Superheroes stick together. In the aftermath of Sony and Disney failing to come to an agreement to renegotiate terms of its deal that allowed Tom Holland’s Spider-Man to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds came forward to address the situation.
Reynolds’ response to Spider-Man swinging out of the MCU was witty as all get-out – which is to be expected when dealing with the actor whose tongue is firmly planted in his cheek – but it sadly offered fans little comfort in this tumultuous time.
Twitter user @ChaoticKing_ was one of many fans who turned to Reynolds to help save Spider-Man, or at least give them a bit of solace after having their Spidey-loving hearts shattered. Clearly hoping for a silver lining in all the darkness, @ChaoticKing_ asked Reynolds on Twitter whether Spider-Man’s MCU exit could eventually result in a team-up movie with Spider-Man and Deadpool. Reynolds gave a half-humorous, half-heartbreaking response:
“You can. But you can only see it in my heart.”
If fans weren’t sufficiently devastated over the news that Holland’s web-slinging vigilante won’t be able to play on the Marvel Studios playground anymore, Reynolds’ tweet absolutely crushed them. One fan tweeted at Reynolds,
“That’s literally not the response we wanted. We wanted a yes. A big, fat yes. Please and thank you.”
Another fan begged the actor,
“Ryan pls help us.”
Clearly, sorrowful Spider-Man fans are placing a lot of stock in Reynolds’ ability to either roll up his sleeves and duke it out with Sony executives himself, or do some sort of behind-the-scenes string-pulling to get Spider-Man back into Marvel’s movie realm.
As much as we love Reynolds – and as cool as it would be to see his raunchy, hard-R-rated superhero film series collide with Spider-Man’s world – it’s strange that so many people are wanting him to do something about the Sony-Disney split.
Granted, Deadpool is a Marvel Comics character that Marvel Studios hasn’t yet been able to use in the MCU due to rights restrictions – which is a fate that Spider-Man had suffered up until 2015, when Disney and Sony struck a deal to let Holland’s hero character appear in Marvel movies while Sony retained financial, distribution, and creative control. But there’s a lot more at play here, and there’s basically nothing that Reynolds can do to change things.
While Reynolds is one of a few actors who can commiserate with Holland about playing a Marvel character that isn’t allowed in the MCU, there’s a high probability that Reynolds’ Deadpool actually will join the MCU in the future. After Disney bought the majority of 20th Century Fox’s assets in a $71.3 billion deal earlier this year, the House of Mouse acquired a bunch of Marvel Comics characters whose screen rights resided at Fox. Deadpool is one of them – and while nothing has been confirmed by the way of a third Deadpool movie or Wade Wilson’s forthcoming inclusion in the MCU, it seems fairly inevitable.
The Merc with a Mouth made big money at the box office and has helped revolutionize the superhero genre – sparking studio executives to consider giving darker, grittier, and more violent characters their own franchises. Plainly put, Disney and Marvel would be fools not to induct Deadpool into the MCU.
Regardless if that ends up happening, and even if Reynolds never slips back into the red-and-black suit for another Deadpool movie, Deadpool is property of Marvel Studios. Spider-Man isn’t. And now that Sony and Disney have done the corporate equivalent of filing for divorce, it’s virtually impossible for a Deadpool-Spider-Man team-up movie to happen. Reynolds may have a ton of clout in Hollywood and an unmatched presence on social media, but one thing he doesn’t have is the power to squash the beef between two of the biggest entertainment companies in the world.
Wish as we might that it wasn’t so, Peter Parker and Wade Wilson probably won’t ever meet. Like Reynolds, fans will simply have to keep that dream alive in their hearts.
#RyanReynolds #SpiderMan #MCU