Then social media latched onto the theory that Finish It With Us Director and co-lead Justin Baldoni inspired “Nicepool” to Deadpool and Wolverine—to the point that the actor’s legal team, led by Bryan Freedman, answered it perfectly—there is a new strike today against the wife of Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, that is featured in the film as Ladypool. This time, Baldoni’s team brought Marvel’s Kevin Feige and Disney’s Bob Iger into the fray.
According to differentBaldoni’s lawyers used the accusation as a basis to issue a litigation hold letter calling on Disney and Marvel Studios to retain “documents and data” related to Baldoni and “Nicepool.”
In the course of Deadpool and Wolverine and Finish It With Us press tours, the feud between Baldoni and Lively (who starred opposite Baldoni in the Baldoni-directed film) became fraught with public images of each other over apparent creative differences. It all led to Lively filing a lawsuit against Baldoni in December over allegations of misconduct on the set of their drama; then, Baldoni Lively and the New York Times countersued that it is said that the actress and the newspaper intentionally misinterpreted the leaked texts to support Lively’s case.
The particular moments of Deadpool and Wolverine echoing Lively’s claims against Baldoni included Nicepool’s lines about Ladypool “snapping back” into shape after having a baby and followed that up with “It’s okay, I identify as a feminist”— because Baldoni declared her status as a feminist in her podcast. A deleted scene of Deadpool and Wolverine Nicepool was also seen making a reference to a feminist podcast; that last scene especially helped “Baldoni is Nicepool?” the theory went viral.
The litigation letter presented by Baldoni’s group asks Marvel and Disney to preserve “any and all documents related to the development of the ‘Nicepool’ character” in addition to “communications related to the development, writing , and filming storylines and scenes featuring ‘Nicepool'” and “all documents relating to or showing a deliberate attempt to mock, harass, mock, intimidating, or bullying Baldoni through the character of ‘Nicepool.'” Variety said the letter it looked at was dated January 7; amid the ongoing fires in Los Angeles, not much had moved on that front because the two have not commented on the case since.
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