Why Deadpool's Disney Debut Was In A Non-Marvel Trailer

[Animous]

Earlier today, Deadpool and Korg appeared in a trailer to promote the upcoming Free Guy, but why did he make his Disney debut in a non-Marvel trailer? The upcoming movie stars Ryan Reynolds as an NPC in a video game who suddenly gains the awareness he's in a fictional character one day and decides to fight back. Taika Waititi stars as the villain of the movie, the founder of the video game company who wants to shut Guy down for ruining the game. In the new promo video, Korg and Deadpool react to the Free Guy trailer while Deadpool asks Korg how to get into the MCU.

It's an odd association to make. The only immediate similarity is that it feels as though Free Guy has been delayed almost as long as audiences have been waiting for Deadpool to enter the MCU. The movie was first scheduled to be released over a year ago on July 3, 2020. Then it was bumped to December 11 of that same year, then to May 21, 2021, then, finally, to its fourth and final release date. Meanwhile, the status of Deadpool 3 is up in the air. After years of trying to figure out how to fit the R-rated Merc with a Mouth into the MCU after the Disney-Fox deal, the most recent movement on the project was Bob's Burgers writers Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin, a.k.a. the Molyneux Sisters, being hired to pen the Deadpool 3 script last November. So why has Deadpool made his debut in a movie completely unrelated to the MCU?

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Arguably, it's Disney's massive marketing machine at work. Despite its all-star cast, Free Guy needs some help in the marketing department. Its release date has been bumped so many times it's mostly fallen off the radar of everyone, especially with bigger, more anticipated films like Black Widow, F9, No Time To Die, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and others overshadowing its summer buzz. What's more, it's an original film based on no pre-existing IP with a built-in fanbase, and no characters audiences may recognize. Thus, Disney's calling in the big guns in the form of two of its stars, Reynolds and Waititi, helping to promote it in the guise of their more famous MCU roles. It may not be a Marvel movie, but if Disney can get fans associating Ryan Reynolds' Guy with Deadpool, so much the better.

There is at least one other interesting narrative connection between the two characters, though. Free Guy's Guy suddenly gains the awareness he's a fictional character in a video game, which is a very similar position to Wade Wilson, a.k.a. Deadpool, who is the only character in the entire Marvel comic book pantheon to realize he's a character in a comic book. Having Deadpool commenting on the trailer of another fictional character who discovers he is a fictional character is the exact sort of meta and self-referential marketing that made Deadpool such a success and that Ryan Reynolds has built a brand on. Naturally, Disney will capitalize on that.

Still, it's also fair to hope that the script the Molyneux Sisters are working on comes to fruition and Deadpool 3 does indeed happen. Other reports have confirmed that Deadpool 3 will be the MCU's first R-rated movie, but there were also rumors that swirled that there was some conflict between Reynolds and Disney as to the direction development was heading in. Deadpool being reduced to showing up as a meta-humored pitchman to promote other Disney projects is a depressing prospect, but if there's one thing Marvel does well, it's recognizing when not to waste a fan-favorite character or actor. With that in mind, Deadpool and Korg showing up to promote Free Guy and joking about the MCU might very well be a good sign that Wade Wilson's entry into the MCU is on the way.

[Silent Watcher]

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