Donald Glover mauls Marvel in 'script' for canceled 'Deadpool' cartoon

Donald Glover may not be overseeing a Deadpool animated series anymore, but he couldn’t resist the opportunity to take a parting shot at Marvel on his way out the door. Last week, the Emmy-winning Atlanta star and his brother, Stephen Glover, parted ways with FXX and Marvel Television over the planned cartoon spin-off of the popular comic book hero, who will return to the big screen in May’s highly anticipated Deadpool 2. At the time, “creative differences” were cited as the reason for that decision — as well as rumors that the Atlanta creator and star was just too busy to fully concentrate on the project. This morning, however, Glover took to Twitter to tweak his former employers with a 15-page script for a fake Deadpool “finale” that proves his timeliness by merrily riffing on current pop-culture obsessions, including the ongoing “who bit Beyoncé” mystery. (Read the full thread below.)

If you read the script carefully, you’ll also see a pointed critique of Marvel, with Glover speculating — through the Merc With a Mouth — about some of the other reasons that might explain Deadpool‘s early death. “Do you think they canceled the show … cause of racism?!” Deadpool says while on a trip to Africa to save the last surviving male northern white rhino, Sudan. (A mission that sadly failed in real life.) “All the writers were black. And the references were pretty black too.” Of course, then he remembers the recent success of Black Panther and starts contemplating other culprits. “We did a whole goat yoga episode. Damn. What was it? … The Marvel stuff I said in it? All I said was Marvel was trying to sell toys to 7-year-old boys and 50-year-old pedophiles. That’s just funny. They’re cool. They get it.”

Glover may be having a laugh at Marvel’s expense, but there’s clearly some frustration on his side about the creative freedoms he wasn’t allowed in the development process — particularly considering that FX has largely taken a carte blanche approach to Atlanta. In one of the most telling passages, Glover-as-Deadpool states: “It just feels like everyone wants something different, but no one wants to do anything different to get it. Doesn’t Marvel have enough feel-good minority shows everyone supports but doesn’t watch? I think our show woulda been funny. I just wanted a place to be honest.”

While Deadpool isn’t in his future, Glover fans can take heart in knowing that they’ll see him getting his geek on this May 25 as the young Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story.


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