Confirmed - ‘Deadpool 3’ Is an MCU Movie; Teases R-Rating and When It’s Filming

There were a lot of questions that arose when Disney bought 20th Century Fox, but one big question Marvel fans had was about the future of the Deadpool franchise. Only just a few short years ago, the low-budget, R-rated superhero movie paid off for Fox in a big way, becoming its most prized superhero property. A sequel was immediately greenlit, but the victory lap was short-lived as Disney swooped in and Fox’s future Deadpool plans were put on hold.

Clearly Disney wouldn’t throw away a franchise and character as valuable as Deadpool, but questions remained regarding how the R-rated property would fit into the exclusively PG-13 box of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Well as it turns out, pretty neatly.

Collider’s own Steve Weintraub recently spoke with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige in anticipation of Marvel’s first Disney+ series WandaVision, and during their conversation Feige gave a promising update on Deadpool 3, revealed when filming will begin, and most importantly, confirmed the sequel will be part of the MCU.

That’s right. When Deadpool 3 happens, it won’t be as some tangentially related property with a couple of jokes about the MCU. Ryan Reynolds’ foul-mouthed mercenary is officially joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe – and he’ll be keeping his R-rating. Feige said sisters Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin and Wendy Molyneux are hard at work on the script with Reynolds overseeing, but Deadpool 3 filming won’t begin until 2022 at the earliest:

“It will be rated R and we are working on a script right now, and Ryan’s overseeing a script right now… It will not be [filming] this year. Ryan is a very busy, very successful actor. We’ve got a number of things we’ve already announced that we now have to make, but it’s exciting for it to have begun. Again, a very different type of character in the MCU, and Ryan is a force of nature, which is just awesome to see him bring that character to life.”

This is an exciting update. Obviously Feige and Co. have their hands full production-wise, as they’re in the midst of filming Thor 4 and Spider-Man 3, and this year will also begin filming Doctor Strange 2, Black Panther 2, and Captain Marvel 2. So Deadpool 3 won’t be hopping onto the dance card until 2022, meaning the film probably won’t hit theaters until 2023 at the earliest.

But that doesn’t mean we won’t see Deadpool before then. Given the character’s meta-textual nature and Marvel’s knack for cameos, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the character at some point this year or next in one of Marvel’s many films and TV shows.

WandaVision premieres on Disney+ on January 15th, but there's much more where that came from. Feige also told us about the upcoming Secret Invasion series and revealed that shows like Loki and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will have longer episodes than some other Disney+ Marvel shows. (Source - collider.com)