Superhero cinema’s goofiest goofball has finally found his straight man, and he wasn’t one of the actors rumored to be up for the role.
Josh Brolin will co-star in the sequel to Deadpool, according to Hollywood Reporter, and what’s more he’ll be playing Cable, the former leader of The New Mutants and X-Force who squared off against “the merc with a mouth” in Deadpool’s first appearance, waaaaaaay back in New Mutants #98, which came out 26 years ago.
In the years that followed Cable and Deadpool became unlikely co-stars, the self-seriousness of the older mutant playing off of the unabashed silliness of the younger antihero. Their adventures spanned fifty issues of the comic book Cable & Deadpool, from 2004 to 2008, and now they are generally considered two of the best mismatched partners in comic book history.
Marvel Comics
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The appearance of Cable in the second Deadpool movie was, of course, teased by Deadpool himself in his first blockbuster outing. At the end of the credits the character, played by Ryan Reynolds, not only revealed that Cable would be in the sequel but that they were seriously considering casting Keira Knightley, a decision that would have been rather off-kilter but, perhaps, kind of genius.
In the months that followed, however, all the casting rumors for Cable were as conventional as you might expect from Hollywood, leaning towards older white men who looked quite a bit like the comic book version of the character. Amongst the actors popularly rumored for the role – with varying degrees of credibility – included Brad Pitt (World War Z), Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals), Kyle Chandler (Manchester By The Sea), Pierce Brosnan (No Escape), and David Harbour (Stranger Things).
All of those rumors, of course, turned out to be total hogwash. Even if some or all of these thespians were in talks for the character, they didn’t get the part, and that’s what matters. Instead, Cable will be the latest comic book role for Josh Brolin, an Oscar-nominated actor who also previously appeared in Jonah Hex, Men in Black 3 and Guardians of the Galaxy, and who will reprise his role as the Marvel supervillain Thanos in the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War.
The Deadpool sequel is currently expected to be released in 2018.
Eight Iconic Superhero Fights You Will Never See in a Movie:
Top Photo: Matthias Nareyek/WireImage
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
Eight Iconic Superhero Fights You Will Never See in a Movie
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Avengers vs. X-Men
Marvel's biggest superhero teams came to blows in the epic, multi-series crossover Avengers vs. X-Men (a.k.a. AvX) in 2012, but the two franchises are owned by different studios - Avengers at Disney, X-Men at Fox - and it's unlike they will ever want to share the profits on what could be the biggest movie ever produced.
Photo: Marvel
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Batman vs. Guy Gardner
Warner Bros. owns the rights to both Batman and Guy Gardner, Earth's jerkiest Green Lantern, but the odds that they'll actually put Gardner in a movie - especially when Hal Jordan, John Stewart and Kyle Rayner are more popular - are pretty slim. So the iconic fight in which Batman took Guy out in a single punch will, sadly, probably never make it in front of the cameras.
Photo: DC
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Daredevil vs. Sub-Mariner
In one of the great early Marvel superhero fights, Sub-Mariner emerged from Atlantis to destroy humanity, and only Daredevil was around to stop him. Outmatched in every way, Daredevil fought until he collapsed. Sub-Mariner respected his fearlessness so much he figured humanity was worth sparing. Both characters are owned by Marvel, but the studio is still trying to get the rights to Sub-Mariner sorted out after the character was originally optioned by Universal.
Photo: Marvel
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The Hulk vs. The Thing
The strongest, most misunderstood monsters in the Marvel Universe have a long and storied history of beating the crap out of each other. Who is strongest? Who is toughest? We may never know in live-action, since Fox owns the rights to Fantastic Four and Marvel's got The Hulk under their own banner.
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Marvel vs. DC
It took decades for Marvel and DC to set aside their differences long enough for a comic book crossover between their competing superhero universes, and it will probably be at least that long before Marvel Studios and Warner Bros. seriously consider letting Batman fight Captain America, Superman fight Thor, and so on and so forth.
Photo: Marvel and DC
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Superboy vs. Superboy Prime
The teenaged clone of Superman and Lex Luthor repeatedly fought an alternate reality Superboy who was a dangerously insane mass murderer. Yeah, even though Warner Bros. obviously owns both Superboy and Superboy Prime, the odds that we'll ever see their weird, epic, head-exploding battle on the big screen are extremely low.
Photo: DC
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Superman vs. Muhammad Ali
Aliens have challenged Earth's mightiest champion, but when Superman steps forward, the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali points out that he's not really from Earth. So they fight to prove who is truly the greatest, and sure enough, Muhammad Ali kicks Superman's ass (in all fairness, the hero's powers were deactivated, and he put up a good fight). But it seems highly unlikely that Warner Bros. will decide to send Superman back in time to fight Ali in his prime, doesn't it?
Photo: DC
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Wolverine vs. Anyone Cool
In the Marvel Comics, fighting Wolverine is like a rite of passage. He's had iconic tussles with The Hulk, Captain America and Spider-Man, and was thrown head-to-head against any rookie hero that the publisher wanted to prove was a badass. But Wolverine is owned by Fox, who only have the rights to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. We will probably never see Wolverine fight an Avenger in a live-action movie, and that sucks.
Photo: Marvel
