Though he was technically linked to the X-Men universe in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the treatment of Deadpool in that film left such a bad taste in fans’ mouths that most would rather forget it. Still, according to producer Simon Kinberg, the plan is for the character to exist in a shared universe with Wolverine and co.
It’s something that Fox has been cooking up for a while now, especially after the success of a certain other studio with superhero crossovers…
“There’s definitely a sort of overall plan that we’ve all been talking about for the X-Men universe now,” Kinberg tells ComicBook.com, “and Deadpool obviously fits into that. So yeah, I guess I would say it's part of certainly an overall timeline and thought process that goes into these films, some of which is inspired by the comics and some which is inspired by seeing what Marvel’s done with telling a larger tapestry and linking all those movies together, even as they stand independently as well. The same kind of thought is going to go into these X-Men movies at Fox.”
Whether this means that meta references to **Deadpool **that appeared on screen before will now be trimmed out remains to be seen, but it also means there’s a chance for better crossovers down the line. With a first Deadpool film finally greenlit for February 2016, there are definite possibilities for the future.