Deadpool/X-Men team-up movie teased for MCU

According to a new Marvel Cinematic Universe leak, Ryan Reynolds is in the process of working on a Deadpool/X-Men team-up film that will bring some familiar faces back to Disney’s long-running Marvel franchise.

As revealed by The Hollywood Reporter’s Pamela McClintock and Aaron Couch, Reynolds will be returning alongside several yet-to-be-confirmed X-Men characters in a new project… although it sounds like Deadpool won’t be the leading character this time around.

“The multi-hyphenate is working on various treatments for an ensemble film featuring three or four X-Men characters,” The Hollywood Reporter stated in their exclusive.

“Deadpool would of course appear, but perhaps only as a supporting player. Reynolds is said to believe that keeping his f-bomb wielding anti-hero more on the sidelines could allow for the X-Men characters to be used in unexpected ways.”

With Thunderbolts* out now, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is up next in the MCU.

This news follows an interview Reynolds had with TIME’s Solcyré Burga towards the end of last month, in which he stated that he’s working on an “ensemble” film for the MCU.

“If [Deadpool] becomes an Avenger or an X-Man, we're at the end… That's his wish fulfilment, and we can't give him that,” Reynolds revealed.

“[I’m] writing a little something right now,” he continued, “it's an ensemble”.

Although The Hollywood Reporter’s sources didn’t reveal exactly which X-Men characters are set to appear in the new project, there are a couple of names that would be surprising omissions.

Channing Tatum’s Gambit and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine seem like sure bets to me, especially following the success of Deadpool & Wolverine (which now holds the spot as the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time).

It sounds like the project is still very much in the early stages of development, however, considering the script hasn’t be finalised yet, so don’t expect to see this on our screens any time before 2028.