DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE Stars Ryan Reynolds & Blake Lively Declare "Total Victory" In Justin Baldoni Legal Battle

DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE Stars Ryan Reynolds & Blake Lively Declare "Total Victory" In Justin Baldoni Legal Battle

Deadpool & Wolverine stars Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have scored a victory in their battle with It Ends With Us director Justin Baldoni after a judge threw out his $400 million defamation lawsuit.

By JoshWilding - Jun 09, 2025 02:06 PM EST
Filed Under: Deadpool & Wolverine

The legal battle between Green Lantern star Blake Lively and filmmaker Justin Baldoni rolls on, and the latter has faced a major setback today after a judge threw out his $400 million defamation lawsuit against Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and the New York Times. 

He filed the lawsuit earlier this year, nearly a month after Lively sued him for allegedly sexually harassing her on the set of It Ends With Us

Baldoni's countersuit claimed Lively had taken messages he'd sent her out of context, planted negative news stories about him, and argued that the Times had "cherry-picked" details in their piece to defame him. We're sure you'll also recall that Deadpool & Wolverine got dragged into the whole thing, with Baldoni's legal team arguing that the Nicepool Variant was based on their client and meant to ridicule him.

Baldoni, his Wayfarer Studios, executives and PR team of Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel have until June 23 to submit an amended complaint. 

Judge Lewis Liman explained his decision by writing, "The Wayfarer Parties have not alleged that Lively is responsible for any statements other than the statements in her CRD complaint, which are privileged."

"The Wayfarer Parties have alleged that Reynolds and Sloane made additional statements accusing Baldoni of sexual misconduct and that the Times made additional statements accusing the Wayfarer Parties of engaging in a smear campaign," Liman, the brother of Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman, continued.

"But the Wayfarer Parties have not alleged that Reynolds, Sloane or the Times would have seriously doubted these statements were true based on the information available to them, as is required for them to be liable for defamation under applicable law."

Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, has yet to weigh in, but Lively and Reynolds' team is positively buzzing. "Today’s opinion is a total victory and a complete vindication for Blake Lively, along with those that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties dragged into their retaliatory lawsuit, including Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Sloane and The New York Times," Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb told Deadline.

They added, "As we have said from day one, this '$400 million' lawsuit was a sham, and the Court saw right through it. We look forward to the next round, which is seeking attorneys’ fees, treble damages and punitive damages against Baldoni, Sarowitz, Nathan, and the other Wayfarer Parties who perpetrated this abusive litigation."

The case is still set to go to trial on March 9, 2026, and there's every chance Deadpool & Wolverine and Marvel Studios will still be key to the arguments made in court next year. For now, though, it certainly appears as if this is going in Lively and Reynolds' favour.

Stay tuned for updates as we have them.

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Kadara
Kadara - 6/9/2025, 2:45 PM
You could tell the Baldoni guy had no case when he tried to drag Marvel in this, because Deadpool made some vague jokes lol!!
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 6/9/2025, 3:05 PM
@Kadara - I think that's what will be his ultimate downfall in the case to be honest. He stated that the character "Nicepool" was made to mock him thus indirectly admitting that the accusations against him are true. He took ownership of the parody and even said it's based on him. Such an idiot.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 6/9/2025, 4:32 PM
@SonOfAGif - Eh, not necessarily, to me, unless what he thought was defaming him was explicitly the same type of stuff said by Nicepool said, I think. If not, I think an argument could be made that it was a mockery of him in the sense that it was an idea of him, rather than him or what he said. But what do I know? I only see this stuff from 3rd to 2nd hand sources either way, which I prefer removal from.
SteviesRightFoo
SteviesRightFoo - 6/9/2025, 2:49 PM
2 genuine Hollywood lunatic fruitcakes
movieguy18
movieguy18 - 6/9/2025, 2:50 PM
OMG. FML. LIVELAUGHLOVE.
Bond
Bond - 6/9/2025, 2:55 PM
User Comment Image
JurassicClunge
JurassicClunge - 6/9/2025, 2:58 PM
@Bond - this is great
Oberlin4Prez
Oberlin4Prez - 6/9/2025, 2:59 PM
Lively lives to bully another day
Wahhvacado
Wahhvacado - 6/9/2025, 3:04 PM
Seems like everyone part of this is awful
dracula
dracula - 6/9/2025, 3:14 PM
Seriously nobody would even make the nicelool connection if he did t bring it up
dragon316
dragon316 - 6/9/2025, 3:14 PM
Found whole thing be dumb ?si=GEGW89IezTZVmOmh
AllsNotGood
AllsNotGood - 6/9/2025, 3:21 PM
Pair of [foo foo]s
Jackraow21
Jackraow21 - 6/9/2025, 3:22 PM
Bwahahahaha. Nicepool got murdered twice.
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 6/9/2025, 3:30 PM
User Comment Image
ZiggyStarman
ZiggyStarman - 6/9/2025, 4:15 PM
Blake thinking she will win is just another sign of her out-of-touch delusion.
elgaz
elgaz - 6/9/2025, 4:34 PM
“Nicepool really reminds me of Justin Baldoni!” said no-one, ever.

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