Justin Baldoni refuses to let go of comparing himself to Nicepool
What Justin Baldoni really wants us all to know is that he thinks that Nicepool in Deadpool & Wolverine is mocking him. Again, I would take that thought process to the grave and yet here we are.
Baldoni, who is currently in a legal battle with his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively, recently claimed that Nicepool, a Deadpool variant played by Ryan Reynolds, was based on him. It gets messy when it comes to the timeline, when things were written, and when Reynolds and Baldoni met each other. But besides all of that, if it is based on Baldoni, the character would technically fall under parody.
So why Baldoni is making such a big deal over a character no one thought was him prior to this nonsense, I don’t know. Especially with the “parody” of it all. All you’re doing in that instance is…showing everyone the kind of “male feminist” you are. But anyway.
Baldoni has now requested that Disney and Marvel Studios preserve all documents pertaining to Deadpool & Wolverine. In an exclusive to Variety, we learn that the outlet read a letter sent to Marvel president Kevin Feige, Disney CEO Bob Iger and director Tim Miller about Deadpool & Wolverine. I don’t know why Tim Miller is involved in this outside of the fact that he and Ryan Reynolds did not see eye to eye but alas.
The letter reportedly stated that Baldoni and his team wanted Iger, Feige, and the uninvolved Miller to save all documents pertaining to the movie. Probably, in theory, keeping track of when Nicepool was introduced into the script and any changes to him. Why Miller was included and not Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy who wrote the script with Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Zeb Wells, I do not know.
If Nicepool is Baldoni, that’s still not a legal issue
I don’t really understand what Baldoni’s end goal here is. The allegations against him are that he said those things to Lively. If Reynolds wanted to then mock the man who commented on his wife’s weight (which Baldoni did admittedly do with Lively’s trainer!), that’s well within his right under parody law. So what exactly does proving Nicepool is Baldoni do?
Quite frankly, most of the Deadpools are commentary on different types of men. That’s kind of the entire point of Wade Wilson as a character but that’s beside the point. The real issue with Baldoni’s insistence that Nicepool is based on him is that he’s calling himself a toxic feminist. Do you hear yourself?!
To make matters worse, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, brought these allegations to The Megyn Kelly Show. Yes, THAT Megyn Kelly. While there, Freedman said “There’s no question it relates to Justin. I mean, anybody that watched that hair bun,” Freedman said while then criticizing Reynolds for using Lively’s allegations to make a comedic character. “If somebody is seriously sexually harassed, you don’t make fun of it. It’s a serious issue.” It is almost like making fun of men you deem as toxic is okay and does help but what do I know? I’m just a woman.
Anyway, if I were Justin Baldoni, I would let the Nicepool stuff go because all it does is show that you a) see yourself as Nicepool and b) make you look like a fool. It is protected under parody! What is this going to do other than make everyone question why you want to be Nicepool so badly?
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