The Marvel Cinematic Universe is constantly releasing new content, both in theaters and streaming with a Disney+ subscription. Fans who spent years watching the Marvel movies in order will recall Deadpool & Wolverine's record-breaking success, although the project has been roped into Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively's legal battle. And the studio's reason for not wanting to give over documents related to the movie is pretty surprising.
Blake Lively's lawsuit against Wayfarer studios began a long legal battle between herself and Justin Baldoni, who directed and starred in It Ends With Us. Baldoni filed a defamation suit, which named both Lively and Ryan Reynolds and also involved the portrayal of Nicepool in Deadpool 3. The Wrap acquired court documents involving Marvel, where a rep from law firm Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp explained why the studio fighting Baldoni's request to hand over documents related to Nicepool's inception and journey to theaters. The quote reads:
The requested documents are particularly sensitive because they relate to the development of a character in an ongoing movie franchise. Marvel has built the success of the MCU in large part by interconnecting storylines, plots, and characters across its titles, including ‘crossover’ events and sequels. Whether and how such elements will appear in upcoming, unreleased projects is the subject of much public interest, and this information is closely guarded by Marvel.
Well, that's interesting. While Nicepool felt like a one-off character, it sounds like there's a possibility of the variant returning in upcoming Marvel movies. At least, that's a reason why the studio wants to guard its secrets and documents related to the character's development.
Marvel security is notoriously tight, so perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that the studio is fighting back again Baldoni's request for Nicepool documents. And if Marvel were to hand over the documents requested from the actor/director's subpoena, it has the potential to set a legal precedent for the studio that could affect future projects and/or legal shakeups.
Of course, the insinuation that Nicepool might return to the MCU is going to get fans excited, albeit confused. Deadpool 3's biggest fight scene saw Nicepool get brutally killed by his fellow Deadpool Corps., with Ryan Reynolds' main character using the variant as a human shield. It seemed like that version of Wade Wilson was gone forever, but with the multiverse at play just about anything is possible.
In the midst of the legal battle against Blake Lively over It Ends With Us (streaming now with a Netflix subscription), eventually the focus shifted over to Deadpool & Wolverine. Baldoni alleges that Nicepool was a character made to mock him, including the the variant's appearance and dialogue. We'll just have to see if Marvel ends up having to pass along the documents related to its creation.
The Deadpool franchise is streaming in its entirety on Disney+, and the next MCU movie hitting theaters is Thunderbolts* on May 2nd as part of the 2025 movie release list. We'll just have to see when Wade Wilson (in any form) returns to the shared universe.
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