Josh Brolin’s Cable was a major supporting character in Deadpool 2, yet he’s nowhere to be seen in the superhero blockbuster’s sequel. So, why isn’t Cable in Deadpool & Wolverine?
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Why Josh Brolin’s Cable Isn’t in Deadpool & Wolverine
While Cable starts out Deadpool 2 at odds with Wade Wilson, by the time the credits roll, the pair have forged an unlikely partnership. Cable even opts to stick around in the present day, rather than return to his future. As such, it seemed obvious that Brolin would reprise the Cable role in the third Deadpool installment when it eventually arrived. That’s not what wound up happening, however, and Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth teams up with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine, instead. So what gives?
In the film itself, Deadpool quips that Cable didn’t return because of his poor Deadpool 2 focus group scores. That’s just a gag, though. According to Deadpool & Wolverine co-writer Paul Wernick, Cable was originally in the mix, but ultimately missed out because he didn’t tie in with the threequel’s “legacy” undercurrent. Wernick opened up about Cable’s cut cameo in a recent IndieWire interview.
“Yeah, look, we had access to just about everybody, right?” he said. “And creatively, we wanted to tap into this idea of people or characters who didn’t get their proper ending at Fox to pay tribute to them, to give them a legacy. I think on the Cable side, absolutely he was considered. I think it’s just he was just in Deadpool 2. So, the idea of giving him a proper ending, he’s still a character that, my guess is, will appear in the Fox-Marvel mash-up universe at some point, would be our guess. But he didn’t make the cut on this one, unfortunately. We love him and would love to have seen him in it though.”
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Did Any Other Potential Deadpool & Wolverine Cameos Get Cut Besides Cable?
Yep, the Deadpool & Wolverine creative team initially floated the idea of the full Avengers roster showing up. Wernick and fellow scribe Rhett Reese unpacked the scene in the IndieWire interview, noting they pitched it to Marvel Studios but never actually wrote it down. The scene would’ve shown Wade “get mad and basically attack” Earth’s Mightiest Heroes after he fails his Avengers audition. Wade’s buddy Peter would’ve been on hand too, casually hefting Thor’s enchanted hammer in the background! The logistics of getting so many A-list actors in the same room killed this idea, however.
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Speaking of A-listers, another version of the audition scene featuring Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man did make it to the scripting stage. Downey even read the pages, but his at-the-time secret commitment to portray Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday scuttled his cameo. That’s why Stark’s pal Happy Hogan appears in the finished film, and not Tony himself.
Deadpool & Wolverine is in cinemas now.
Published: Aug 20, 2024 07:19 am