Marvel is attempting to be removed from the ongoing legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, saying that it’s worried about potential leaks to future projects.
In a new letter to Judge Lewis J. Liman submitted by Marvel Entertainment, LLC on Friday (via Deadline), the company asked Liman to “quash the subpoena issued to Marvel” from Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios. Furthermore, Marvel also asked the court to “issue a protective order prohibiting the disclosure of Marvel’s confidential documents by any party or other nonparty in this action.”
Baldoni’s lawsuit against Marvel stems from his inintial lawsuit against Lively. In Baldoni’s lawsuit, he alleges that Ryan Reynolds used the character “Nicepool” in 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine to throw subtle shade at Baldoni. According to the suit, the character is intended to be a mocking portrayal of Baldoni, or what Reynolds sees Baldoni as.
“Reynolds portrayed Nicepool as a vicious caricature of a ‘woke’ feminist before concluding the character’s arc with his violent shooting death at the hands of ‘Ladypool,’ a character voiced by Blake Lively,” the suit reads. The suit goes on to say that Nicepool was “intended to be a transparent and mocking portrayal of Reynolds’ warped perception of Baldoni.”
As for why Marvel is looking to be kept out of things, one of the reasons they cite is due to the sensitive nature of documents that may come out if they are brought into discovery. Specifically, the documents may relate to “the development of a character in an ongoing movie franchise,” a hint that Marvel could be trying to work with Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool again in the future.
“The requested documents are particularly sensitive because they relate to the development of a character in an ongoing movie franchise,” Disney’s outside counsel from Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp declared in an April 25 correspondence. “Marvel has built the success of the MCU in large part by interconnecting storylines, plots, and characters across its titles, including ‘crossover’ events and sequels. Whether and how such elements will appear in upcoming, unreleased projects is the subject of much public interest, and this information is closely guarded by Marvel.”