Without question, the character of Teenage Negasonic Warhead – as played by Brianna Hildebrand – was one of the true highlights of 2016’s Deadpool. Her deader-than-deadpan attitude and constant, monumental eye-rolling were the perfect foil for Ryan Reynolds’ verbose superhero and, as such, she stole most of the scenes in which she appeared. Little wonder, then, that fans were delighted to hear it confirmed that the moody teen mutant would indeed by returning for the upcoming Deadpool 2.
Hildebrand has been busily promoting her new horror-comedy Tragedy Girls at SXSW, and while there, she faced the inevitable Deadpool 2 questions from the media, including Screen Rant. During her discussion with them, she took time to explain the status of the production in terms of her involvement, and her excitement about the way in which her character will have evolved.
“I’ve not yet actually read the script. But I do think [Teenage Negasonic Warhead] will be a lot cooler, based on the wardrobe ideas and stuff. I’m very excited. [I’ve seen some] some ideas, nothing that’s concrete or anything. But I think it’s cool that she’s grown and matured and she still has so much of this essence of a punk kid.
“[The character being well-received] was exciting, just because I felt so close to Negasonic in that she reminded me so much of myself. Like young, teenage/tweenage, angsty like pissed off Brianna is who she reminded me of. It was just like, ‘Oh! She’s so cute. I get her, you know?’ So yeah. That was super exciting to see that people liked her too because it felt like people liked me, or the part of me in there somewhere.”
It could be argued that this self-recognition is part of why the character was so beloved when Deadpool hit theatres last year. Women could relate to her as a female teenager, while men could relate to Deadpool trying to communicate with her – which is something that speaks to the importance of having great female characters in movies. It’s not just about representation, it’s about reflecting the world – and in the case of Deadpool, it gave rise to excellent comedy, because Teenage Negasonic Warhead was written and performed exceedingly well.
If Brianna Hildebrand’s comments are anything to go by, we can look forward to the character stealing many more scenes out from under the nose of Wade Wilson when Deadpool 2 finally reaches theatres in 2018.