Taylor Swift shouldn’t be in Deadpool & Wolverine, but it’s not because it will anger the toxic fanboys. The bigger concern with a possible appearance is that its only purpose would be to feed into Swifties’ parasocial relationship with her.

Ever since the third Deadpool movie was announced, rumors have swirled that Swift will make a cameo. Given the film’s multiversal premise, anything is possible and it’s expected to have a few exciting and wild cameos. Fans have been clamoring for appearances from Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Loki (Tom Hiddleston), and even for the introduction of Walker Scobell as Kidpool. Most of these cameos would make sense, given that they are existing MCU/X-Men or comic book characters. The only rumored cameo that would strike viewers as somewhat random would be an appearance from Swift.

Now, Swift is arguably one of the world’s most famous and recognizable celebrities, and she has boasted movie appearances before. She had a voice role in the Lorax and recently appeared briefly in Amsterdam. As a result, the MCU would honestly be lucky to tap her for a role. The problem isn’t that Swift shouldn’t appear in the MCU period. It’s that she shouldn’t appear specifically in Deadpool & Wolverine because the movie wouldn’t be including her as recognition of her stardom, but largely because of her friendship with Reynolds.

A Taylor Swift Deadpool 3 cameo would feed into an odd fan dynamic

Deadpool & Wolverine has started to play into the incessant Swift cameo rumors by having Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool parody Swift’s album cover and having the titular characters wear friendship bracelets. Initially, though, there was little evidence that Swift was going to appear in the movie. The biggest reason people started talking about it is because she is friends with Reynolds and Blake Lively. The couple and their children seem to have a very sweet relationship with Swift.

They have attended sports games together, and Swift even went trick-or-treating with the couple for Halloween in 2021. The singer also extended a heartwarming gesture to the couples’ daughters by name-dropping them in her song lyrics, which must’ve been huge for the little girls. There’s no question that the friendship is cute and heartwarming, but fans have taken their investment in the friendship to the extreme. It’s not much different from how the media and fans swarmed Swift’s relationship with Travis Kelce. Anytime Swift is in the same vicinity as Reynolds and Lively, it makes headlines in every major pop culture news outlet. Every outing results in numerous photographs and another entry in extensive friendship “timelines” online.

The media reports on this because fans eat it up. It’s ultimately just another layer to Swifties’ parasocial relationship with Swift. Instead of just enjoying her music and admiring her, they have a one-sided relationship with Swift, where something as simple as her having friends warrants hours of investigation, speculation, and discussion. The rumors that she was going to be in Deadpool & Wolverine were almost solely because of this parasocial relationship and unusual investment in a celebrity friendship.

A Deadpool & Wolverine cameo would be a disservice to Swift

To be fair, any appearance from Swift in any movie will always be at least partially for fan service. However, there’s a difference between the studio pursuing Swift because she’s an incredible pop star with a huge fanbase and the studio pursuing her because she’s “Ryan Reynolds’ friend.” It’s not uncommon for celebrities to have their friends and families appear in their movies in cameo or guest appearances, especially in comedies. With how many devoted fans Marvel has, though, there’s more pressure for it to put thought into cameos instead of just giving cameos based on association.

After all, one wouldn’t want Deadpool & Wolverine to repeat the mistakes of The Flash, which gave its biggest cameo to Nicolas Cage just because of his star power and past association with Superman, instead of finding someone who had a more significant and recognizable role in the character’s history. Perhaps one day Swift could appear in the MCU as Dazzler, but there’s not any reason for her to specifically appear in the new Deadpool movie, especially when viewers would likely be more excited to see some familiar TVA agents or past Marvel heroes.

Additionally, Marvel shouldn’t pull an NFL. Recently, the NFL began randomly showing Swift throughout its games. Even though Swift didn’t ask for her face to be shown during the football games, she was the one who faced the backlash from sexist trolls while the NFL sat back and enjoyed the attention. If Marvel randomly sticks her in Deadpool & Wolverine to catch the attention of parasocial fans, it would also likely be setting her up for attacks from sexist fanboys while using her as a cash grab. Ultimately, if Marvel genuinely wants Swift in the MCU, it should prove it and put the work into finding the perfect role and place for her within the universe instead of giving her a cameo solely because of her association with Reynolds.

Now, Swift is arguably one of the world’s most famous and recognizable celebrities, and she has boasted movie appearances before. She had a voice role in the Lorax and recently appeared briefly in Amsterdam. As a result, the MCU would honestly be lucky to tap her for a role. The problem isn’t that Swift shouldn’t appear in the MCU period. It’s that she shouldn’t appear specifically in Deadpool & Wolverine because the movie wouldn’t be including her as recognition of her stardom, but largely because of her friendship with Reynolds.