X-Men director says Deadpool 3 will "jolt" the Marvel Cinematic Universe "back to life"

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the most successful franchise in the history of Hollywood, bringing in billions of dollars since Iron Man got things rolling back in 2008. Things have hit a bit of a lull lately, with Ant-Man and the Wasp underperforming at the box office in 2023 and The Marvels outright bombing. Future projects are also looking a little wobbly. Take the antihero team-up movie Thunderbolts, which has been shedding cast members lately. Oscar nominee Steven Yuen left, since replaced by Top Gun: Maverick's Lewis Pullman. More recently, The Bear star Ayo Edebiri had to leave Thunderbolts; she'll be replaced by Miracle Workers veteran Geraldine Viswanathan.

It's not that the Thunderbolts movie is floundering — scheduling conflicts happen, particularly after the writers and actors strikes threw off so many productions last year — but at a time when Marvel seems vulnerable, it's easy to interpret any sign of instability as a sign that things are about to come crashing down. Marvel Studios could use a big fat win, and they're more or less guaranteed to get one with Deadpool 3, which is the only tentpole release the studio is scheduled to put out this year.

There has been a ton of hype around the this movie, which will bring together Ryan Reynolds' fast-talking Deadpool character with Hugh Jackman's iconic turn as Wolverine from the X-Men. How will that happen, plot wise? Something something multiverse, don't worry about it. The point is that people really want to see these two together, including X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn, who's currently out on the press trail promoting his new spy comedy Argylle, which comes out in theaters this weekend.

Vaughn didn't direct Deadpool 3, but he has enough connections in Hollywood to have gotten a good impression of what audiences are in for. “The few snippets that I know about ‘Deadpool vs. Wolverine’ — or ‘Wolverine vs. Deadpool,’ I’m sure that argument between Ryan and Hugh is happening as we speak — are unbelievable,” Vaughn said on BroBible’s “Post Credit” podcast. “That’s going to be the jolt…the Marvel universe is about to have a jolt of them and it’s going to bring that body back to life…I think Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are about to save the whole Marvel Universe.”

I dunno about the movie bringing the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe back to its former glory, since we've seen over the past few years that while audiences are more than willing to turn out for some movies, like Spider-Man: No Way Home; they wave away others, like Eternals. I'm sure Deadpool 3 will be a monster hit, though. And maybe that can lay the foundations for future success, especially if it kicks off the introduction of the X-Men into the MCU, something that Disney has been planning since acquiring 20th Century Fox in 2019.

“I’m a genuine fan of the X-Men, all I want is for the movies to be as good as they should be,” Vaughn said. And he has ideas for revitalizing other superhero universes...

Matthew Vaughn would like to see an adaptation of Superman: Red Son starring Henry Cavill

Thinking on the spot, Vaughn suggested how cool it would be if Hollywood made an adaptation of Superman: Red Son, a 2003 comic that posited what the world would be like if Superman were raised in the Soviet Union rather than on the god-fearing soil of Kansas. “Red Son was one of the cleverest comics I’d ever read," Vaughn said. "Wow, could you imagine remaking Red Son with Henry Cavill? *That* would be an interesting movie."

Henry Cavill, of course, played Superman in movies like Man of Steel and Justice League. That version of the DC Cinematic Universe has since been shut down, with James Gunn and Peter Safran currently building something new in its place. Their new DCU will include folks like David Corenswet as Superman and House of the Dragon veteran Milly Alcock as Supergirl, but who's to say there couldn't be room for an Elseworlds-style standalone movie about a Soviet Superman in there?

People would certainly be interested to see Cavill back as the Man of Steel, or rather (looks up Russian), человек из стали. There are some fans who call for his return to this day.

That has me thinking about the power of movie stars. Conventional wisdom has it that we're living in a post-movie star age, where people go to the movies for the franchises and the special effects rather than the actors. But then you have effects-heavy franchise movies like Ant-Man 3 and The Marvels that struggle at the box office, whereas Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman have done a great job of getting people interested in Deadpool 3 specifically because they're in it. And while I'm sure people would be happy to see Henry Cavill back as Superman, the jury remains out on David Corenswet. Who you have in the suit still matters.

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