….
Carrow Seagal, arms crossed. "I don't get it, Regal."
Tolliver Lee nodded in agreement. "Yeah… have you completely lost it?-
"….I mean, why? Everything is sailing smoothly." Carrow continued, his voice rising. "We even agreed to go with your hand-picked, not-so-famous guy as the lead for Iron Man like you wanted. But why are you suddenly touching something like... this?"
Regal blinked, genuinely startled.
He had expected pushback, sure, but this level of panic seemed extreme. "Hey, aren't you guys reacting a bit too much?"
"Sigh..." Tolliver rubbed his temples and spoke slowly, like he was explaining to a child. "Regal, what do you think is the most important thing in business?"
"You already have something in mind, so why don't you just continue instead of asking." Regal replied dryly.
"It's to create a label - an image of what kind of product we are trying to sell to consumers." Tolliver emphasized each word carefully.
It was the same wordplay of theirs and 'product' and 'consumer' but it still felt clinical to Regal's ears, but he stayed silent.
Carrow jumped in. "So the image and brand we are trying to create, at least with Marvel Studios or the MDCU - was family-friendly entertainment.
"That's what you delivered with [Spider-Man: Web of Desitny], and sure, [Iron Man] isn't quite as squeaky clean, but it's still within acceptable boundaries. The script proves that."
"But this..." Carrow's voice cracked slightly. "What you are pushing right now goes against everything we thought you were planning for the future."
Regal felt genuinely confused.
What did they think I was planning? He had never laid out some master brand strategy.
When did family-friendly become the locked-in direction?
Finally, Carrow dropped the bomb. "This project you are talking about... you know how absurd it sounds? It's a complete U-turn from Spider-Man's no-kill rule. This bastard is way past the usual anti-hero line. There is too much blood spilling every time he shows up."
Tolliver shook his head in disbelief. "Deadpool? More like Bloodpool."
The room fell silent as both executives stared at Regal, waiting for an explanation that would make sense of what they saw as creative suicide.
Regal finally understood.
They thought he had lost his mind proposing a character who broke the fourth wall, made crude jokes, and left body counts in his wake, right after establishing a universe built on friendly neighborhood heroes and redemptive billionaires.
"So." He said slowly. "You think this kills our brand."
"Think?" Carrow almost laughed. "Regal, this doesn't just kill our brand, it takes our brand out back and shoots it execution-style while making jokes about it."
"He is a complete maniac of a lunatic..." Tolliver added, his voice growing more agitated.
"He doesn't have a place in our MDCU." Carrow concluded firmly.
That's when it hit Regal like a freight train.
Of course they were reacting strongly to this.
How could he have been so blind?
For him, someone who had already witnessed the cultural phenomenon [Deadpool] would become, proposing this film felt like the most natural next step after [Iron Man].
The merc with a mouth was Marvel's most infamous 'hero,' after all.
But he had completely overlooked the elephant in the room.
[Deadpool] wasn't going to be an easy sell.
Hell, it wasn't even about the complications that would come during shooting.
Just getting the thing greenlit was going to be like pulling teeth.
In a different world, even Marvel Studios themselves hadn't expected [Deadpool] to explode the way it did.
The budget they had allocated was practically pocket change compared to what they were pumping into other projects at the time.
The whole production was held together with duct tape and Ryan Reynolds' personal credit card.
What could be more absurd than the lead actor having to fund his own superhero movie because the studio wouldn't give them enough resources?
Actually, there was something worse.
That iconic ending where Deadpool forgets all his weapons in the taxi?
That wasn't supposed to happen. It should have been an action-packed finale with gunfights blazing and explosions galore.
But since they didn't have the budget to shoot it properly, they decided to cut corners.
Somehow, it turned out to be genius.
The entire making of that film had been about overcoming one impossible hurdle after another.
Regal stared at his two partners, both looking at him like he had suggested they start making p*rn films.
And here I am, expecting them to just... go along with it?
"Look." Regal said slowly. "I know how this sounds—"
"Do you?" Carrow interrupted. "Because from where I am sitting, it sounds like you want to take our family-friendly brand and drive it off a cliff while the main character makes jokes about it."
Regal couldn't help but smile at how accurate that description actually was.
"Okay, for a second forget about Deadpool. I never wanted to box MDCU as a family-friendly movie maker..." Regal leaned forward. "I want to make movies for everyone."
Regal challenged. "You want to box Marvel? It's good for the short run, but in the long run, isn't it going to come back and bite us?"
Carrow laughed, actually laughed. "Regal... how much of a 'short run' are you talking about? Fifteen years? A decade and a half isn't short for us."
"How many years do you think these superhero movies are going to be relevant?" Tolliver added, his tone growing colder. "I don't think more than twenty, tops. At some point, audiences will get exhausted. There is no long run to begin with here. So no need to prepare for anything beyond maximizing profits while we can."
The words hit Regal like a slap.
These two guys... they know exactly what they are getting into.
They were boxing Marvel into family-friendly content knowing full well how it would end, just like it had in the future of a distant world.
But instead of fighting that inevitable decline, they had decided to reap maximum benefits while the getting was good.
Not just from MDCU.
From him too.
They saw him as nothing more than a money-printing machine.
Strangely, Regal didn't feel bad about it. The realization was almost... liberating.
Seeing the dawning understanding on Regal's face, both Tolliver and Carrow smiled like sharks scenting blood.
"Finally, you get it." Carrow said, relief evident in his voice. "We thought this was the image you wanted all along, and that we were on the same page."
"The main reason we agreed to make a deal with you is that as much as you are a good filmmaker with the ability to create products we like, your business skills are solid, your marketing instincts sharp. More than anything, you were smart—you only took deals that were worth it, and you gave us equivalent value in return."
Tolliver's expression grew calculating. "But now that we see you..."
"You're quite the greedy man." Carrow finished, his tone almost admiring.
"It seems we were wrong from the beginning. I can't get a read on what's running through your mind at this point."
It was surprising for Regal to be called out and labeled as greedy, but these two had just revealed their hand completely.
"You can go ahead with the movie if you want." Tolliver said with a resigned shrug. "Actually, we won't oppose it. Not like we can even if we wanted to..."
That caught Regal off guard, but the pieces clicked into place quickly enough.
What had actually shocked them wasn't Deadpool specifically, it was him refusing to stay within the safe, family-friendly boundaries they had assumed he wanted. That's what had rattled them.
They had pegged him as someone content with a predictable 10-15 year run, not someone who wanted to push beyond those limits.
That's why they called him greedy.
Even they had never thought of going that far.
Or more accurately, they thought it was impossible.
No matter how high someone flies, there is always a ceiling, except Regal was acting like he didn't believe in ceilings.
"Huh?" Regal blinked. "So in the end, after all this back and forth, you are just going along with me?"
"Like I said, even if we wanted to object, we can't back down now." Carrow replied, a wry smile playing at his lips. "Especially not when our old man is completely head over heels for you."
So in the end, in one way or another, the [Deadpool] project did get locked in, but definitely not in the way Regal had expected it to happen.
Even if this conversation had gone according to his plan, [Deadpool] wouldn't be happening any time soon.
They just happened to stumble upon [Deadpool] conversation, while discussing the budgeting of [Iron Man].
Of course, both Carrow and Tolliver don't have any idea of the character, but when Regal took time to explain it - was when things got messy.
Also Regal didn't expect them to like it the first time either - clearly prepared to give them time to think over.
In fact it was the reason he bought it up so early.
And now seeing their reactions, even if [Deadpool] did get greenlit somewhere down the line, he wouldn't be the one directing it, that much was crystal clear from Carrow and Tolliver's reactions.
Writer, maybe. If he was lucky.
But if Regal was being completely honest with himself, the idea of leaving everything to Ryan Reynolds actually sounded... appealing.
More than appealing, really. Promising.
Reynolds had lived and breathed that character for years, fought tooth and nail to get it made in the original timeline.
The man had the passion, the vision, and most importantly, the unhinged commitment needed to pull off something that crazy.
Regal had the roadmap, sure, but Reynolds had the soul of it.
He had decided after meeting with Reynolds and discussing his takes on the character.
See if the man had that same manic gleam in his eyes that had made the original Deadpool possible.
See if he was ready to bet his career on a foul-mouthed, fourth-wall-breaking antihero that every studio executive would hate on sight.
For now, though, he had Iron Man to finish….
Wrong to start.
So back to their main conversation–
"Good, now moving on, the budget you estimated is around 120 million USD."
.
….
[To be continued…]
★─────⇌•★•⇋─────★
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