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Marvel has filed a legal request in the hope of removing itself from Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit against his It Ends with Us co-star Blake Lively.
Baldoni and Lively are involved in a number of legal actions related to her claim that she was sexually harassed by the director, and his claim that she and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, attempted to destroy his career.
As part of the latter suit, Baldoni requested in January that Marvel and Disney retain “any and all documents relating to the development of the ‘Nicepool’ character” as well as “communications relating to the development, writing, and filming of storylines and scenes featuring ‘Nicepool.’”
He believes the Deadpool & Wolverine character was created by the film’s star Reynolds to mock him, and asked the studio to preserve “all documents relating to or reflecting a deliberate attempt to mock, harass, ridicule, intimidate, or bully Baldoni through the character of ‘Nicepool.’”
People reports that last Friday Marvel Entertainment, LLC submitted a letter to Judge Lewis J. Liman in the Southern District of New York asking that the court “quash the subpoena issued to Marvel” and “issue a protective order prohibiting the disclosure of Marvel’s confidential documents by any party or other nonparty in this action."
Baldoni’s lawyers responded Monday, opposing Marvel’s attempts to remove itself from the suit.
In their own letter, Baldoni’s lawyers said: “On April 7, 2025, my office met and conferred with Marvel’s counsel via telephone about the objections, and although we attempted in good faith to address Marvel’s purported concerns about confidentiality and relevancy, Marvel’s counsel interrupted us, refusing to engage in that discussion.”
He added: "Instead, Marvel’s counsel interjected and stated he merely wanted to know what documents the Wayfarer Parties 'really' needed, regardless of the Subpoena’s demand for all documents concerning: (a) the creation, development, modification or portrayal of Ryan Reynolds’ 'Nicepool' character from Deadpool & Wolverine; and (b) Justin Baldoni.”
In March, Reynolds filed his own motion to dismiss Baldoni‘s lawsuit against him, arguing Baldoni cannot sue over “hurt feelings.”
In the legal filing, Reynolds’ lawyers did not dispute that Nicepool is based on Baldoni, but argued that Baldoni had shown “thin-skinned outrage” by complaining.
Baldoni also accused Reynolds of calling him a “sexual predator.” Reynolds’s lawyers did not deny this, but instead argued that could not be regarded as defamation if Reynolds genuinely believed it.
The motion stated: “The law establishes that calling someone a ‘predator’ amounts to constitutionally protected opinion … While Mr Baldoni ‘may not appreciate being called’ a predator, those hurt feelings do not give rise to legal claims.”
The filing went on to argue that rather than offering a provably false statement of fact, Reynolds was simply offering his “unabashed negative opinion of Mr Baldoni’s character.”
English (US) ·