Josh Brolin Says Playing Cable for Deadpool 2 Felt Like a “Business Transaction”

Josh Brolin is known for many films ranging from The Goonies to No Country For Old Men, but in recent years, the actor has become synonymous with Marvel. Not only did he portray Thanos in the MCU films, but he also portrayed Cable in Deadpool 2. During a recent interview with cinematographer Roger Deakins on the Team Deakins podcast (via Geek Tyrant), Brolin compared the two gigs and revealed the Ryan Reynolds film was much more difficult.

“Deadpool was hard,” Brolin revealed. “Even though it was funny, it was harder. That was more of a business transaction, it was more, ‘We need to make this like this,’ whereas I didn’t feel that way with Avengers.”

Brolin also talked more about being Thanos and shared why he decided to play the villain. Brolin said that when he first signed on to play Thanos, he was given a character bible that revealed the Mad Titan would take on all the heroes and for him, that was the selling point.

“I turned down quite a bit of those things and again people were like ‘money!’ When I said yes to Avengers it was a small thing. It was basically a cameo, so there was not a lot of money involved,” Brolin said. “So that wasn’t the reason. But when they game to me they gave me a big bible. I loved that it was all [of them]. If it had been one of the Avengers — and I don’t mean this, I probably shouldn’t say this but I’m just gonna say it — I probably wouldn’t have done it. But the fact that it was all the Avengers against this one guy. I liked that aspect of it.”

Interestingly, Brolin’s comments indicate that the role was originally meant to be a cameo with room to grow. Now, with both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame under his belt, it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Brolin playing the role. In fact, the character’s creator, Jim Starlin, stated as such last year.

“When they first started talking about getting a name actor to play Thanos, Josh Brolin wasn’t on my radar at all,” Starlin said at the time. “But now that I’ve seen him as the character, I have a hard time imagining anybody else playing him.”

Are you surprised to learn that Brolin had an easier time playing Thanos than Cable? Tell us in the comments!