Tim Miller's Deadpool is expected to be chock full of characters from Marvel Comics beyond the titular star, including appearances from Weasel (T.J. Miller), Blind Al (Leslie Uggams), Angel Dust (Gina Carano) and more. What you probably don't know, however, is that list was originally going to include the comic book mercenary Garrison Kane as well, but that the character ultimately needed to be cut from the feature because of budgetary concerns.
Providing all kinds of inside info about the Deadpool red band trailer that launched online last light, Tim Miller recently sat down with Empire and it was during their conversation that Garrison Kane was originally going to be in the movie, and why he no longer is. Telling a roundabout story explaining how Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) wound up being drafted in the film, the director explained that Kane was initially part of plans to inject the film with more "superhero stuff", but that it was eventually decided to go in a new direction. He explained,
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.
Garrison Kane, who has also gone by the name Weapon X, was first introduced to Marvel Comics in 1991, and was closely associated with the mutant Cable as part of a mercenary team called Six Pack. Like Deadpool, he went through a horrific government program to help save his life, but the result was that he walked out of the facility a cyborg. It's certainly not hard to see how he would have fit into the story, and it's a shame Tim Miller didn't get the opportunity to use him. Perhaps he could be in Deadpool 2 (provided that the first movie is a success).
So what happened after Garrison Kane got cut? According to Tim Miller, he began looking through the history of Marvel characters and began plucking out "visually spectacular and fun" ones that he believed could give the movie an extra punch. It was during this process (which apparently also involved consideration for Cannonball) that he came across Negasonic Teenage Warhead - a mutant who has only appeared a couple of times in the comics. Said Miller,
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 (Reese) and Paul (Wernick), and they were like, 'Oh my fucking god, we have to use her!' So that’s how she ended up in the movie.
If you haven't already seen it, go watch the Deadpool red band trailer right now, and get ready for the film's release on February 12th.
