Warning: this article contains MASSIVE spoilers for Deadpool 2! If you haven't seen the highly-anticipated X-Men franchise sequel, then turn back right now!
Now that Deadpool 2 has finally debuted in theaters, audiences have had a chance to see the bad cop/insane cop dynamic between Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) and Cable (Josh Brolin). The film sets up a strong (albeit antagonistic) relationship that could carry them into future films, but it also leaves us with some wild theories about how Wade and Cable could be more related than we had previously assumed. In fact, the potential evidence put forth in Deadpool 2 makes us think that Wade and Cable might even be in-laws.
This theory admittedly feels like a big swing, but stick with us. Though Deadpool and Cable seem to be on opposite sides throughout Deadpool 2, we're beginning to think that Deadpool may actually be the father of Cable's wife. The way Cable talks about his wife shows some similarities between the woman he loves and Wade Wilson himself. Specifically, Cable notes that his wife was funny like Wade, which was a quality that the bionic mutant could never match. Anyone can be funny, so this doesn't guarantee that Cable's wife was a Wilson, but the overt emphasis on her sense of humor seems like a potential indicator that she's connected to Deadpool in some way.
Additionally, the Deadpool 2 post-credit scene specifically shows that Deadpool actually steals Cable's time travel technology and uses it to go back and save Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) from her murder earlier in the film. It's played as a joke in the movie, but one obvious reason why the folks behind Deadpool 2 would choose to have Vanessa saved would be for her child with Wade (a major plot point throughout the movie) to have significance moving forward.
This also would explain why Cable makes an effort to go back and save Wade's life. At first glance, it looks like Cable's mission is completed when Wade sacrifices himself to prevent Russell (Julian Dennison) from taking a life. However, preventing Russell's rise to evil is only one half of the equation. Cable using his time travel to give Wade the coin that stops the bullet isn't an act of selflessness; it's Cable putting the final piece of the puzzle in place to ensure that his wife's father stays alive to conceive her. That's why Cable remarks that his wife is safe when Wade notes that he wasted his final time travel charge.
It's also worth mentioning that Cable's remarks to Wade throughout Deadpool 2 suggest a profound connection between them. Most notably, Cable makes comments about knowing who Wade is, while also remarking that he's not a hero in the future that he's from. How would Cable know who Deadpool is if he's not a well-known hero? We can neither confirm nor deny anything at this stage, but a familial connection would certainly make quite a bit of sense.
Such a creative jump would also make quite a bit of sense when we look at how Deadpool 2 draws from the Terminator franchise. Many of the scenes of Cable building weapons in his dingy hotel room feel lifted almost directly from the original Terminator film -- a movie about a father (Michael Biehn's Kyle Reese) going back to ensure the survival of his son. In the same way, Cable could potentially be going back to save the life of his father-in-law and confirm the birth of his wife while also preventing her murder. Yes, we acknowledge that this theory seems relatively wild, but with Deadpool 2 setting up room for more sequels, we will have to wait and see how the franchise evolves this narrative throughline.
Deadpool 2 is currently in theaters. If you want more information about The Merc with the Mouth's latest silver screen outing, then you can take a look at our full review of the movie, as well as our Deadpool 2 review roundup, before you head to the theater to see it for yourself!
