Deadpool Had to Cut a Classic X-Force Character for Budgetary Reasons

Now that Disney has acquired 20th Century Fox, the company will have to figure out what to do with [...]

Now that Disney has acquired 20th Century Fox, the company will have to figure out what to do with the Deadpool franchise. Fox faced the same question with the character in 2016 and had to cut some characters to save room in the budget. Garrison Kane ended up being the unlucky one to get left behind as the Deadpool train left the station to become a giant hit.

Fans know that Negasonic Teenage Warhead ended up sharing the spotlight in Deadpool's first mutant adventure. But Kane came within a hair's breadth of riding shotgun with Wade Wilson and Colossus in Deadpool. Kane is a 90's comics creation of Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza. He was another member of Weapon X like Deadpool and their occasional co-star, Cable. This group had battled numerous times in their comic book history, and there would have been some on-screen fireworks with all of them in the same room.

Director Tim Miller revealed in an interview back near the release of the film, those action sequences would have absolutely sunk Deadpool's budget.

As he explained it to Empire Magazine, "In the original script the action in the third act was great, but it was just Deadpool and a lot of guns. One of my notes early on was that I wanted to see more superhero stuff. We had Garrison Kane in there for a while, but in the final round of budget cuts, we had to take him out because he was a pretty expensive dude. He's got these bionic arms that change shape; he would have been a visual effect for a large part of the movie. And as it turned out, a visual effect too far."

Once Kane was out of the picture, Miller had to go back to Marvel's database for another inspired (read: cheaper) character. At the end of that list, he found Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and the rest is history. Miller said he was attracted to the character's "freaky, funny name," and with that discovery, the project could move forward.

X-Force was also supposed to happen while Deadpool was under the Fox umbrella. But, again due to budgetary concerns, the studio was forced to choose between the standalone effort and the X-Force project. In a gamble that paid off, they rolled with Ryan Reynolds, and now they're looking at possibly making the third installment. Jeff Wadlow was the original screenwriter, and he told Collider how it all went down.

"I wrote a draft and they really liked it," Wadlow explained. "They just reached a critical moment, where they were deciding whether they were going to make Deadpool or X-Force. I've always loved Deadpool and I tried to rehabilitate him in my X-Force movie because, like the rest of the fans, I felt like they totally screwed it up in X-Men: Origins. I had actually been talking to Ryan Reynolds about playing him in my X-Force movie, but my X-Force movie was much more focused on Cable and the New Mutants becoming this paramilitary unit."

"So, Fox was trying to decide whether they are going to do the Deadpool solo movie or my X-Force movie. Fortunately, they picked the Deadpool solo movie because it's great. Fortunately for the world, I should say, but unfortunately for me. But, I have no complaints about the process. I'm a huge fan of Ryan's and I loved the Deadpool solo movie. I'm super excited for Deadpool 2. It's a little bit of a bummer, but that's life in the big leagues."

Deadpool is firmly in the big leagues now, but time will tell just what his entrance to the Marvel Cinematic Universe will look like.

0comments