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Lately, Marvel has been sinking into plotholes of its own making and it is planning to temporarily shift (not fix or resolve) one of its errors with Deadpool 3’s release in 2024.
Like the many levels of hype Deadpool 3 has crossed — with it joining the MCU to bringing Hugh Jackman in as Wolverine to giving him a comic book-accurate costume — its release date has shuffled around just as much. But both the writers’ strike and the SAG-AFTRA strike are now over, allowing the film to complete its production without compromising on the extra layer of wonder glitter Ryan Reynolds loves to add to his films’ scripts.
But as per a recent rumor, the studio is heavily relying on the film being an absolute success at the box office and saving Marvel’s grace in 2024 single-handedly. Evidently, that’s the reason behind it being next year’s only MCU film.
Now, that’s an enormous responsibility where the upcoming Deadpool sequel is like the non-toxic, kind boyfriend left with healing the trauma he didn’t cause in the first place. But that dark personal introspection aside and the connection it shares with Marvel’s steady decline of late, expecting Reynolds and Jackman to be the franchise’s lifeline ain’t that much of a stretch. The first two films were stellar and the combined force of the two actors, whom MCU fans have been desperately hoping to see together as the foul-mouthed mercenary and the clawed mutant, is bound to be a box office winner even if Marvel Quantumanias the hell out of Deadpool 3.
Reportedly this is the reason the previously officially (Captain America 4 and Fantastic Four) confirmed releases have been shifted. And that what has us — and eventually the rest of the MCU — in a pickle is what it would mean for 2025.
Marvel has been called out for being greedy and churning out content faster than the fandom can digest while paying no heed to maintain quality in its race to amp up the quantity. But keeping its releases to a minimum in 2024 — the already expected-to-fail Echo and the mildly interesting Agatha being the only major shows — the studio is temporarily halting its breakneck speed, only to dump it all on 2025.
Unless there is yet another reshuffle of release dates, 2025 will see four Marvel films — Captain America: Brave New World, Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts, and Blade — set to release within months of each other’s theatrical debut. This means no time for the studio to properly hype a film or promote it. Add any last-minute reshoots — which have become inevitable these days — and we better get ready for haphazardly put-together conclusions and more minion buttocks frolicking across the silver screen.
While we know that “absence makes the heart grow fonder,” Marvel has actively experienced how its over-saturated presence has made formerly trusting hearts cynical and critical. As for Wade Wilson’s next appearance — in the hands of the PG-13 Marvel, Deadpool 3 was already running the risk of not letting its foul-mouthed antihero employ the freedom he previously enjoyed. As the expectations of the studio and the fans from the film keep soaring, it will probably have to outmatch the entirety of Phase 4 and what we have seen of Phase 5 so far to make a noticeable dent. And on the off chance that it doesn’t, guess who will be left to reap the consequences of the after-effects — yep, 2025.