Ryan Reynolds‘ Deadpool will soon make the leap from Fox’s X-Universe into the MCU. This will mean Reynolds shares a cinematic universe with his ex-wife Scarlett Johansson, who plays Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. But, as pointed out by Looper, there’s a tonne of on and off-screen reasons why Wade and Natasha won’t cross paths – most of which should be very obvious.
First up is that Johansson’s heroine died in Avengers: Endgame and the MCU’s new Black Widow will be Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova. Natasha’s death was definitive, so given that Deadpool isn’t expected to reappear until 2023 at the earliest, her being a rotting corpse on the other side of the universe likely prevents a team-up.
Even so, the recent opening-up of the MCU multiverse could theoretically allow an appearance from an alt-Natasha from another timeline. But that’s not going to happen either, as Johansson conclusively cut ties with the Mouse House when she publically sued them for loss of earnings and breach of contract due to Black Widow‘s simultaneous VOD release. Word is that she’s burned her bridges for good, and they don’t want her back.
Then there’s the fact that, despite the former couple being on relatively good terms, it’s understandable that Reynolds and Johansson don’t want to spend time working together after their divorce.
Judging by Lake Bell voicing Natasha on What If..? Johansson is definitively retired from the MCU and won’t return. Florence Pugh’s Yelena will appear in Hawkeye on Disney Plus later this year and Ryan Reynolds‘ Deadpool 3 is in development with Bob’s Burgers writers Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin on script duties, aiming for a summer 2023 release.
