DEADPOOL 2 Writers Discuss X-Men Universe Timeline, Tone, and Setting Up Their Own Universe
Fans are already pumped up about Deadpool 2, and we really don't know anything about it other than it will introduce Cable and see the return of Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. One other thing that it will have is that amazing humor from the first film with Deadpool constantly breaking the fourth wall.
During an interview with THR, screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick talk about their plans for the sequel and when discussing how the movie fits into the confusing timeline of the X-Men cinematic universe, they explain that it doesn't:
"What's nice is Deadpool exists in his own universe. He's part of the larger X-Men universe, but in a way he isn't. He interacts with that world but he is in the present. We don't deal with the '60s or the '70s or the future. It's here and now. More than anything, I think he's going to have his fun with what they do in the other franchise. But fortunately, we don't have to play by those same rules. Deadpool is a movie that did break all the rules. And I think we're going to continue to break those rules. That involves knowing that he's in a movie, talking to the audience, breaking that fourth wall, a characteristic that they established so brilliantly in the comics way back when. So yeah, I do think that timelines are something that we can make fun of and don't have to be slave to."
If you saw the first movie, then you know that there was really one one reference to the timelines, and it was done in a joking manner when Colossus tells Deadpool that he's going to be brought to the Professor at which point Deadpool asks, "McAvoy or Stewart?" This kind of humor is going to carry on through the sequel, and it's going to be a blast seeing what kind of new jokes they come up with.
They go on to talk about the tone of the Deadpool franchise and how it compares the other tones of other comic book movie universes. They also say that they hope to set up their own Deadpool universe:
"I think sometimes the movies get a little overstuffed trying to set up future movies and it almost feels burdensome or obligatory, where you are weaving in four or five different plots that really aren't in service of the current movie, but are to set up audience anticipation or logic for what's coming. We really are trying our best to avoid that. There is something to the movie that is just worried about itself for the moment.
"The different universes tend to have different tones, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a very specific, genius tone that was set in Iron Man and has lived well beyond that into the other movies. DC tends to have its own tone, which is this dark, gritty tone. The X-Men have their own tone, which is kind of somewhere in between. Not too funny, not too light. But not quite as dark as the DC stuff. And I think what we stumbled into was a new tone, and I haven't seen Logan, so it's tough to say if they have it, but I think we hope to have our own universe that is defined less by characters and timelines and things like that and more by tone. The hope is Deadpool 2 and X-Force and future movies all be this new, consistent, sillier tone. More self-aware tone. And edgier and rated-R tone. We want to be establishing the universe but also focusing on each individual movie and not worrying too much about building a larger threat to the world or a larger plot machination."
That being said, I seriously doubt we'll ever see Deadpool crossover with any X-Men films, but it would be a different story if the characters from these X-Men films entered the world of Deadpool. That seems like it would work much better because it would be really hard to bring that Deadpool tone into a movie that already has a set tone.
I'm just excited about Deadpool 2 and I hope that the creative team behind it will get to fully set up a Deadpool style universe.