Deadpool & Wolverine: Pyro Star Aaron Stanford Reveals Reaction to His Fate

X-Men movie actor Aaron Stanford talks about his reaction to learning Pyro's fate in Deadpool & Wolverine.

By Kofi Outlaw

Deadpool & Wolverine brought back a lot of familiar faces from 20th Century Fox's Marvel Universe movies of the 2000s – including actor Aaron Stanford as John Allerdyce, the flame-bending mutant known as "Pyro," who was featured in the films X2 (2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). Pyro was a fan-favorite of the X-Men films – a '90s-era bad boy who broke from Xavier's school to join Magneto's militant mutant group. However, like so many X-Men Trilogy actors, Stanford was let go as the franchise did a soft reboot with X-Men: First Class, and missed out as the entire comic book movie genre became the new rage in Hollywood, following the launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

(SPOILERS) In Deadpool & Wolverine, Pyro is one of the main lieutenants of Cassandra Nova (Emma Corin), the evil twin sister of Charles Xavier who is a warlord of the Void working with the Time Variance Authority (TVA). In one of the film's twists, it's revealed that Pyro is actually a double agent, working for rogue TVA agent Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) to keep tabs on Nova – and make sure she's taken out when the time is right. Unfortunately, that plan backfires big time, and Pyro ends up getting the harshest kind of end for his treachery, by having his neck broken by Cassandra Nova's telekinetic powers. 

When ComicBook's Phase Zero sat down with Aaron Stanford to talk Deadpool & Wolverine, the question of how he reacted to first learning about Pyro's death scene came up, 

"I mean I wasn't surprised," Stanford said. "You know he's the heel in this movie... Pyro is the heel. He's the guy that you want to get body slammed. He's the guy that you want to see him get hurt. So no, I was not surprised at all when his neck got snapped... [and] thrown away like so much trash." 

Related:

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(Photo: 20th Century Studios)

To his credit, Aaron Stanford got more of an arc in Deadpool & Wolverine than most of the cameo actors involved did – arguably more than bigger icons like Wesley Snipes' Blade, or Chris Evans' Johnny Storm/Human Torch. Granted, Stanford (a consistent character actor, still waiting on a big break) was probably more open to shooting a bigger role in Deadpool 3 than most of the returning vets, and he certainly made a worthwhile effort with his opportunity. 

Deadpool & Wolverine is now in theaters. 

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