Ryan Reynolds finally made his triumphant MCU debut as Wade Wilson in Deadpool & Wolverine. Despite the film’s overwhelming success, Reynolds believes the third Deadpool film will likely be the character’s last standalone adventure.
Reynolds recently sat down with Andrew Garfield for Variety’s Actors on Actors. One of the conversation topics revolved around Deadpool’s future in Marvel. Surprisingly, Reynolds believes the Merc with a Mouth will be a supporting hero in future MCU movies.
“I see Deadpool as a supporting character much more than he is a main [character] or at the center,” Reynolds told Garfield. “We center him sometimes because […] that’s what they want. But you can’t center him unless you take everything away from him. You have to create a situation where he’s so much the underdog. And I don’t think I can do that again. If he comes back, I think he’s going to be in someone else’s movie. Channing Tatum is so excited to play Gambit, I would happily be the fifth banana in his movie or anybody else’s.”
Deadpool & Wolverine featured a team-up between Reynolds’ Deadpool and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in a multiversal adventure. The two unlikely allies joined forces to save Wade’s universe from destruction. Released in July 2024, Deadpool & Wolverine shattered box office projections on its way to a worldwide haul of $1.3 billion, the new record for an R-rated film.
Deadpool 4 has not been greenlit as of December 2024. Because of the third film’s historic success, it’s safe to assume Marvel is interested in more Deadpool projects. However, Reynolds remains unsure about his future playing the character and praises Deadpool & Wolverine for being a “complete experience” instead of one that sets up another entry in the franchise.
“I have four kids, and I don’t ever want to be on a first-name basis with any of them. I don’t ever want to be absentee and miss stuff. I, like, kind of die inside when I see their face and they have a competition, or a sports thing, or something, and I missed it,” explained Reynolds. “So I don’t know what the future of Deadpool will be, but Shawn [Levy] and I made the movie to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and be a complete experience instead of a commercial for another one. I think it’s important, sometimes, to make space for a movie to just be a movie.”
Deadpool & Wolverine is now streaming on Disney+.