New Taylor Swift Lyric Reignites Deadpool & Wolverine Theory
Taylor Swift is a self-proclaimed "mastermind" — so is she being clever yet again and dropping hints about her next project?
In the leadup to Swift's most recent opus, "The Tortured Poets Department," fans kept spotting doubles and twos everywhere, from clock times at her Spotify installation at The Grove in Los Angeles to her own social media posts with a peace sign emoji. Those Easter eggs were ultimately clarified when, at 2 AM EST on April 19, Swift revealed it all: "The Tortured Poets Department" is a double album, with the second half dubbed "The Anthology." Those sneaky little references to the number two meant something (the full run time of the combined albums is also, as it happens, two hours and two minutes).
That's why some fans think that the final word of the "first" album, "The Tortured Poets Department," means something significant. In the stunning, self-referential song "Clara Bow," Swift name-drops the first Hollywood "it girl" Bow, "Fleetwood Mac" songstress Stevie Nicks, and herself, hilariously and darkly implying that someone will eventually be told they look like her but better ("You look like Taylor Swift / In this light / We're loving it / You've got edge she never did.") Then the song closes with a quick couplet: "The future's bright / Dazzling."
Could that last word possibly be a reference to a future Swift appearance in the MCU? Rumors have been swirling for months that the record-smashing Grammy winner will play Dazzler in "Deadpool 3." So how likely is that, really — and why do fans think it's even feasible?
Fans of both Taylor Swift and Marvel have been clamoring for her to play Dazzler
Throughout her career, Taylor Swift has largely stuck to music — occasional acting roles aside — though she does pull double duty on many of her music videos, with her directing prowess on videos like "Karma" and "All Too Well: The Short Film" earning her a first-look movie deal from Searchlight. Still, fans who love both Swift and the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been buzzing for some time and wondering if the "Bejeweled" singer might play a mutant known as Dazzler, a character from "X-Men" lore whose power is that she can take sound and turn it into "dazzling" light beams.
The rumors have, in part, been fueled by Swift's close friendship with "Deadpool" star and mastermind in his own right, Ryan Reynolds, who plays the snarky masked superhero. Swift is tight with both Reynolds and his wife, actress Blake Lively; not only was Lively frequently on Swift's arm for Kansas City Chiefs games in 2023 (Swift is dating the team's tight end Travis Kelce), but songs on Swift's Grammy winning album "folklore" namecheck Lively and Reynolds' daughters Inez, James, and Betty. Reynolds has also convinced major A-listers, like Brad Pitt, to briefly cameo in the "Deadpool" films before. So is Swift telling fans something yet again by ending "The Tortured Poets Department" on the word "dazzling?" Maybe.
No, the final word of Clara Bow likely isn't an MCU reference ... but perhaps it could be
Has Taylor Swift addressed any of the rumors about potentially playing Dazzler in the MCU? No, she has not. Has she confirmed what the last word of "Clara Bow" means? She has not done that either. She has, however, discussed what inspired her to write the song in the first place.
"I used to sit in record labels trying to get a record deal when I was a little kid. And they'd say, 'you know, you remind us of' and then they'd name an artist, and then they'd kind of say something disparaging about her, 'but you're this, you're so much better in this way or that way,'" Swift says in a commentary track that can be accessed with Amazon Alexa devices and pairs with "The Tortured Poets Department" and its lyrically dense songs (per Variety). "And that's how we teach women to see themselves, as like you could be the new replacement for this woman who's done something great before you."
It's still not entirely out of the realm of possibility, though; Swift once put trees in a music video, which fans deduced meant her album "Lover" would release on Arbor Day. (It did.) The word "dazzling" is also repeated a few times during "Clara Bow," so it certainly could be significant. Swifties who love the MCU, though, might want to keep their expectations reasonable.
Rumors about Taylor Swift joining the MCU are fun, but feel unlikely
Based on how often you've probably seen her name in print or heard it lately, you likely know that Taylor Swift is currently one of the most popular and in-demand people on the planet. Despite some misgivings about its length and raw, emotional approach, "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology" has earned plenty of positive reviews from critics, and its success in both streaming and physical sales is absolutely staggering. Swift's world-spanning Eras Tour, which is currently on a break as she celebrates her newest release, is set to resume in Paris, France on May 9, and its accompanying concert video marked a huge purchase — and triumph — for Bob Iger and Disney+. Swift somehow managed to write, record, and produce a whopping 31-song album while on tour and during her high-profile relationship with Travis Kelce, where she's taken time out of her already packed schedule to attend his games (including the 2024 Super Bowl, from which the Kansas City Chiefs emerged victorious). When would she have time to film anything for "Deadpool 3?"
That all said, nothing is truly impossible when it comes to Swift, a wildly prolific artist who happens to have a wicked, sharp sense of humor. Maybe she'll do Ryan Reynolds a favor and appear as Dazzler, only to have the character find a clever way to disappear quickly; anything bigger than a cameo does seem out of the question. Fans will have to wait until July 26 to get answers about that, but they can stream or buy "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology" now and search for more potential clues.