Please Exclude Them From the Narrative

ABLUpdated 18 hours Ago3 Mins read1

Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection, Getty Images

Disney and Marvel are the latest figures who want nothing to do with the ongoing legal disputes between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively, which means we may never know if Nicepool, the man-bunned “male feminist” alter ego of Deadpool, was based on once-man-bunned male feminist Justin Baldoni. In a missive obtained by Deadline on April 29, Wayfarer Studios — Baldoni’s production company he runs alongside Jamey Heath — urged that Judge Liman reject Marvel’s motion to quash the subpoena so that they could learn through discovery whether or not Nicepool was based on Baldoni once and for all.

Marvel has argued that the information they’re unwilling to submit to discovery is “particularly sensitive because they relate to the development of a character in an ongoing movie franchise,” which is to say, they don’t want any kind of Marvel-related spoilers about Deadpool or any of his friends to get leaked through the legal process. It’s a convenient excuse for a studio that prides itself on secret-keeping, cameos, and post-credits scenes: to get involved would ruin the integrity of what Marvel fans have grown to appreciate about the brand. That reasoning feels a little too good to be true, but it is funny to think that the one of the greater creative crises that Marvel could endure ahead of its new Avengers films is that a court proceeding could ruin a major spoiler. To its credit, Wayfarer only wants information relating to Nicepool, but again, who knows if it’ll actually be able to get it.

Marvel is not the only entity looking to get out of this whole debacle while it can, as Taylor Swift has spent the first quarter of this year extricating herself from any involvement. Though initial hearings were abuzz with questions regarding the possibility of Swift — or Reynolds and Lively bestie Hugh Jackman — being forced to testify in this already-messy trial, it’s starting to look like most third parties don’t want to be anywhere near this case.

Lively was absent from Swift’s Super Bowl box this past February amid reports that the latter wasn’t happy to have been invoked by Lively as “one of her dragons” when she and Baldoni disagreed about scenes in It Ends With Us. That Swift would be upset about this is no surprise. Not only does the singer maintain a rigid public image, but it’s gotta suck to learn your friend might have tried to weaponize your relationship without your awareness. People reported that Lively and Swift have since moved on and recovered, with a source close to Swift saying, “Taylor was really hurt by this situation, so she’s relieved they were able to recover from this and put it all behind them because it wasn’t something she took lightly.” Are they actually okay? Maybe — earlier this week, TMZ reported that Travis Kelce unfollowed Ryan Reynolds on Instagram. Perhaps he too is trying to exclude himself from the narrative.

Early criticism of the Wayfarer-Lively case compared the proceedings to the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard libel suit in 2022. While the latter case regarded domestic affairs, as opposed to workplace ones, those legal proceedings were also initially pegged as starry right up until the trial began, and then rumored witnesses like Elon Musk and James Franco never appeared. Celebrities do not want to go to court: They don’t want to be on trial and they don’t want to testify under oath. There is a kind of publicity that’s bad publicity, and in a case with such clearly delineated sides, making a stand for one party or another could have long-term negative effects. Though there are no signs of the Wayfarer-Lively case nearing a settlement any time soon, these plaintiffs might find themselves very lonely when it comes time to go to court.