Useful information
Prime News delivers timely, accurate news and insights on global events, politics, business, and technology
By Chris Snellgrove | Published
In the very successful Deadpool and Wolverine movie, there’s a funny joke where Merc With the Mouth makes fun of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine character who will appear in Disney’s Marvel movies until the actor playing him is 90 years old. Given that enthusiasm for half of the title characters, many fans assumed we’d get a lot more movies starring everyone’s favorite WHAM-loving hero.
However, Ryan Reynolds recently revealed that he has no plans to make any more Deadpool movies. While most fans are saddened by this statement, the actor is making the best decision for him and Marvel.
Why Ryan Reynolds quits Deadpool
What is the context of this surprising statement behind Disney’s new golden boy? Ryan Reynolds was recently interviewed by Sony Marvel alum Andrew Garfield and they started talking about the possibility of making more Deadpool movies.
To everyone’s surprise, Reynolds questioned the idea of making a fourth Deadpool movie for several reasons, including that he wants to spend more time with his family and that Deadpool works well when there is “scarcity and surprise.” That means he thinks there should be a long wait between movies (like the six-year wait between Deadpool 2 and Deadpool and Wolverine).
Interestingly, Ryan Reynolds seemed to throw indirect shade at Disney when he talked about his willingness to create more Deadpool movies. The comment about the character needing “scarcity and surprise,” for example, seems to point out how the Mouse House likes to tie actors to decade-long contracts and produce as much content as possible. He also stated that he did Deadpool and Wolverine “to be a complete experience rather than a commercial for another,” which seems to highlight Disney’s tendency to make otherwise exciting shows and movies seem like launching pads for the next big thing.
While Ryan Reynolds didn’t completely rule out starring in another Deadpool solo movie, he offered some great insight in between poking fun at Disney. He noted that his character is “much more of a supporting character than a main character” and that Deadpool works better as an “underdog” than a hero. That’s why he said he’d be more excited to be a supporting character in another hero’s movie, and mentioned how much he’d love to play the “fifth banana” in a Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum.
Respect Ryan Reynolds as an artist, he is right about everything
The more I listened to Ryan Reynolds describe why he doesn’t necessarily want to do more Deadpool solo movies, the more I found myself respecting him as an artist. You’re absolutely right about his character’s movies feeling special because we have to wait long periods of time between each entry, and even the biggest Marvel fans have to admit that, if given the chance, executives would produce so many unpleasant appearances from Deadpool as possible to try to sell. toys and Disney+ subscriptions.
In fact, Reynolds could do like Robert Downey Jr. and keep coming back for bigger and bigger paychecks, but he’s making an admirable decision by basically missing out on the easy money to preserve the integrity of his character. Obviously, the Deadpool actor isn’t short of money, but it’s an open secret in Hollywood that being an MCU actor is an easy way to land one high-paying job after another. I can’t help but admire that the actor seems willing to back off for artistic reasons just when he’s in a position to make Disney bend over backwards to issue him a series of oversized checks.
Finally, for all the love Ryan Reynolds clearly has for Deadpool, I’m glad he was able to put his ego aside and realize that his character would be much better used as a sidekick than as a main star. The Merc with a Mouth is a bit like the Hulk in this sense: a character whose individual stories don’t always work out (some of those Deadpool comics are roughall of you) but whose extreme personality is fun for other characters to bounce off of. That’s the real secret behind Deadpool and WolverineThe success. It’s basically an X-Men movie where Deadpool becomes a funny fish out of water.
Ryan Reynolds is right: we don’t need more Deadpool solo movies. We need him as a secret sauce companion who will appear in future MCU adventures. How wonderful it would be for him to finally interact with Spider-Man on screen or steal scenes in Avengers: Judgment Day? The fact that the actor behind the iconic character agrees that he should be a vulgar supporting character instead of endlessly playing a protagonist does something I no longer thought possible: it gives me hope for the future of Marvel cinema.
