It still isn’t over. Justin Baldoni’s legal feud with “It Ends With Us” costar Blake Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds is now extending to Disney, as the director demands they hold onto documentation about Nicepool — a character in “Deadpool & Wolverine” that is allegedly intended to “bully” him.
Baldoni’s lawyers sent a litigation hold letter, viewed by People, last week to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and Disney CEO Bob Iger, asking for “any and all documents relating to the development of the Nicepool character.”
Attorneys representing the 40-year-old “Jane the Virgin” alum are on the lookout for evidence of “a deliberate attempt to mock, harass, ridicule, intimidate or bully Baldoni through the character of Nicepool” among the “communications relating to the development, writing and filming of storylines and scenes featuring Nicepool.”
The multiverse plot point of “Deadpool & Wolverine” means that 48-year-old Reynolds, who co-wrote and stars as Deadpool, encounters dozens of incarnations of the character — including a masked female “Ladypool” played by real life wife Lively, 37, and the long-haired “Nicepool.”
The latter, also portrayed by Reynolds, says of Ladypool’s postpartum body: “You can’t even tell.”
After the original Deadpool cautions against such a remark, Nicepool responds: “That’s OK, I identify as a feminist.”
Just before Christmas, Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni and his crisis PR team, accusing the former of on-set sexual harassment — including comments intended to shame her for her postpartum body — and a retaliatory smear campaign.
The New York Times’ deep dive into the accusations, which included excerpts of Baldoni and his team’s communications, is the subject of their $250 million lawsuit, filed on New Year’s Eve.
The same day, Lively sued Baldoni in federal court in New York, reiterating the allegations in her initial complaint.