Taking to social media to discuss his work on the series, former X-Men '97 showrunner Beau DeMayo revealed that Deadpool was "off-limits" to the team working on the X-Men: The Animated Series revival's first two seasons.
The prevailing theory among fans is that it must have something to do with Deadpool & Wolverine being on the horizon. The show has featured plenty of other big Marvel cameos, though, including Captain America, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange.
Marvel Studios Head of TV, Streaming, and Animation, Brad Winderbaum recently caught up with Screen Rant (via Toonado.com) about Wade Wilson's absence from X-Men '97. As it turns out, there's a chance we will eventually see the anti-hero make an appearance.
"I don't know that it was like a hard and fast rule that we couldn't use Deadpool," the executive explained. "We would have had to have an insanely compelling reason to bring Deadpool in. Because we're also developing the feature simultaneously. So, unless it was something that really was an undeniable creative idea, it seemed like, 'Why would we do it?'"
"But also, I'll say, the season is so chock-full of big, giant, amazing fulfilling ideas that throwing Deadpool in there almost feels like arbitrary at a certain point," Winderbaum added. "Is there a potential for Deadpool to come in? Absolutely, he was in the original series, briefly as we all know, and certainly we're all fans, so we'll see what happens."
Outside of Morph transforming into the Merc with the Mouth (we saw him become Mister Fantastic and The Hulk, among others), it's hard to imagine where he could have possibly fit into this first season of X-Men '97.
While anything is possible when it comes to season 2, we still wouldn't necessarily bank on Deadpool showing up. Then again, a version of the anti-hero who is more in line with his 90s counterpart and part of X-Force alongside Cable...well, how much fun would that be?
"I did write a lot of season 2," DeMayo recently said, detailing the extent of his involvement in the series following his shock firing. "However, unlike Season 1, I will not be heavily involved or leading production, cast records, design, editorial, post, music, etc., nor doing any production rewrites as it relates to the creative vision of the show."
"This is why I’ve said I can’t really speak to Season 2. But, looking forward to seeing the final product with you all whenever it airs. I have high hopes."
X-Men '97 revisits the iconic era of the 1990s as The X-Men, a band of mutants who use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them, are challenged like never before, forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future.
All episodes of X-Men '97 are now streaming on Disney+.