Deadpool's X-Men Partners Weren't Exactly Picked For Their Powers
Back in 2016, "Deadpool" burst onto the scene in his first ever solo movie. Technically, Marvel's "Merc with a Mouth" had appeared on the big screen before in the 2009 "X-Men" film, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" — sans mouth. Starring alongside Hugh Jackman's iconic X-Men antihero, Ryan Reynolds made his excruciating debut as Wade Wilson — but it was a far cry from the comic books, and this version just didn't live up to fan expectations.
In fact, it was pretty awful.
With Fox keen to see Reynolds suit up in the classic comic book costume, "Deadpool" eventually made it to the big screen. And this time around, he'd need a hand from some of our favorite not-so-friendly X-Men.
Obviously, with access to the wider X-Men universe, it would have been tempting to crossover the ultra-violent, fourth-wall-breaking mercenary with some of X-Men's heavy hitters. After all, Fox had access to the likes of Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, and many, many more. Writer Paul Wernick explained why they didn't want to do that:
"We didn't want to populate his world with X-Men. They're two separate franchises, and I think had we done that, we would have been making a mistake. Even if we did have the budget."
Deadpool has always been a far quirkier character than the X-Men mutants, so the creative team would have to be absolutely sure that any supporting characters would fit the tone of their movie. There was also the possibility that the more well-known X-Men might overshadow Deadpool in his own film. They couldn't let that happen.
How to assemble Deadpool's X-Pals
It sounds as though choosing X-Men to appear in "Deadpool" was a bit of a balancing act. But there were already some limitations: For one thing, "Deadpool" had a much smaller budget than most X-Men movies. Although Fox was keen to try out its own R-rated comic book movie, it was still a big risk. Nobody knew whether it was even going to work, and that made it difficult to find a big budget.
"Going into the sequel, we are embracing this idea that it's a small budget movie," said Wernick. "And we're not gonna populate it with the entire X-Men cast."
Obviously, the more spectacular X-Men like Cyclops and Storm would require a large budget to bring them effectively back to the big screen. After all, their impressive powers would require plenty of CG and post effects to make it work. Throwing in the entire team would be even more expensive, so the team was forced to look for a handful of X-Men supporting characters who wouldn't cost too much to recreate. Thankfully, they had some ideas.
The first "Deadpool" movie featured both Colossus and the lesser-known Negasonic Teenage Warhead. But it seems they weren't chosen for their power sets; instead, Wernick and director Rhett Reese had specific reasons for including each of them.
Colossus
A relic from the original "X-Men" movie back in 2000, Colossus had been a bit neglected. He last appeared in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" in 2014, but before that, had appeared sporadically since the original "X-Men" trilogy.
Piotr "Peter" Nikolaievitch Rasputin (aka Colossus) made his first appearance in the X-Men comics back in 1975, in Giant Size X-Men #1. His mutation grants him the ability to transform his entire body into an "organic steel" form — becoming much larger and near invulnerable. But his powers weren't as important as his attitude:
"He was the perfect foil," said Wernick. "[He was] a great foil to Deadpool because he's very self-serious and goody-two-shoes," he told Yahoo! Movies.
Of course, you can see this in full effect in the final film. A straight-talking, serious, and no-nonsense kind of mutant, he regularly butts heads with Deadpool. A recurring theme in the film is Colossus trying to convince him to take his powers and responsibilities seriously and join the X-Men — with Wade having none of it.
Although Colossus possesses a very cool, visually impressive power, it turns out that was far less important than setting up an interesting dynamic between him and Deadpool. As you can see from the movie, that more than paid off. But even after the script was written, director Tim Miller wasn't sure they'd be allowed to use him:
"I wasn't actually sure, until we were standing there shooting it, that at some point Fox was going to say, 'Hold on a second; we can't put Colossus from our treasured X-Men franchise in this movie to be made fun of!' But they did, and not only that, but also, they let me change the look of him."
Negasonic Teenage Warhead
A more obscure X-Men character, Negasonic Teenage Warhead was Deadpool's second choice. Negasonic was a younger X-Men recruit in the movie, with Colossus essentially in charge of her. But while she exhibits some pretty incredible powers, it turns out that, again, that's not the reason she was chosen to appear in the movie.
"We were looking down the list of the 400 [X-Men] characters that Fox owns," said Wernick. "NTW jumped out and we were like, 'yes. I don't care what her powers are. She's gonna be in the movie.'"
That's right — it was all about her kick-ass name.
Making her first appearance in 2001 in New X-Men #115, Negasonic Teenage Warhead was originally named after a song by the band, Monster Magnet. A powerful psychic, she possesses telepathic and precognitive powers in the comic books. Nothing like the explosive power that turns her into a literal warhead in the movie. That subtle change came at a price, however: any changes made to a Marvel character — even ones that Fox has the rights to — needs to be approved by Marvel. And it looks as though they wanted something in return.
"Kurt Russell in the new 'Guardians' movie was the character that Fox swapped with Marvel to [change] Negasonic Teenage Warhead powers," explained Wernick.
Marvel nabbed the rights to use Ego the Living Planet in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" in exchange for the right to change up Negasonic's powers. That's quite a bit of bargaining, but it looks as though it paid off for everyone.
Garrison Kane
Before settling on Negasonic Teenage Warhead, the team almost went with another character entirely: Garrison Kane. That's right, one of Cable's mercenary team, Six Pack, almost made it into "Deadpool."
Debuting in the comic books in 1991 in X-Force #2, Garrison Kane was a powerful mercenary, possessing extensive cybernetic enhancements that essentially turn him into a cyborg. He gained those enhancements alongside Wade Wilson as part of the second Weapon X program.
So why did they replace Kane with Negasonic? It's all about the budget.
"In the original script the action in the third act was great, but it was just Deadpool and a lot of guns," said Miller. "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."
The problem was essentially with Kane's powers: Turned into a cyborg by the Weapon X program, Kane has a pair of bionic arms that change shape. "He would have been a visual effect for a large part of the movie," said Miller. "And as it turned out, a visual effect too far." Thankfully, they had a backup plan, and Miller chose Negasonic simply because her name stood out.
"I went through the list of Marvel characters and picked a few others I thought could be visually spectacular and fun. And at the end of that list was Negasonic, which I just thought was a freaky, funny name. And I sent this list over to the writers, Rhett and Paul, and they were like, 'Oh my f***ing god, we have to use her!' So that's how she ended up in the movie."
A deadpan goth teen, she too worked as the perfect counter to Deadpool's over-the-top, zany antics. Alongside Colossus, the pair perfectly counterbalance the explosive personality Deadpool is known and loved for.
And let's face it — they made an awesome team, too.