The high-profile Ryan Reynolds joke that Justin Baldoni thinks is about him.

As if the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni lawsuits (yes, there are multiple) couldn't get any messier, a whole different movie is being brought into question.

No, I'm not talking about Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us, the movie that started all this. I am referring to Lively's husband's blockbuster film Deadpool & Wolverine.

Apparently, there is a character in the movie that people believe was based on Baldoni.

Watch the trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine. Post continues after video.

Recently, Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman made an appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show. Freedman is representing Baldoni in his lawsuit against the New York Times over their report of a 'smear campaign' against Lively, who filed an earlier lawsuit over sexual misconduct against Baldoni.

On The Megyn Kelly Show, Freedman claimed that Lively and Reynolds took creative control of It Ends With Us.

"What Ryan Reynolds has seemingly done is use his power and influence to not only help Blake Lively take over [It Ends with Us], but he's used it on Deadpool and to make fun of Justin Baldoni," Freedman alleged.

Kelly then played a clip from the third sequel in the superhero franchise featuring Nicepool, a Deadpool variant who has long-flowing locks gathered into a man bun, a hairstyle that mirrors an earlier haircut Baldoni had.

In the scene, Nicepool is introducing himself to Deadpool and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine when he makes a weird comment about Ladypool, who is played by Lively in the film.

"Oh my goodness, wait until you see Ladypool. She is gorgeous. She just had a baby, too, you can't even tell," he says, as he slides a hand down his stomach.

"I don't think you're supposed to say that," Deadpool replies.

"That's okay. I identify as a feminist," Nicepool says.

Justin Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, didn’t hold back on Megyn Kelly: “There’s no question it relates to Justin Baldoni.”

A man bun, a flower shop death, and a loaded line about being “nice” in Deadpool & Wolverine? Ryan Reynolds made Nicepool personal!

Watch the clip: pic.twitter.com/hYjhrdO6Du

— Eric B (@Oflululemon) January 8, 2025

Baldoni has been outspoken about his feminism, so there are similarities between the two. Lively's first lawsuit also mentioned a list of demands she had flagged during the production of It Ends With Us, which included "no more inquiries about Blake's weight" — Lively had given birth to her fourth child, Olin, in 2023.

Baldoni's attorney is convinced the character of 'Nicepool' is a parody of his client. "There's no question it relates to Justin. I mean anybody that can watch that — the hair bun, the comment about the pregnancy — it's pretty obvious what's being done," he stated.

"What do you make of that?" Kelly asked Freedman.

"What I make of that is that if your wife is sexually harassed, you don't make fun of Justin Baldoni," the lawyer replied.

"You don't make fun of the situation. You take it very seriously. File HR complaints. You raise the issue and follow a legal process. What you don't do is mock the person and turn it into a joke."

It's worth noting that Nicepool is clearly Canadian in the film, while Baldoni was born in Ohio in North America.

There are loads of threads on X dedicated to some of the storylines around Nicepool in Deadpool & Wolverine that suggest there were parallels between the character and some of Lively's issues on It Ends With Us.

(3) Additionally, here, in the outtakes, a scene with Nicepool seems to be another direct dig at Justin. Nicepool smugly remarks, “My calling is to host a podcast that monetizes the women’s movement.” This appears to parody Baldoni’s feminist podcast, Man Enough. pic.twitter.com/GAMQMe1XdO

— The Spiritual Shift (@spiritualshift_) January 8, 2025

Along with the pregnancy line, there's a scene with Emma Corrin's Cassandra Nova putting her fingers in Deadpool's brain. In response, he yells "where in God's name is the intimacy coordinator?"

This could be a reference to some of Lively's claims about Baldoni on set, where she claimed that "Mr. Baldoni improvised physical intimacy that had not been rehearsed, choreographed, or discussed with Ms. Lively, with no intimacy coordinator involved," a lawsuit read.

Baldoni claims that Lively turned down an offer to meet with an intimacy coordinator while filming It Ends With Us.

But again, Deadpool's line is also just a sign of the times: films are increasingly speaking more about the need for intimacy coordinators, a conversation happening long before this movie came out.

An outtake shared on X from Deadpool & Wolverine is a little more specific. In one moment, Nicepool smugly shows his true colours, saying, "My calling is to host a podcast that monetises the women's movement."

Baldoni famously hosted a feminist podcast called Man Enough.

That being said, Nicepool is clearly based on a stereotypical faux-woke man, so him hosting a podcast about women does fit the character.

There is one action sequence that is a little harder to explain away.

Nicepool is brutally gunned down towards the end of the film. He is killed by Ladypool, played by Lively, and the first shot hits as he flies in front of a flower shop, much like her character's shop in It Ends With Us.

—

OH MY GOD

WTF

Nice Pool gets killed by Lady Pool in front of a freaking FLOWER SHOP????

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

Wow the animus that Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds had for Justin Baldoni is really astounding. pic.twitter.com/rxTjsYDlNA

— Colonel Kurtz -PopCulture/ Politics/ MarilynManson (@colonelkurtz99) January 7, 2025

It's a little funny! If this is Reynolds' attempt to give his wife back some agency from this whole mess, can we really blame him?

Reynolds is credited as a writer on the film, along with Rhett Reese, Zeb Wells and Paul Wernick, so he definitely had the ability to add his own jokes.

But more importantly, would it even be possible for the real events happening on and off-set on It Ends With Us to end up in the script for Deadpool & Wolverine?

Well, this is where things get interesting. Both movies started filming at almost the exact same time, in May 2023.

Both projects were paused due to the Hollywood writers' strikes, with both It Ends With Us and Deadpool & Wolverine finally wrapping at the end of January 2024.

Which is, ummm…. rather coincidental, right?

Now, between the first half of filming It Ends With Us and when the film resumed after the strikes ended, this is when Lively reportedly met with Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios executive James Heath to give a list of 30 demands that needed to be met in order for production to continue.

Ryan Reynolds was also present for this meeting.

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have been a united front throughout the controversy. Image: Getty.

So, yep, we don't know anything for sure, but it isn't outside the realm of possibilities that some of Baldoni's alleged behaviour that the couple were navigating together could have bled its way into Deadpool & Wolverine.

At the same time, Nicepool works as a character because he's a hilarious archetype of the type of faux-feminist man that we've all come across, especially on the internet. He's a stereotype for a reason.

If Justin sees himself in Nicepool, is that a different issue entirely? And is making fun of annoying men with podcasts particularly groundbreaking? That's a regular Thursday for me.

Reynolds is yet to comment on Baldoni's lawyer's claims.

This isn't the first time that Baldoni's lawyers have roped Reynolds into the controversy.

In his $250 million lawsuit against the New York Times, Baldoni claimed Reynolds "aggressively berated" him during a meeting at the couple's NYC penthouse after Baldoni asked Lively about her weight for a lifting scene in It Ends With Us.

Feature image: Walt Disney Studios/Today Show.