Deadpool director Tim Miller “trying to build bridges” for Spider-Man crossover film
Plus, X-Men producer Simon Kinberg wants Wolverine and co. to meet the Avengers
BY BEN KAYEON APRIL 14, 2016, 5:15PM
At CinemaCon today, 20th Century Fox confirmed the inevitable: Deadpool 2 is moving forward with the original’s director Tim Miller and star Ryan Reynolds. While the sequel to the highest-grossing worldwide R-rated movie of all time is already set to feature the Merc with a Mouth teaming up with the time traveling Cable, Miller also has his eyes set on another potential future co-star: Spider-Man.
During the Deadpool Blu-ray release press day, Miller said he and producer Simon Kinberg are actively “trying to build bridges” with the Marvel over use of the character. Kinberg, who’s produced nearly every X-movie since 2011’s First Class, added with a laugh, “With all of the deals that have recently started happening, we asked if they could get visitation rights to Sony’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. I would love to see it. Both of us are close with [Marvel’s] Kevin [Feige], we respect and love Kevin. If it were even remotely possible, we will find a way ’cause we would love to see it.”
Of course, the crossover seems majorly unlikely, as it would involve Disney/Marvel and Sony coming to terms with Fox over a single character (Spider-Man), and would add the X-Men’s already complicated cinematic universe to the ever-expanding Marvel one. Plus, it would mean the youngest hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be in the same film as an R-rated mercenary, which doesn’t sound like it’d please Disney. Still, you have to admit that seeing the webslinger and Deadpool tossing quips back and forth would be pretty amazing, and it would appear Miller and Kinberg are actually putting in work to make it happen.
And Deadpool’s not the only X-Man testing the waters of entering the MCU. Earlier this week, the filmmaking pair both said they’d be open to the X-Men movie universe bumping into the Avengers’ world. Miller said he’d love to “in part heal the rift” between Fox and Marvel by bringing the X-Men and Avengers together, and Kinberg agreed. “I think we all would, yeah,” Kinberg added. “There’s so much crossover in the comics, it would be neat to one day see those characters share a movie. It would be fun to all team-up one day, somehow, together if that could work.”
Fox and Marvel have often butted heads over the rights to characters in the latter’s catalog, and the intricacies of such a massive universe shared by the two companies would be trying to navigate. On the other hand, Sony and Marvel worked out their Spidey deal, and FOX’s TV wing was granted Marvel’s blessing on making a pair of X-Men TV shows, so it’s not unheard of.
Either way, none of this seems terribly probable, but the fact that the people most intimately involved are as intrigued by the concepts as us fanboys gives at least some hope for the Marvel Universe to one day be complete on the big screen.
