Marvel illustrator Andrew Kim has shared a first look at some unused concept art for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and it features none other than the Merc With a Mouth himself, Deadpool.
The image shows Wade Wilson leaping into battle against a character who looks a lot like Avengers: Infinity War villain Proxima Midnight in Xu Xialing's Golden Daggers Club, where we saw Wong (Benedict Wong) face-off against The Abomination in the movie.
Does this mean there were originally plans for Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool to make his MCU debut in Shang-Chi? It's certainly possible, but there's always a chance Kim was simply having some fun here. After all, Proxima Midnight was killed off in Infinity War, and even though a Variant of the powerful Dark Order member showed up in Endgame, she also perished along with the rest of Thanos' forces.
Some fans are convinced they spotted a Deadpool Easter Egg on the poster for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Reynolds has dismissed the theory, but if Marvel Studios is planning to reintroduce the character ahead of Deadpool 3, a Multiverse-spanning adventure like Sam Raimi's sequel would seem like the ideal place to do it.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.