Deadpool 3: New Behind-The-Scenes Set Image May Confirm A Huge MCU Fan Theory

Though it was drowned out by the well-deserved excitement garnered by the confirmation of Wolverine's iconic yellow suit, an eerie set photo leaked from the production of "Deadpool 3" reveals what may be the series' most meta moment yet.

Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool stand among what is clearly the ruins of a massive 20th Century Fox logo. As readers are likely well aware, the Walt Disney Company — having previously acquired Marvel Studios in 2009 — finally acquired 20th Century Fox and its large catalog of Marvel characters in 2019, allowing figures from the "X-Men" and "Fantastic Four" franchises to be united underneath the ever-growing Marvel Cinematic Universe label.

This could very well indicate that "Deadpool 3" is using the real-life studio acquisition to adapt a Marvel Comics storyline that many likely (and righteously) thought was too risky to bring to the big screen: "Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe."

Penned by Cullen Bunn, "Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe" is exactly what it says on the cover — a comic book written around the admittedly fun conceit of Marvel's preeminent assassin killing the superpeople he normally wouldn't get to touch. Of course, his villainous motivations are hand-waved away as a combination of brainwashing and insanity, but it's a transparently thin narrative mechanic to justify some of Marvel's most imaginative and delightfully disturbing kills yet.

While Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool likely won't be killing the MCU any time soon, he may get his shot at a much smaller target: Fox's Marvel universe. Deadpool's ultimate goal might be to destroy these films and everyone who inhabits them, which would include Jennifer Garner's Elektra and three original X-Men alongside Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. Additionally, it's been rumored that Ian McKellen's Magneto, Patrick Stewart's Professor X, and Channing Tatum's Gambit will appear in some capacity.

There's also been wild speculation that Owen Wilson's and Tara Strong's "Loki" characters, Mobius M. Mobius and Miss Minutes, respectively, will play a major part in the film. This could point to Deadpool and Wolverine teaming up to prune Fox's Marvel universe on behalf of the Time Variance Authority.

Though it may be a bit of a stretch, "Deadpool 3" could be thematically confronting what these stories mean culturally in an age where franchises are rebooted and erased so frequently. At the very least, we hope it serves as a fitting goodbye to the most integral studio in the early cinematic superhero movement.