WARNING: The following contains some small details about Deadpool 2. If you want to know absolutely nothing, come back once you've seen it.
With comic book movies, we are always looking to the future. So as Deadpool 2 hits theaters this weekend, inevitably there are questions about what comes next. While we all hope for a Deadpool 3, Ryan Reynolds has hinted that might not happen, and instead his Wade Wilson's story will continue as a part of a team in the X-Force movie. Either way, Deadpool 2 writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wenick have dropped some hints about what he wants to see explored in the next movie in this part of the X-Verse: Cable's backstory, specifically his techno virus from the comics. CinemaBlend's Eric Eisenberg spoke to the duo of writers, where they revealed why Cable's backstory was ultimately not included in Deadpool 2, hinting we should expect more in his next appearance.
Wernick: No, that's a whole movie in and of itself, a Cable movie. Delving into the backstory. You read that Wikipedia page, and good luck explaining it back to me.Reese: I do think we'll delve a little more into his techno-organic virus and how it's affecting his body, and things like that. But we wanted to streamline Cable because it does get confusing, and we only have 2 hours.
It sounds like there simply wasn't room in Deadpool 2 to fit in a lot of Cable's backstory. It is a Deadpool movie after all, and it had to introduce the rest of the X-Force. Yet that just leaves more fun stuff to explore in a future film. As Rhett Reese told CinemaBlend, Cable has a super complicated backstory that is extremely compelling and part of why the character is so popular, in addition to his iconic look. Outwardly something of a cold killing machine, Cable is an interesting character, and exploring the backstory of the time traveler and how he is slowly losing his humanity to the techno-organic virus is ripe with storytelling potential. The psychology of a character facing the inevitability of losing himself completely, yet still fighting for something is fascinating. You can see why the duo were waiting to to tackle that.
There's an argument to be made that if you are going to try to truly do Cable's comic book backstory justice and maintain half of its intricacies and hyper science fiction elements, he basically needs his own movie instead of parsing out backstory while also serving other characters. Cable has been fighting since before he was born, a slave to destiny and a tool in someone else's war. Born Nathan Summers, Cable is the son of an orchestrated union between Scott Summers (Cyclops) and a clone of Jean Grey named Madelyne Pryor. Mr. Sinister masterminded his birth to create a powerful mutant he could use as a weapon against Apocalypse. The ancient mutant learned of the plan and infected Nathan Summers with the techno-organic virus. A member of the Aksani clan from the future rescued Nathan and brought him to her time, where he became a messianic type figure.
So yeah, that's just the tip of the iceberg on this character's complex backstory. X-Men: Apocalypse already showed Apocalypse on screen, but given that villain plays such a huge role in Cable's story and the lax adherence to continuity in the X-Men films thus far, I don't see why an X-Force movie or Deadpool 3 couldn't go all in on Cable's story. Eric Eisenberg also spoke with Josh Brolin, where the actor also revealed that the virus' impact on Cable will be explored in future movies,
We did, but it wasn't utilized. And that was their choice. You had the techno virus that kind of sort of more explained, but not anymore. I think that's being held more for X-Force, and we'll get into much more of who Cable is in X-Force.
With Deadpool 2 set up for a big weekend at the box office, the future looks bright for the Merc with a Mouth, the X-Force and Cable on the big screen. You can see Josh Brolin's Cable in Deadpool 2, in theaters now. Once you've seen it, come back and let us know what you thought and read our breakdown of the end-credits scenes.
