Taylor Swift joining the MCU could certainly dazzle audiences – pun intended.
While Taylor Swift continues to tour and delight audiences, fans continue to wonder if she will expand her horizons.
One particular rumor continues to tantalize audiences. Even critics of the idea find it intriguing.
Could Taylor Swift join the MCU? In fact, could we see her in make her debut as early as this weekend in Deadpool & Wolverine?
Taylor Swift Suiting Up To Play A Superhero For Marvel?
Taylor Swift is a powerhouse. She is also a recently minted billionaire, and nothing that she does can avoid major headlines.
But sometimes, aspects of her life make headlines without her doing anything at all.
Enter Taylor and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since 2016, there have been rumors that she could be joining the world of super heroes and dastardly villains in a big way. (More on that later.)
The rumors intensified as her friendship with Ryan Reynolds – aka the man behind Deadpool – got more serious. Honestly, if she could put his kids’ names into a song, he could find a cameo for her in one of his movies!
And as it turns out, there is a perfect role of her just waiting to be filled!
Taylor Swift Joining MCU As The Dazzler: The Rumors & How They Started
Obviously, Marvel comics includes thousands upon thousands of characters. Some are very well-known. Others are relatively obscure.
Dazzler may be an unfamiliar name to normies, but she’s a very well-known Marvel character. Specifically, from X-Men. She is a mutant with the ability to convert sound vibrations into light and energy beams.
Now, X-Men: Apocalypse came out in May of 2016. While the film was largely a disappointment to fans of, let’s face it, Marvel’s best line of comics, it did include an important easter egg: a Dazzler album cover in which the mutant character appeared to resemble Taylor Swift.
That means that, for nearly a DECADE, fans have been discussing Taylor taking on the role!
But now, the idea of Taylor playing Dazzler has started to to really take hold again, especially now that X-Men characters are popping up more and more in MCU movies. (Remember, FOX owned the rights to X-Men, so Disney’s hands were tied – until they bought Fox, obv.)
Could Dazzler show up in ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ in July 2024?
Taylor Swift is longtime friends with Ryan Reynolds, who plays the titular Deadpool in Deadpool and Wolverine.
Yes, as the name suggests, with the FOX and Disney merger, Wade Wilson is finally buddying up with the most recognizable X-Men character: Wolverine.
This film will feature Cassandra Nova as a primary antagonist. Cassandra Nova, in comics, is Professor X’s (literal) evil twin. In the womb, Charles Xavier sensed her evil and strangled her, but she somehow returned. In comics, she instigated a Sentinel attack against Genosha, resulting in the slaughter of millions of mutants. (She’s also how Emma Frost gained her iconic secondary mutation, her organic diamond form).
It’s good that Cassandra Nova is appearing in a Deadpool film rather than in something more serious. She’s not a fan-favorite villain, despite her importance in several (Earth-616) comics storylines. But her presence, and Wolverine’s, and those of other mutants suggests the possibility that others — like Dazzler — could appear.
First good sign!
Taylor Swift has more ties to ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ than just Ryan Reynolds
During one of Taylor Swift’s numerous visits to Kansas City Chiefs games to watch her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, play football, last season, she brought not only Ryan Reynolds but also Shawn Levy. While Levy did pop up in Taylor’s All Too Well short film, he is also is the Deadpool and Wolverine director.
Good sign #2!
Levy has wisely evaded questions about Taylor Swift or the MCU when people asked, noting: “I’m no dummy.”
When he was pressed on it more, Levy told The Wrap that same month, “you’re going to have to wait and see.”
Yeah, that’s what they said about Andrew Garfield and Tobey MacGuire in the last Spider-Man movie. We’re not buying it!
Of course, hoping to keep the surprise, you know, a surprise, Ryan himself denied to People Magazine that Swift was in Deadpool 3 back in November 2022.
But that was before shooting had begun on the film. And then in an interview with Fandango that published on Monday, May 20, he sang a different tune, saying that “straight up dishonesty isn’t in the cards” when addressing the rumors.
“Movies like this, there’s so much speculation about so many people that might end up in the film. I saw one that was convinced Elvis was in the movie,” Reynolds teased. “Anything can happen and that’s sort of what I love about this universe. Surprises are the essence of Deadpool.”
Did Disney Spoil The Surprise Themselves?
But let’s take things up another notch!
With the release of any MCU movie comes a few givens: endless press for the stars, unavoidable ads, and a slew of merch for diehard fans to buy.
Now, if you head over to the Disney Store website right now, you’ll find tons of merch to buy based on the Deadpool & Wolverine movie. But, as blogger @disneyboundsolo pointed out, you’ll also find two, newly released Dazzler shirts.
While the shirts feature a drawing of the character, one can not deny just how much like Taylor the picture looks like.
And so, once again, dropping merch before the movie may have ruined the movie!
Thankfully, that didn’t happen when Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, Harry Styles, played Eros, as people who have watched the criminally underrated Eternals will recall.
Who is Dazzler anyway?
Dazzler is a mutant from Marvel’s X-Men comics. She has the ability to convert sound — from ambient noises to music blasting from speakers to her own voice — into various types of energy.
Sometimes, she does this to emit concussive waves, energy shields, or even (less frequently) energy constructs.
Most often, people recognize Dazzler as a comics-universe music star. Sometimes, a pop singer, other times, punk. Either way, when she performs, she really puts on a show.
What would Dazzler’s role be in the MCU?
Truth be told, Dazzler is only sometimes a participant in mutant-related adventures. Often, she has a cameo appearance in comics or on animated projects. We most often see her putting on a performance … since that is her job.
The MCU is massive, yet only has room for so many characters. It is likely that, whether Taylor joins the MCU to play Dazzler or someone else portrays her, her appearance will be for select scenes, or even in the background — entertaining a crowd.
Dazzler sometimes functions as a symbol — showing groups of non-mutants who accept a mutant pop star, or indicating spaces (like Genosha or Krakoa) where mutants are free to use their gifts in public without fear of arrest or murder by baseline humans.
Would Taylor Swift be a good fit as Dazzler?
Taylor Swift is an actress with a growing filmography. Cats is the most famous example of her acting, but perhaps not the most universally beloved.
If Dazzler appears in the MCU in a small role and Taylor portrays her, it’s possible that people could complain. Critics could draw comparisons to Ed Sheeran in Game of Thrones, while fans could say that Disney has wasted her talents.
Truth be told … groups of people will complain about any famous choice. That doesn’t always make it a bad one.
Will Taylor Swift play Blonde Phantom?
On Tuesday, May 21, a jarring report alleged that not only is Marvel developing a Blonde Phantom series for Disney+ . . . but that they’re considering Taylor Swift for this MCU role.
Blonde Phantom is a Marvel Comics character from the Golden Age. She is, historically, a gun-toting secretary with no superpowers whatsoever.
If a Blonde Phantom series does materialize, we’re sure that the MCU iteration will take a less 1950s approach to the character. Even if Taylor Swift does not end up as the lead role.
Originally published at https://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2024/07/taylor-swift-mcu-dazzler/
