The full trailer for Deadpool 2 has finally arrived, and it seems to be suggesting that time-traveling mutant Cable is actually the big villain - but is that really the case? There’s a lot of reasons to be excited for 2018’s most-irreverent superhero movie - the 2016 original was a surprise hit that showed Ryan Reynolds was a better comedian than straight leading man, and this time around John Wick/Atomic Blonde director David Leitch is calling the shots - but by far the most interesting aspect is the introduction of Cable.

First teased in Deadpool’s second post-credits scene, Nathan Summers (he’s the son of Scott Summers and a Jean Grey clone, although his backstory won’t be prominent in the film) is one of Deadpool’s most beloved frenemies, so naturally he proved a key hype source for the sequel. The casting period was long, with Josh Brolin eventually winning out against fan favorites like Stephen Lang, Dolph Lundgren, and Kiera Knightly. Since then, though we’ve actually seen very little of Brolin’s Cable - a reveal image and brief taste of the character in the second teaser has been it. Now that’s changed, and Nathan’s role is looking different to expected.

The Deadpool 2 trailer has dropped and doesn’t shy away from presenting Cable very much as the villain: he’s traveled back in time to kill Julian Dennison’s mysterious child mutant, causing Wade Wilson to form a rag-tag X-Force to stop him. That’s some T-1000 in Terminator 2-level villainy (although John Connor didn’t have any fire powers). All this has got fans suspecting Brolin is the big bad of the movie, but while Deadpool fighting Cable is definitely a key reason to introduce Nathan Summers, he’s unlikely to be Deadpool 2’s prime antagonist.

For starters, we know that Cable and Deadpool will eventually form a shaky bond by the existence of a proper X-Force movie - currently in development under writer-director Drew Goddard - that stars both Reynolds and Brolin. It would be narratively off-base for the intro to not have them team-up; given the wider context, we have a classic super-friends meet-ugly.

More importantly, Deadpool 2’s marketing hasn’t been shy about hiding secrets - most of the X-Force cast have only been revealed through teasers - and that seems to be most true of the movie’s true villain. It was reported last May by multiple outlets that Jack Kesy had been cast as Deadpool 2’s villain; who exactly was the subject of some debate but it seemed to center on “Black Tom” Cassidy, a key Deadpool foe with strong links to Juggernaut (another rumored character). There’s been little mention of Kesy or Black Tom since, but it would seem likely Cable is the plot instigator for another villain’s scheme.

And that all ignores the presence of Julian Dennison, who despite being the John Connor of the situation has been shown to be able to pull a pretty intense evil face, introducing another variable. We may not know the plot of Deadpool 2, but it’s clear Cable’s role isn’t that of a simple bad guy.

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One of the weakest parts of Deadpool 1 was how, for all its cries of subversion, the plot was incredibly basic, with a typical “revenge against creating villain” plot. By having multiple antagonistic forces that each bring a fresh angle, it looks like Deadpool 2 may be making extra effort to avoid sequel fatigue; Deadpool 3 may not be as unlikely as Wade and Weasel seem to think.

Next: Deadpool 2 Trailer Teases New X-Force Costume

  • Deadpool 2 Release Date: 2018-05-18 X-Men: Dark Phoenix Release Date: 2019-06-07 New Mutants Release Date: 2020-08-28