Deadpool and Wolverine director was “completely shocked” at the creative freedom Marvel gave them for the superhero sequel

As self-aware and wise-cracking as he is, there was no way the Merc with a Mouth was going to make his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and not poke fun of the billion-dollar franchise. That said, director Shawn Levy was still surprised by how many jokes he and co-writer Ryan Reynolds got away with in Deadpool and Wolverine.

“I presumed that someone would make us stop,” the filmmaker, who also penned the threequel with Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Zeb Wells, tells GamesRadar+ and Inside Total Film. “Every time we turned in a draft of the script, or a new cut of the movie, Ryan and I would kind of sit back, waiting for what we thought was the inevitable pushback… and it never came.”

In the trailers so far, we’ve seen the titular Wade Wilson namecheck Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige, as he tells his pal Blind Al (Leslie Uggams) that “cocaine is the one thing Feige said is off-limits”, and caught glimpses of a ’20th Century Fox’ logo in a Void-looking wasteland. 

In the 35 minutes shown to press pre-release, there’s even a moment where Deadpool introduces Hugh Jackman’s drunken mutant to his timeline and notes: “Welcome to the MCU, you’re joining at a bit of a low point,” undoubtedly a nod to how fans’ interest seems to waning slightly, with Marvel’s recent entries struggling to match to Spider-Man: No Way Home’s $1.9 billion. And there’s plenty more gags where that came from… 

“What we realized is that the law of the land on this movie with Kevin Feige, who knew what he was signing up for, was that ‘if it’s funny, it sticks,'” recalls Levy. “If it [was] not funny, it was like, ‘let’s talk about the merits on a comedic basis.’ It really was ‘anything goes’. The creative freedom that Marvel gave us was, frankly, completely shocking, but completely thrilling.”

Also starring Rob Delaney, Matthew Macfadyen, and Emma Corrin as villain Cassandra Nova, Deadpool and Wolverine lands in UK cinemas on July 25, and a day later in the US. For more, check out all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way, as well as our guide to how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

Listen out for our chat with Levy on the upcoming episode of the Inside Total Film podcast, which is available on Apple, Audioboom, Spotify, and more.