Marvel Asks Court to Be Removed from Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s Legal Drama Over Nicepool Character

• Marvel has requested to be removed from the legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, over Ryan Reynolds’ Nicepool character
• The company is asking Judge Lewis J. Liman for the court to “quash the subpoena issued to Marvel,” among other requests in their letter
• Baldoni’s attorneys responded in a letter of their own three days later, requesting for the court to deny Marvel’s motion

Marvel is requesting to be removed from the ongoing legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, over the Nicepool character introduced in Deadpool & Wolverine.

On Friday, April 25, Marvel Entertainment, LLC submitted a letter to Judge Lewis J. Liman in the Southern District of New York, requesting that the court “quash the subpoena issued to Marvel from” Baldoni’s Wayfarer Parties, “and issue a protective order prohibiting the disclosure of Marvel’s confidential documents by any party or other nonparty in this action.”

“Alternatively, Marvel requests that the Court stay the return date of the Subpoena and related document requests until after the Court decides the pending motion to dismiss of Counterclaim Defendant Ryan Reynolds,” the request added, as seen in court documents obtained by PEOPLE.

The letter and subsequent request pertain to Baldoni, 41, seeking to gain communications made about Reynolds’ Nicepool character earlier this year in an attempt to show it was used to “bully” him, as the It Ends with Us director-actor’s legal battle responding to costar Lively’s sexual harassment and retaliation claims advances.

Baldoni’s lawyers sent a litigation hold letter on Jan. 7 to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige and Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger, demanding they hold onto documents that mention Baldoni for potential use in court.

According to the letter, viewed by PEOPLE, they want “any and all documents relating to the development of the Nicepool character” and “communications relating to the development, writing and filming of storylines and scenes featuring Nicepool.”

To support his claim, Baldoni’s legal team is looking for documents “relating to or reflecting a deliberate attempt to mock, harass, ridicule, intimidate or bully” the Jane the Virgin alum “through the character of Nicepool,” among other subjects.

In a response to Marvel’s Friday letter requesting removal of the company from the legal back-and-forth, attorneys for Baldoni submitted their own letter to Judge Liman on Monday, April 28, opposing Marvel’s “motion to quash the Wayfarer Parties’ Subpoena and for a protective order.”

Baldoni’s lawyers argued in the letter, obtained by PEOPLE, that Marvel “did not meet and confer with us ‘in a good faith effort to resolve this dispute,’ ” quoting a claim from the company’s letter.

“On April 2, 2025, Marvel sent the Wayfarer Parties a letter containing its objections to the Subpoena, which are the same objections set forth in its recent letter-motion,” Baldoni’s attorneys alleged. “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.”

“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,” they claimed.

Nicepool is a minor haracter that Lively’s husband Reynolds, 48, plays in Deadpool & Wolverine, the blockbuster 2024 film that Reynolds also co-wrote. The character, complete with a man bun, describes himself as a “feminist” in the film and calls the character Ladypool — played by Lively, 37 — “gorgeous” and says, “She just had a baby too and you can’t even tell.”

Lively first sued Baldoni in December 2024, alleging sexual harassment and a retaliatory smear campaign. Wayfarer Studios, Baldoni’s production company, was among others named in the suit.

Baldoni denied the allegations and countersued Lively and Reynolds, as well as the couple’s publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane’s PR firm Vision PR, Inc., for $400 million, alleging defamation, civil extortion and more.

Amid the legal battle, Baldoni has been spending time in Hawaii, where he is focusing on his family and staying out of the spotlight.

Meanwhile, Lively premiered her movie Another Simple Favor in New York City this past Sunday, April 27. She was honored as one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people for 2025 at the TIME100 Gala three days earlier, where she gave a speech that briefly (though not directly) alluded to her legal battle with Baldoni.