Could ‘Deadpool 3’ Really, Truly Save the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

We’re officially less than six months out from the Merc With the Mouth’s highly-anticipated return to the big screen in Deadpool 3, and it’s something of a formality at this point to wonder if this is the project that will save the Marvel Cinematic Universe from itself.

There was a time when thinking the MCU needed saving was a bit of a dramatic statement, but with the franchise’s signs of life getting fewer and further between with every passing film and Disney+ series, it may just be time for Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to hit a big red button of some sort, and according to Matthew Vaughn, there’s no prizes for guessing exactly what that big red button is.

Speaking recently on the Post Credit Podcast, the Argylle and X-Men: First Class director declared that Deadpool 3, complete with Hugh Jackman in some iconic yellow spandex, would be the turning point for the MCU:

“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.”

Now, beyond the hype that tends to come with a new Marvel release—and particularly the specific, nostalgia-fueled, multiverse-centric hype for Deadpool 3—there’s actually a far more palpable reason to believe that Vaughn is right here.

Most of the MCU’s recent missteps can largely be attributed to studio interference, with the most notable of these infractions being the reshoots that almost certainly led to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s dreadful ending and the lack of support given to Echo.

But, with the previous Deadpool movies having already proved themselves as tried-and-true hits without the Disney machine, to say nothing of the fact that Deadpool scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have both returned for Deadpool 3, it just might be a case where Deadpool 3′s individual heft cancels out (if not overcomes) Marvel Studios’ bad decision-making.

Of course, until Deadpool 3 rears its head on July 26—the only MCU movie on the schedule this year—this is still nothing more than wishful thinking. So, godspeed, Wade Winston Wilson; show them how it’s done at 20th Century Studios.

(featured image: 20th Century Studios)