The Taylor Swift as Dazzler rumors first began when the singer's likeness was used for the musical mutant's album cover in X-Men: Apocalypse. Nothing ever came of it back then, but the rumors persisted, and speculation really kicked into overdrive when the pop megastar was spotted at the Kansas City Chiefs versus New York Jets game with Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy and stars Ryan Reynolds (Wade Wilson) and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) earlier this month.
Levy was asked about the Dazzler rumors during a recent interview, and declined to confirm or deny Swift's involvement in the R-rated threequel.
“I’m going across the board. ‘No comment’ because that’s a double whammy. That’s Taylor-related. And it’s MCU-related. I’m no dummy. You’re going to have to wait and see.”
Now, reliable insider MTTSH is claiming that Swift will indeed appear in Deadpool 3, but won't be playing Dazzler!
It would seem like a huge missed opportunity to cast Swift as anyone other than Alison Blair, but there's always a chance she won't actually be playing a character at all. From what we can gather, the Merc With a Mouth will be doing a lot of leaping around various different timelines and realities in this movie, so if Swift really does have a role, a cameo appearance as herself is a decent possibility.
UPDATE: MTTSH has now follow-up by claiming that Swift will indeed play herself in the movie.
It'll probably be a while before we find out one way or the other, because there's a chance Deadpool 3 will be pushed back from its scheduled 2024 release date.
“I wish I knew. I don’t even know if we officially have [a release date]," Levy said when asked for a status update. "I know we were gonna be May 3. Certainly, the actors’ strike and the long pause in production have put that release date in true risk. We’ve shot half the movie. I’ve edited half the movie. We’re dying to get back to work and get this movie out next year.”
So far, the only confirmed cameo is Jennifer Garner's Elektra, but if she's involved, you can bet that at least some of the other names we heard will also be showing up.
Morena Baccarin (Vanessa), Karan Soni (Dopinder), Leslie Uggams (Blind Al), Rob Delaney (Peter), Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead) And Shioli Kutsuna (Yukio) will all return as their respective characters, and they'll be joined by franchise newcomers Emma Corrin (The Crown), who is believed to be playing Cassandra Nova, and Matthew Macfadyen (Succession).
Specific plot details remain a mystery for now, but Wade and Wolvie are expected to find themselves (trapped?) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A recent report claimed that Loki's TVA, including Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Miss Minutes, will be involved.
We have also been led to believe that Wade's MCU debut will be far more integral to Phase 5 and beyond than we first realized.