“Deadpool 3” just added two key returning cast members to its roster, according to sources close to the project. Brianna Hildebrand and Shioli Kutsuna will reprise as Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Yukio, joining Ryan Reynolds and Morena Baccarin (Deadpool’s love interest who was fridged and then un-fridged during “Deadpool 2”) in the Shawn Levy-directed sequel.
Hugh Jackman will return as Wolverine, joining franchise newbies Emma Corrin and Matthew Macfadyen. Also returning from earlier films will be Karan Soni (Wade Wilson’s preferred cab driver), Leslie Uggams (Wade’s blind roommate), Stefan Kapicic (Colossus) and Rob Delaney (as entirely human X-Force member Peter who was also un-killed at the end of “Deadpool 2”).
The picture, slated for release on November 8, 2024, will be the first in the franchise to be put out by Disney and be produced by Kevin Fiege’s Marvel Studios. While it is expected to keep the same R-rating it may or may not have closer continuity ties to the ongoing MCU.
“Deadpool” stood out from the pack in early 2016, offering a shaggy-dog rom-com mixed in with a hyperviolent and R-rated superhero origin story. The Ryan Reynolds passion project earned a whopping $765 million worldwide from a $58 million budget. Its sequel would earn $782 million on a $110 million budget, a gross that included the PG-13 and slightly revamped “Once Upon a Deadpool” cut, which debuted theatrically in late 2018 and was seen as a test for China (where it grossed $42.5 million) and other more restrictive territories.
Disney’s purchase of Fox in 2019 meant that the R-rated superhero franchise that previously stood as a contrast or alternative to the MCU is now joining the club. One presumes Feige knows not to mess with what has worked in the past, so “Deadpool 3” will mostly be whatever Levy and Reynolds want it to be.
Moreover, with most of the properties Disney got from Fox fizzling out – Disney+ whiffs like “Home Sweet Home Alone,” “Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again,” and “The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild” — “Deadpool” and the Ryan Reynolds-starring “Free Guy” are among the only outright winners from the Fox vault save for “Avatar,” “The Simpsons” and (hopefully) “Planet of the Apes.”
Amusingly enough, if Hildebrand and Kutsuna’s young mutants have not broken up between movies, “Deadpool 3” will feature, by default and corporate consolidation, the first same-sex couple in the MCU, since “Deadpool 2” opened three years before “Eternals.” Since that David Leitch-directed sequel cost just $110 million, it was another example of how franchise flicks or stand-alone features (like “Love Simon,” “Blockers” and “Truth or Dare,” which all opened within a month or two of “Deadpool 2”) that didn’t depend on breaking records to break even could be more inclusive than $250 million tentpoles.
Deadline initially reported this news
