Kevin Feige Just Gave MCU Fans The Deadpool 3 News They've Been Waiting For

Let us take you back to March of 2019. The world trembles beneath Mickey Mouse's feet once again as Disney confirms its multi-billion dollar acquisition of Fox Entertainment. Nerds in the know rejoice at learning that staples of Marvel Comics will now fall under the umbrella of Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, filling out an already impressive roster with household names like the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and... Deadpool.

That last one feels problematic, right? Deadpool managed to gun down box office expectations back in 2016 thanks in large part to its brash, unapologetically adult tone and language, a theme that the filmmakers doubled down on in 2018's Deadpool 2. Even the ad campaigns for the franchise push the boundaries of what's acceptable — for receipts, try hanging a poster from either film up in the staff lounge and see how long it takes for HR to send out a company-wide memo. Again.

Yes, Deadpool feels like a tough franchise to reimagine in PG-13 format, and fans agree that it would be comic book sacrilege to even consider rebooting the series. Luckily, MCU overlord Kevin Feige continued his years-long tradition of understanding that you shouldn't bite the hand that feeds you this week, as illustrated in an interview with Collider. Generally tight-lipped when asked about upcoming Marvel projects, he chose in this case to be forthright about plans for Deadpool 3, letting fans know not only that it's in the works, but more importantly, that they'd still need to hire a babysitter if they want to see it in theaters.

"[Deadpool 3] will be rated R and we are working on a script right now, and Ryan's overseeing a script right now," Feige told Collider. "It will not be [filming] this year. Ryan is a very busy, very successful actor. We've got a number of things we've already announced that we now have to make, but it's exciting for it to have begun."

That's right: if the current slate of Marvel offerings holds firm, the now-confirmed Deadpool threequel will represent the first R-rated entry in the MCU proper. Even more excitingly, we now know for sure that Ryan Reynolds is attached to the project, bringing his trademark read on the Merc with a Mouth to Disney's most unstoppable cinematic universe.

Obviously, at this early point in production, there aren't any details on the story readily available, but it's unquestionably true that a hard-R movie will shift the tone of the MCU in a big way. Chopping off Thanos' arm would've had a different thematic mouthfeel if his stump had been gushing purple blood, and the airport fight from Civil War would've probably been a lot grimmer with an unkillable assassin firing live rounds. The race to see whether Wade or Rocket gets to drop the franchise's first F-bomb is on, friends.