The Truth About Why Donald Glover Walked Away From 'Deadpool: The Animated Series'

By Brian Richards | TV | March 28, 2018 |

By Brian Richards | TV | March 28, 2018 |

Last May, it was announced to the joy of many (especially Jodi, who did the Cabbage Patch for damn near an hour when the news broke) that Donald Glover and his brother, writer Stephen Glover, are developing a Deadpool animated series for FX. You know, the cable network that made all of us realize how hot Timothy Olyphant is, and also where the actors drop more F-bombs than McNulty and Bunk investigating a crime scene.

Let’s not pretend as if Jodi was the only one happy about this news. Many people, especially those familiar with Glover, and how incredibly talented he has proven himself to be on Community and Atlanta, were looking forward to seeing this become a reality.

But earlier this week, it was announced that the deal fell apart, and that Marvel decided to part ways with Donald Glover, Stephen Glover, and FX over “creative differences.” (If Phil Lord and Chris Miller directed a couple of episodes, only to piss off the bosses at Marvel with their lack of experience and insistence on multiple takes, I wouldn’t be surprised.) Which meant that there would no longer be a Deadpool animated series with Donald Glover calling the shots, and which also meant that many of us responded like so when we found out about this:

(I’m quite certain that Jodi’s response when she heard the news was similar to Luther’s in that GIF.)

While most people were wondering why the Glover brothers, FX, and Marvel couldn’t come to an agreement (Donald Glover’s monumentally busy schedule working on Atlanta/Solo: A Star Wars Story/Childish Gambino albums and tours/any other projects he might have on the horizon? Marvel wanting to stay on Disney’s good side for reasons unknown by not having a for-mature-audiences-only animated series airing on cable television?), and whether or not Ron Howard would end up getting hired at the last minute to work on Deadpool: The Animated Series (which wouldn’t be such a bad idea if only just to hear him voice Deadpool, and it certainly wouldn’t be any less weird than his cameo in the video for Jamie Foxx’s “Blame It.”), Donald Glover decided to set the record straight this morning, and let us know that a busy schedule was definitely not the reason why he could no longer work on Deadpool. He even shared his script pages from the Season 1 finale on Twitter, even though this was not the actual script for the Season 1 finale, but more of a petty and angry Twitter rant in the form of a Deadpool: The Animated Series script. Because Donald Glover tweets about as often as D’Angelo releases albums, and also has a tendency to delete his tweets after a day or two, expect many a screenshot of those tweets and script pages.

Happy reading!

1) For those of you that don’t know who Jeremy “Felon Bae” Meeks is, click here. And for those of you who weren’t aware that Felon Bae just got his girlfriend, Topshop heiress Chloe Green, pregnant, click here.

2) If you’re one of the four people who are completely in the dark about the #WhoBitBeyonce hashtag, and the mystery accompanying it because you’re still too busy trying to figure out who exactly is Becky With The Good Hair, click here for all the necessary details to clue you in.

Y’all are funny. Under no circumstances did I bite Beyonce and if I did it would’ve been a love bite 💋

— Sanaa Lathan (@justsanaa) March 26, 2018

I believe Sanaa Lathan when she says that she didn’t bite Beyoncé. Besides, Sanaa hasn’t aged since Brown Sugar dropped in theaters back in 2002, so if there’s anyone who Sanaa bit in order to absorb their power and immortality, it’s clearly Bianca Lawson, the Highlander.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if Jennifer Lawrence is the one who actually bit Beyoncé. She has shown questionable judgment in the past when it comes to things she’d find funny and awesome (scratching her ass on rocks that are considered sacred to native Hawaiians, starring in the movie Passengers)and she also has a very healthy appetite, so if she were feeling a little bit hungry while exchanging hugs with Beyoncé…who knows what Jennifer would feel inclined to do?

Modesty, thy name is Childish Gambino Deadpool.

To be fair, that same question was asked about Jon Bernthal as The Punisher, and about that character getting his own series on Netflix. Mostly because that show turned out to actually be good and worth watching. Death Wish, the other recent tale about a violent, gun-loving white man…not so much.

Damn, now I’m hungry for some Jamaican food. I could always go visit my mom at her house in Urinetown Staten Island and ask her to hook me up with a plate of dumplings and salt fish, as only she can. It would certainly be worth seeing all of the Blue Lives Matter flags hanging from so many houses, and Blue Lives Matter ribbons tied around so many trees. Thank you, Staten Island, for reminding me why I’m glad to be back home in Brooklyn.

As for Marvel, and much of its fanbase: Considering that a lot of them got mad because MJ in Spider-Man: Homecoming was played by a Black woman, and not by a generic white woman off the cover of Vanity Fair’s Young Hollywood issue for them to jerk off to in the privacy of their grandmothers’ homes, Deadpool’s not entirely wrong.

Yeah, other than Mahershala Ali and Alfre Woodard (and also Alfre Woodard and Theo James making bedroom eyes at each other in nearly every scene they appeared in together), Season 1 of Feel-Good Minority Show Luke Cage left a lot to be desired. Fingers crossed for an uptick in quality in Season 2.

“Hey! Did Deadpool just crack jokes about police officers murdering Black people?!

Yes, he did, Indignant Reader.

Yes, he did.

Well, damn! Judging from those script pages, Deadpool: The Animated Series would’ve been all of the things that Deadpool is known for: action-packed, darkly funny, and very entertaining to watch. And with Donald Glover’s involvement, all of the razor-sharp humor and social commentary that he’s known for contributing to Atlanta could’ve given Deadpool: The Animated Series an edge that would make it even better than the film adaptations of Deadpool. But unfortunately, we’ll never truly know.

Could be worse. The deal with Marvel could have actually gone through, and FX and the Glovers would probably and inexplicably change the name of the show from Deadpool to Sweet Jesus. And the last thing they need is a bunch of angry Canadians coming after them. We all saw Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which taught us all to underestimate the righteous vengeance and furious anger of the Canadian people at our own peril.

Oh, well. At least we still have Atlanta (and its recaps, which you can find here on Pajiba.com), as well as Deadpool 2 (a.k.a. “the comic book film that is so confident about its box office success that it still felt the need to include accused sexual abuser and sentient pile of smegma T.J. Miller in its newest trailer”), which opens in theaters on May 18, 2018.

Now if you’ll excuse me, Dustin and I need to have a serious conversation about the fact that he’s only been paying me in Bitcoin.

(Bitcoin Alert goes off)

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