As a producer and director, Shawn Levy’s filmography has racked up over $3.5 billion at the box office, so there’s no doubting his commercial credentials. However, not every Marvel Cinematic Universe fan is sold on the idea of him directing Deadpool 3.
To be fair, his recent collaborations with star and producer Ryan Reynolds in Free Guy and The Adam Project have been very well-received, but the director’s back catalogue was hardly dripping in critical adulation before that. We’ve got faith that the duo can go three-for-three, but some folks evidently need a lot more convincing.
As you can see from the myriad of reactions below, the news that Levy had officially signed on the dotted line to helm the Merc with a Mouth’s feature-length MCU debut hasn’t been unanimously praised online.
Levy is a newcomer to the superhero sandbox, and he’s not all that well-versed in the realm of foul-mouthed R-rated shenanigans either, but Free Guy and The Adam Project have shown that he and Reynolds have tended to bring out the best in each other from a creative point of view.
There’s a lot riding on Deadpool 3, which will be the first canonical installment in the MCU that doesn’t come bearing a PG or PG-13 rating, and it’ll have to work extra hard to wash away the skepticism that many fans still hold over the notoriously family-friendly Disney tackling an anarchic, free-spirited cult hero like Wade Wilson.