Cable Creator Rob Liefeld Says Josh Brolin is Excited for ‘X-Force’ and Beyond

Deadpool and Cable creator Rob Liefeld says Deadpool 2 star Josh Brolin is “legitimately excited” to revisit his role as metal-armed mutant mercenary Cable in X-Force and beyond.

Speaking to ComicBook.com during San Diego Comic-Con, the X-Force creator admitted he’s yet to have “any connection whatsoever” with writer-director Drew Goddard, but said “good buddy” Brolin is fully on board for the future of the X-Verse.

“When he’s sitting there next to me at a meal or when he hops in my car and goes, ‘Can you take me up the street to the gym?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, let’s go,’ he’s like, ‘I just want to tell you, I’m really excited about X-Force,’” Liefeld said.

“He said, ‘Rob, I’m really excited about my arc, I’m really excited about what my character goes.’ People then go, ‘What did he say?’ I don’t pry further. He just told me that he’s really excited about X-Force and he’s really excited about what his character does, and really excited about revisiting Cable, and he feels that Cable has a bigger arc. And that’s what I was told, and I didn’t dig any deeper, I’ll take him at his word.”

Brolin is excited to reunite with Ryan Reynolds as mouthy merc Deadpool and Zazie Beetz as fortuitous mutant Domino — the just-formed trio comprise the bones of the mutant super-group — but Liefeld hopes the looming Disney-Fox merger doesn’t threaten Fox’s planned X-Force spinoff.

“You can tell when someone is legitimately excited, and he is excited to revisit Cable alongside obviously Ryan and Zazie,” Liefeld said of Brolin. “And hopefully they can get it done and get welcomed into the kingdom, right, because it’s all about being welcomed into the kingdom now, it’s inevitable, the Mouse is coming.”

Disney and Fox shareholders voted for and approved the Disney-Fox merger Friday. 21st Century Fox CFO John Nallen told Fox shareholders the merger is expected to be complete in the first half of 2019.

Disney CEO Bob Iger already expressed Disney’s intentions to bring former Fox-controlled Marvel Comics properties Deadpool, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four into the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it’s not yet known how Marvel Studios and president Kevin Feige plan to integrate those characters: the company could retain stars like Reynolds and Brolin in their roles and scrap the messy Fox continuity, or reboot entirely.

Brolin told USA Today in June he liked the way Deadpool 2 turned out, but said his turn as Cable “could have been better” and hopes to improve in subsequent installments. “I literally want to redeem myself to myself,” Brolin said. “I want to do a better version of what I do.”

The Avengers: Infinity War and Sicario: Day of the Soldado star already inked a multi-movie contract and is signed on to return as Cable in a four-movie deal. “We tried to think of Cable as a full arc, not just in [Deadpool 2], but in the trajectory of four films,” Brolin told Empire Magazine. “That made it a lot more fun for me.”

Liefeld previously dubbed the potential blockbuster “an R-rated Avengers in the making,” telling Fandango he’s confident the team “can absolutely rival the Avengers.”

The all-new Deadpool 2: Super Duper Cut releases to 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray August 21.