'Deadpool 3' taps 'Free Guy' and 'The Adam Project' director Shawn Levy

Ryan Reynolds' Merc with a Mouth will be in familiar company when production on the third Deadpool movie finally gets underway. The Hollywood Reporter was first to exclusively break the news that Shawn Levy (Free Guy, The Adam Project) is once again teaming up with Reynolds for Wade Wilson's next big screen outing.

Levy essentially confirmed his involvement on Instagram with a Photoshopped collage of Guy, Adam Reed, and Deadpool with the caption "LFG" (an abbreviation of "Let's f—ing go") and the crossed swords emoji (a nod to Deadpool's weapons of choice). Rob Liefeld, one of the character's original creators, responded in the comments with the sword and "rock on" emojis.

"The third film in my Shawn Levy trilogy will be a tad more stabby," Reynolds wrote on his own page.

"That would be amazing," the actor recently admitted to ComicBook.com when the topic of Levy potentially helming the next installment of the R-rated and X-Men adjacent Marvel franchise came up. "I say write to Kevin Feige, care of Marvel Cinematic Universe at whatever Buena Vista Way. I don't know where it is, but yeah, that would be nice. That would be a dream. That would be dream come true."

This is the first major update on the project since November of 2020 when the duo of Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin (known for their work as writers and producers on Bob's Burgers) were hired to pen the screenplay. As THR notes, this will be the first Deadpool film produced under the Marvel Studios banner since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019.

Bob Iger, who was still CEO at the time, assured fans that the character could remain extremely violent and foul-mouthed, so long as the marketing for his solo outings was clear. Should he ever show up in the mainstream MCU, it'll probably be as a water-downed version of himself who constantly calls out his inability to swear and murder with impunity.

Reynolds stirred up plenty of speculation on the matter back in October of 2019 when he popped by the Marvel Studios offices for an unexplained visit. Two months later, he confirmed the active status of a third chapter in the fourth wall-shattering Deadpool saga. His most recent comments on the matter came last month when he told Variety the project was still "coming along." At the same time, Reynolds shot down rumors of the character appearing in May's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. 

“I’m really not in the movie,” he insisted, later adding: "I’m promising, I’m not in the movie."

Released in May of 2018, Deadpool 2 laid the groundwork for future adventures with X-Force, mainly led by Wade, Domino (Zazie Beetz), and Cable (Josh Brolin). The first sequel grossed over $785 million worldwide (about $3 million more than its predecessor).

Audiences have eagerly waited for another follow-up since then and while nothing has materialized for quite some time, Disney did sign off on a reaction video to the Free Guy trailer hosted by Deadpool (Reynolds) and Korg of Thor: Ragnarok (Taika Waititi). The video, which currently boasts 15 million views on Reynolds' YouTube page, seemed to serve as a good omen of the Mouse House starting to entertain the idea of Wade Wilson interacting with the beloved characters of the family-friendly MCU.

Deadpool 3 does not have a release date and it's unclear when principal photography is scheduled to begin. 

The Adam Project is now streaming on Netflix as of today. Both Reynolds and Levy share a mutual desire for creating original IP, and already have a number of movies in active development.

"All we want to do are movies together,” Reynolds remarked last month while chatting with Collider. “We're very lucky that we have some films in development, ones that aren't just [the] development projects that just vaporize down the road. These are real ones that we cannot wait to make together. We're very lucky that we found each other at this stage in our careers where it's unlike any kind of work relationship I've ever had, and I've had some great ones. But I just adore working with Shawn, and I hope that I get to make you as many movies as humanly possible. As many of I'm allowed to make, I hope they're with Shawn."