,” “Eternals,” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” It’s not because those films are likely to be bad, but because they’re not “Deadpool 3.” And according to the character’s creator, Marvel Studios should be making Ryan Reynolds’ sequel a priority instead of doing nothing.
The Deadpool creator spoke to Inverse (via /Film) and said that he believes that Marvel Studios currently has “zero” plans to make a “Deadpool 3” at this point.
“I don’t know,” said Liefeld. “Here’s what people don’t want to hear, but thank God I’m a realist. I feel like ‘Deadpool,’ the movies, they’ve set sail. We got two brilliant movies, and we live in a culture that always looks forward because all they’re ever selling us is ‘next, next, next.’ It’s the fever. For me, as the fever calms down, people just need to calm down and realize that ‘Deadpool 1’ and ‘2’ were released within two years of each other, 2016 and 2018, and I just can’t… I’m not really that crazy about Marvel’s plan right now.”
In regards to the “plan” that he sees for Phase 4, Liefeld is critical of the direction of putting forth new franchises like “Eternals,” “Black Widow,” and ‘Shang-Chi,’ when the studio has the rights to “Deadpool” and is doing nothing with it.
“It’s the first time I go, ‘Hey, [Kevin] Feige, did you even have a plan?’” said Liefeld. “Your plan was ‘Eternals’ and ‘Shang-Chi?’ That was your plan? And ‘Black Widow?’ So they close the door, Chris Evans says goodbye, Robert Downey Jr. says goodbye, Black Widow falls off a cliff says goodbye, they almost lose Tom Holland to Sony… but you’re a genius, Marvel, you’re a genius.”
Obviously, in the case of Liefeld, he wants to see his creation have even more success on the big screen. However, as Feige has said time and time again, the plans were in motion for Phase 4 years ago, before Fox and Disney struck a deal. And it’s clear that the Marvel Studios boss isn’t ready to rush into a new ‘Deadpool’ sequel without figuring out the way to do it correctly.
And though Liefeld might not see the worth in “Eternals,” ‘Shang-Chi,’ and “Black Widow,” those three films, in particular, also make good on Feige’s promise to diversify the Marvel Cinematic Universe both in front of, and behind, the camera. Perhaps those aren’t necessarily the biggest Marvel properties around, but like “Black Panther” and “Captain Marvel” before them, there’s no telling how much money they can make at the box office.
Also, who’s to say that a break from “Deadpool” films isn’t a good thing? We got the first two films two years apart and the character was on the brink of oversaturation. Why not take a break and let fans miss him so that when Ryan Reynolds returns to the character, there’s a big desire to see the Merc with a Mouth on the big screen again?
With the way that Marvel Studios has the next two years planned out, it would appear that the earliest we would see “Deadpool 3” would be 2023.