Remember when Ryan Reynolds basically told us Deadpool was done headlining his own movies? Yeah, about that.
Deadpool & Wolverine turned into one of the biggest Marvel wins in years when it hit theaters in 2024, becoming the first R-rated film to carry the Marvel Studios banner and pulling in over $1.3 billion at the global box office. That’s a massive number for a franchise that had just come off the one-two punch of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels underperforming in 2023.
A lot of the credit goes to Reynolds and Hugh Jackman finally sharing the screen as Deadpool and Wolverine after years of fans begging for it, plus a script that leaned hard into the raunchy humor that made the character work in the first place.
So naturally, everyone assumed Deadpool would show up somewhere in Avengers: Doomsday, right? Not so fast. As of now, neither Deadpool nor Wolverine has been officially confirmed for the film, which is set to arrive December 18, 2026, with a cast list that already includes Robert Downey Jr. stepping into Doctor Doom, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers, and new faces from the Fantastic Four and Thunderbolts* movies. There have been rumors swirling about Jackman’s Wolverine and even Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man possibly popping up, but Marvel hasn’t confirmed any of it.
And then there’s what Reynolds himself said, which seemed to throw cold water on the idea of Deadpool leading anything else. Speaking on TODAY Sunday Sitdown Live earlier this year, he made it pretty clear he sees the character differently now.
“I don’t think I’m going to center [Deadpool] again,” Reynolds said. “I think he’s a supporting character, you know? He’s a guy that’s great in a group.”
That tracks with comments he made back in 2024 to The Hollywood Reporter, right after Deadpool & Wolverine hit theaters, where he explained why doing another solo movie just didn’t sit right with him.
“Centering Deadpool works best if you take everything away from him and put his back against the wall. I can’t really do that again. A fourth time feels a little iterative and redundant,” Reynolds said. “That doesn’t mean sacrificing fun. There is still an arc for Deadpool, which is fulfilling and powerful.”
His whole philosophy on the character seems to be that Deadpool works best as the guy on the outside looking in, tagging along with the Avengers or X-Men without ever really being one of them.
“I think Deadpool works so well appearing with the X-Men and Avengers, but he always needs to stay an outsider. His ultimate dream is to be accepted and appreciated. But he can’t be accepted,” Reynolds said. “His coping mechanism of deflecting shame through humor works only when used to pave over his many inadequacies. If and when he does become an Avenger or X-Man, we’re at the end of his journey.”
Read between the lines, and it sounds like Reynolds was setting Deadpool up as more of a scene-stealer than a headliner once the MCU moves past Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027 and into whatever mutant-focused era comes next.
Except now Reynolds has gone and complicated his own narrative.
So Wait, Is There Actually a Deadpool 4?
At Fanatics Fest 2026, Reynolds dropped the kind of comment that sends fan forums into overdrive: a fourth Deadpool movie is genuinely in the works, even if it’s still in the very early stages.
“There’s a few really deep cuts that I think are missing behind the movies. I think there’s a few deep cuts missing from some of the comics. There’s certainly some stuff that, you know, I love that Fabian Nicieza [co-creator of Deadpool] wrote that is incredible. Gerry Duggan, who was a friend, was an incredible comic writer,” Reynolds said during a panel at the event (via Deadline). “There’s stuff upcoming. There’s eventually, you know, remotely another Deadpool film. It’s going to be great.”
Here’s the thing: a fourth Deadpool movie doesn’t automatically mean a direct sequel to Deadpool & Wolverine, and it definitely doesn’t rule out Wade Wilson showing up as a supporting player somewhere else in Phase Six. Marvel still has a handful of untitled release dates on the calendar with nothing attached to them yet, so there’s room for both.
But if you take Reynolds at his word here, it sounds like the Merc with a Mouth isn’t fading into the background just yet. He might just remain exactly what he’s been since 2016: the guy front and center, even when Marvel keeps saying otherwise.
What do you think — is Marvel setting up Deadpool 4 as a true solo sequel, or will Wade Wilson be popping up as comic relief in someone else’s movie first? Sound off in the comments.
