Ryan Reynolds Hints Deadpool Will Appear in MCU as Disney Completes Fox Buyout

Just call him the Merc with a Mouse.

Ryan Reynolds hinted that Deadpool may soon appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a special tweet on Tuesday, the day that Disney completed its acquisition of 21st Fox.

The actor shared a photo of his superhero persona, wearing a pair of Mickey Mouse ears, inside a school bus clearly marked "Disney".

"Feels like the first day of 'Pool," he captioned it.

Twitter reacted with unbridled joy at the prospect, with one particularly good fan-made version of the Endgame trailer inserting the Merc with a Mouth wherever not appropriate.

With Disney's latest acquisition, it inherits many of the most popular Marvel characters yet to be depicted in the MCU, including the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and Deadpool himself.

Disney already owns most of the Avengers we know and love — including Iron Man, Thor and Captain America — from its $4billion purchase of Marvel Entertainment on December 31, 2009.

However because comic book characters weren't always the box office golden gooses they are today, Marvel had decades earlier licensed many of its intellectual properties out to several different studios — some of which Disney has been unable to regain.

Spider-Man is the most famous example: his debut in 2016's Captain America: Civil War came after a long-fought negotiation with owners Sony.

Mark Ruffalo meanwhile, who plays Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk, has previously vented his frustration at distribution rights owners Universal Studios' refusal to "play nice" and work out a deal with Disney for a standalone Hulk film.

The introduction of the X-Men and Fantastic four comes at an optimal time for Marvel as they bring Phase 3 to a close with with 22nd film in the canon: Avengers Endgame.

The lack of presence of the mutants or the Richards family in the MCU so far lends weight to the theory that the exploration of alternate realities will be introduced in the upcoming film.

With the $71billion buyout finalizing just after midnight on Tuesday, Disney becomes the owner of many other franchises besides, including The Simpsons, Avatar, Alien, Predator, The X-Files, Die Hard, and Planet of the Apes.