Deadpool & Wolverine is one of 2024's biggest movies but, as we write this, there are no confirmed plans for Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in the MCU.
Both characters returning in Avengers: Doomsday and/or Avengers: Secret Wars seems a given but Marvel Studios and Disney must be eager for Deadpool 4, particularly if it too breaks all those box office records after what's proven to be a tough few years for superhero movies.
In conversation with Andrew Garfield for Variety's Actors on Actors, Reynolds was asked by the Spider-Man actor what the future holds in store for the Merc with the Mouth.
"I don’t know. Honestly, my feeling is that the character works very well in two ways. One is scarcity and surprise," he explained. "So it had been six years since the last one, and part of the reason is that it swallows my whole life. I have four kids, and I don’t ever want to be an absentee [dad]."
"I kind of die inside when I see their faces and they do a sports thing or something and I missed it," Reynolds continued. "I don’t know what the future of 'Deadpool' will be, but I do know that we made the movie to be a complete experience instead of a commercial for another one."
With that, the actor seemed to close the door on Deadpool 4 by sharing his belief that Wade Wilson is likely better suited to being a supporting character in any future movies.
"Deadpool's a supporting character much more than he is the centre," Reynolds started. "We centre him sometimes because that's what they want but you can't centre him unless you take everything away from him. You have to create a situation where he's so much the underdog. I don't think I can do that again.
"If he comes back, it’s gonna be in someone else’s movie. Channing Tatum...I would happily be a fifth banana in his movie or anyone else.'"
Things can always change, particularly when there's money on the table. For now, it sounds like Reynolds would be happy to just play second fiddle to other MCU characters, though whether Secret Wars will serve as his and the Fox-verse's final farewell remains to be seen. It certainly feels that way and we can't help but wonder whether Deadpool will be recast after the Multiverse Saga.
For Reynolds, it seems to be all about making sure people miss the character rather than giving them too much of a good thing.
"I love how you did this in 'Spider-Man: No Way Home,'" he told Garfield. "You’re weaving DNA strands of a cultural conversation along with the narrative of the movie. You guys did it in such a way that I burst into tears."
"One of the best feelings I’ve ever had is sitting in Hall H at Comic-Con and watching Wesley Snipes cross the frame and people are crying. They realize in an instant that they desperately missed this person, but they didn’t know they missed him," Reynolds concluded.
Check out some highlights from the interview, along with the full conversation, below.