Josh Brolin Nicks Role of Cable in "Deadpool 2"
Thursday, April 13, 2017 at 11:30AM by Daniel Crooke
After ages of anticipation, Marvel Cinematic Universe fans’ long international nightmare is over: Deadpool 2 has finally cast the coveted role of Cable, the central villain for the sequel.
In one of the more noteworthy examples of franchise double duty since Swedish soap star Maud Adams seduced audiences in two separate James Bond outings (Octopussy and Live and Let Die, for those keeping score at home) Josh Brolin – Thanos, Destroyer of Realms, himself – has landed his second role as a Marvel baddie in the upcoming sequel to the surprise 2015 superhero hit. Beating out Michael Shannon and David Harbour to clinch the part, Brolin now has the distinction of not only playing the MCU’s preeminent bad guy, but the antihero’s enemy in the Deadpool offshoot as well; while they share a foundational mythology, the Deadpool films belong to Marvel Entertainment and not the Disney-owned Marvel Studios.
As Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds put it…
The fuck, Fox! You can't play 2 characters in the same universe!! Josh Brolin was in Sicario and I was in Sabrina The Teenage Witch. pic.twitter.com/AQCRp1aWKg
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) April 12, 2017
Frankly, Cable’s combination of authoritarian bent and brute force, dashed with a confident delivery of smack talk, reminds me of another Josh Brolin character who went toe-to-toe with a wisecracking hedonist: Inherent Vice’s nasty, hippie-hating square of a police thug, Detective Bigfoot Bjornsen. If his performance is half as good as that one – which, for my money, should not have just been nominated for Best Supporting Actor but won – there will be plenty of cause for celebration in comic book circles across the globe.
While the first film’s cocktail of bloodlust and adolescent wit didn’t go down especially easy with me, there’s no denying that Deadpool decimated expectations and resonated with wide audiences and awards bodies alike. It may be easy to forget that the subversive superhero flick generated some last-minute Oscar buzz earlier this year but its Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) and WGA nod for Best Adapted Screenplay remain concrete evidence of its popularity.
Are you excited for the Brolin/Reynolds showdown in Deadpool 2?
Reader Comments (5)
Thanks for the update. Always good to see Brolin.
A small correction: Maud Adams' two Bond films were Octopussy and The Man with the Golden Gun (in which she gives a wonderful, subtle performance as Scaramanga's girlfriend).
This is inspired casting, a great choice.
I would not characterize as a Marvel baddie in any sense whatsoever.
Nathaniel, probably you're unaware, Cable is a hero. His origin being, he is the son of Cyclops with a clone of Jean Grey (Madelyne Pryor) produced by Mr. Sinester (the villain in X-Men Supernova, which is how Fox is going to tie the knot between the X-Men franchise and Deadpool).
He was kidnapped being a child, taken to the future, trained there, and sent back in time as a mature hero, to save the past. He reformed The New Mutants (movie currently shooting) into X-Force (movie announced) and then teamed up with Deadpool for quite a while... so this is basically going to be a comedy with Cable being the straight clown to Deadpool's antics (mirroring the conflict between Deadpool and Colossus in the first film). Brolin has signed for 4 films so those might be:
1. Deadpool 2
2. The New Mutants 2
3. X-Force
4. Cable (solo movie)
in all likelyhood.
Good casting but kinda wish they went with Shannon