New concept art has revealed that Deadpool was probably in plans to make an appearance in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings during the early stages of the film. The foul-mouthed killing machine, Wade Wilson, can be seen fighting Proxima Midnight in the concept art designed by artist Andrew Kim.

Kim recently shared his concept art designs via Murphy’s Multiverse, which are all based in the Golden Daggers Club that Shang-Chi’s sister Xialing operated in the film. Here, Deadpool is fighting one of Thanos’s children Proxima Midnight in the grand cage where Shang-Chi fought Xialing. In the film’s final cut, the setting from this concept art provided a way for MCU to bring back Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky/Abomination. In the sequence, he fought and lost to Sorcerer Supreme Wong before being seemingly recruited by him.

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     Andrew Kim

The intriguing rendition of that sequence by Kim was designed per Marvel Studio’s commission in 2019. It’s unknown at what stage Kim proposed this concept to the makers, and it’s likely that it was never given any thought, and hence it remains something Kim did out of his own interest. Usually, by the time the film is wrapped, commissioned concept arts to go through several changes and updates; hence, these bizarre (yet fascinating) ideas are tackled early on. So, maybe, Marvel may have never officially considered Ryan Reynolds to make an appearance in Shang-Chi. And even they’d have considered so, the sequence won’t make much of a sense as Proxima Midnight (jointly portrayed by Carrie Coon and Monique Ganderton) died in Avengers: Infinity War, and eventually once more, in Avengers: Endgame.

Deadpool in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

     20th Century Fox

Though Deadpool may not have been a part of Shang-Chi, he is for sure going to be in the MCU sooner or later. The third film is currently being written by Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin, with Reynolds attached to the project. Kevin Feige has already confirmed that the film will be set in the MCU and will be rated R, which could be the first for any MCU movie.

The third Deadpool movie was in active development earlier before 20th Century Fox was acquired by Disney, sending all X-Men Franchise characters’ rights back to Marvel Studios. Marvel will start incorporating these newly gained characters into the MCU with the 2023 film Fantastic Four.

Earlier, fans had speculated a cameo from Reynolds in Spider-Man: No Way Home due to its connections to the multiverse, and now many say that the character was spotted in the trailer of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which will further establish the presence of a multiverse in the MCU. The film will also bring back Patrick Stewart, potentially reprising his role as Professor Charles Xavier as a member of the mystical group Illuminati. Since the filming of Deadpool III is to reportedly begin this year, we can expect a few details on the project very soon, and probably the studio will discuss it in the upcoming Disney Investors Day Event on March 9.

Would you like to see Deadpool earlier than his own film, or can you wait till he takes charge in his R-Rated MCU entry?