Ryan Reynolds May Have Just Solved Marvel’s Deadpool Problem

Ryan Reynolds has been arguing against another solo Deadpool movie — not against Deadpool returning at all. Speaking at Fanatics Fest this past weekend, Reynolds confirmed a Deadpool 4 is happening and told the audience where he’s pulling from. 

Reynolds said (via Hobby Nonsense on Instagram):

It is a minor point, but it is an important one. What Reynolds is promising is not a more grandiose or epic version of Deadpool, but a weirder one, taken from corners of the comics that three movies (including Deadpool & Wolverine) have not even gotten close to. Not scale for the sake of it and no oodles of cameos (which is a big worry now that the franchise comes under the MCU umbrella).

Deadpool Has Outgrown Solo Adventures

This is an area where Ryan Reynolds has remained pretty consistent with his thoughts on the Deadpool solo movie formula becoming stale. In December 2024, he said that centering the character a fourth time around seemed  “redundant and iterative” to him (via The Hollywood Reporter). His reasoning was that the character only really works if you strip everything away and corner him, and he wasn’t sure that trick survives a repeat.

This is quite a self-aware statement for an actor to make regarding his defining character. It is rare for actors to speak about the demise of their franchises rather than guard the formula, yet Reynolds has done just that.

This also demonstrates that Reynolds is beginning to think like a producer instead of just a star. Rather than wondering how they can make the next film even more successful, he is wondering if there is still creativity left in the franchise, and that is something many superhero franchises do not consider until it is too late.

Earlier this year, however, that pushback showed up once again — when Ryan Reynolds spoke about having “some stuff kind of written” for the character (via Sunday Today), but was wary about committing to a fourth solo film, making his potential contribution more akin to playing second fiddle than leading man. When taken together, those two statements make for less a case of reluctance and more a legitimate thesis statement: Reynolds believes that Deadpool, as an isolated entity, by himself in the middle of the frame, has nowhere left to go. There have been 3 films that played out that particular narrative pattern, and it would be a waste to try and do it all over again.

The Next Deadpool Movie Needs a New Formula

Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine join forces in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) | Credits: Marvel Studios

There is also a sort of practical pressure beneath all this. There have to be more Deadpool movies, because all three entries in the franchise have been successful, both critically and commercially. Deadpool & Wolverine, which (as the title suggests) teamed up Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in 2024, became the highest-grossing R-Rated movie ever made, with $1.3 billion worldwide in ticket sales as of July 2026 (via Box Office Mojo). 

It was also a hit with the critics (77% on the Tomatometer). These numbers create not only an objective but an expectation as well. A fourth movie utilizing the exact same formula (cameos, a team-up, a buddy movie vibe, and so forth) would be pursuing an unreachable ceiling. Comic book material allows Ryan Reynolds to bypass this problem. A truly weird or unsettling story pulled from the comics would create just as much cultural dialogue as a nostalgia-saturated crossover, but for entirely different reasons (mainly surprise).

Equally important, it would help the franchise to take back what it lost over time. The first Deadpool was unpredictable in that no one knew what an R-rated superhero comedy movie entailed. By the third installment, the predictability was in whom else might pop up on screen. Reverting to little-known comics puts the element of surprise back into the story itself.

Oddly enough, the $1.3 billion figure is just as much a trap as it is a blessing. Deadpool movies are some of the best X-Men movies too, and recreating that success is not easy. This puts pressure on studios to play safe and go for cameos, big names, and things like that. That is exactly what this character doesn’t need. It seems that Ryan Reynolds is betting on the very opposite instinct: that going smaller and weirder is the safe path to take.

The Deadpool franchise, summarized:

Solo Deadpool or team-up Deadpool — which version of the character do you actually want next? Drop your take below.