Exploring Deadpool’s Corner of the X-Universe

It’s hard to believe that Deadpool, the new 20th Century Fox movie starring everyone’s favorite ultraviolent and ultra-wacky mutant, is less than three months away.Soon, fans of every age will have the joy of watching Deadpool violently eviscerating foes with his sword and guns while dropping f-bombs and making glib comments about anything that passes through his deranged mind.Deadpool might become a major hit for Fox and allow the studio to create a more violent and gritty “sub-franchise” of X-Men movies.

Since Deadpool is just a couple of months away, let’s take a look at some of his supporting cast members, potential future plotlines and possible spinoffs that could come out of Deadpool’s corner of the Marvel Universe:

Key Supporting Characters

Surprisingly, Deadpool is staying relatively accurate to the comics, with several of the character’s key supporting characters having roles in the film.  Morena Baccarin will play Vanessa/Copycat, Deadpool’s girlfriend and a mutant shapeshifter. TJ Miller is playing Weasel, Deadpool’s best friend and weapon supplier.  Deadpool’s roommate/perennial hostage Blind Al will also appear in the film, played by Leslie Uggams, as will longtime foe Ajax, played by Ed Skrein. 

One longtime ally of Deadpool who won’t be appearing in the film is Bob, a cowardly Agent of HYDRA who often accompanies Deadpool on his various missions and misadventures.  Since HYDRA’s rights are owned by Marvel Studios, it’s unlikely Deadpool’s unofficial sidekick will be appear in any future film (although it’s possible Fox could use the character as long as he wasn’t with HYDRA in the movies).

Cable and Deadpool

While we won’t see Cable in the upcoming Deadpool movie, there’s plenty of rumors and speculation that Fox has plans for Deadpool’s longtime partner.  In the comics, Cable is Cyclops’ son who Cyclops sent to the future in order to save him from a technoorganic virus that had infected his body.  Cable has the immense psychic abilities of his (sort of) mother, Jean Grey, but has the hardened body and personality of a wizened warrior.

Deadpool first came into contact with Cable when a mysterious “Mister Tolliver” (actually Cable’s son, Genesis) to kill Cable and the New Mutants.  Although the two frequently fought during Deadpool’s first appearances, the two became reluctant allies in Cable and Deadpool, a “buddy cop” type series that paired the serious and dour Cable with the wacky and dangerous Deadpool.  As Cable positioned himself as a global messiah, Deadpool often accompanied him on his many missions, at first as an unwilling participant but later as a friend an ally.   

While Cable would be a…complicated character to bring into Fox’s X-Men movieverse, the company did successfully release a movie all about time travel, so it’s possible that fans would follow the more complicated aspects of Cable’s history.  Or, Fox could cut Cable’s ties to Cyclops and the future all together and reimagine him as a mysterious mutant that Deadpool keeps running into as the two conduct seemingly unrelated missions around the world.  No matter how they do it, Cable is a MUST for a future Deadpool movie.

The Six Pack

A group with ties to both Deadpool and Cable, the Six Pack is a team of mutant mercenaries with a penchant for leaving a large body count in their wake.  Cable created the Six Pack to help acclimate to the modern day and prepare an assault team to take on Apocalypse, who had taken over the world in Cable’s future.  Members of the Six Pack included Domino, a luck-altering mutant and sometimes love interest of Cable, Grizzly, a mutant with superstrength, and unpowered mercenaries George Washington Bridge, Hammer and Garrison Kane.  The Six Pack disbanded after Cable betrayed the team to pursue Stryfe, a longtime foe from the future (who was also Cable’s clone) and acolyte to Apocalypse.  Cable’s betrayal affected Kane most of all, as he lost his limbs escaping with Six Pack and had them replaced with deadly cybernetic limbs.  The team later reformed to fight Cable and his new team, X-Force, before joining Cable in his fight against Stryfe.

Deadpool joined a later incarnation of the Six Pack when the US government hired them to bomb the fictional country of Rumekistan, which was now under Cable’s control.  Cable thwarted the team and personally tossed Deadpool out of the country.

The Six Pack would make excellent foils for Deadpool in a sequel movie, especially since they’re all guns for hire.  Garrison Kane and Deadpool also have a long and complicated history in the comics (Kane dated Deadpool’s ex-girlfriend Copycat, causing Deadpool to try to kill him) and Kane’s cybernetics would easily transition to the big screen with little fuss.  

X-Force

Another group linked to both Cable and Deadpool, X-Force is a mutant strike force with a more proactive (and often more violent) approach to protecting mutantkind.  Cable originally formed X-Force from the remnants of the New Mutants and turned them into his own personal army in his war against Stryfe and his terrorist organization, the Mutant Liberation Front. 

Years later, Cyclops reformed X-Force as a secret “assassination squad” led by Wolverine to take out threats against mutantkind.  Wolverine recruited Deadpool and several other mutants for a new X-Force team to kill a recently resurrected Apocalypse.  After discovering that Apocalypse was a child with no memory of his past life and no real inclination towards evil, Deadpool began to question X-Force’s extreme actions and acted as an unlikely moral center for the team.

If Fox is looking to blend the violence of Deadpool with the team aspects of the X-Men movies, X-Force is the way to go. Fox allegedly has an X-Force movie in development with a story that features both Deadpool and Cable.  Fox could add a mix of established X-characters like Psylocke and Deadpool with new (to the movie) characters like Cable and Fantomex to create a very deadly X-Force team.  

Other Love Interests

While Deadpool’s hideous looks and penchant for violence tends to be a turn off for most potential lovers, the character has had a few meaningful relationships in the comics.  Other than Copycat (who will appear in Deadpool played by Morena Baccarin), Deadpool also had an on again/off again relationship with Siryn, Banshee’s daughter.  Deadpool first encountered Siryn when she was a member of Cable’s X-Force and the two begin a flirty relationship.  Although Deadpool’s affections were a little extreme (he had a penchant for watching her through a window while she slept), Siryn developed a crush on Deadpool and tried to convince the mercenary to use his skills for good instead of for whoever paid him the most money.  Siryn made cameos in X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand as a student at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, but she went unnamed and could easily be aged up for a Deadpool sequel.  

More recently, Deadpool fell in love with a succubus named Shiklah.  Deadpool met Shiklah when Dracula hired the mercenary to transport Shiklah (locked away in a coffin) across Europe so he could marry her and claim her ancestral lands.  Deadpool accidentally freed Shiklah from her miniature prison and the two ended up helping each other on missions until they fell in love and got married.  In addition to his winning personality, Shiklah fell in love with Deadpool because she can kiss him without draining his life force due to his unusual healing factor.   I’m not really sure how a demon would fit into the X-Men movies, but I’m sure a Deadpool sequel could figure out a way to make it work.