Cable and Domino are, without question, the two headline-worthy additions to David Leitch’s anti-hero sequel, Deadpool 2, and the former in particular has generated a metric ton of buzz among the comic book community ever since the Merc With a Mouth first teased the advent of Wade Wilson’s long-time nemesis last year.
In typically flippant fashion, Ryan Reynolds’ foul-mouthed protagonist rhymed off a series of big names including Mel Gibson, Dolph Lundgren, and, er, Keira Knightley. But it turns out the Powers That Be have selected Josh Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War) to play the time-travelling mercenary known as Nathan Summers. Brolin beat out a whole host of actors to land the coveted gig, too, after reports claimed that Pierce Brosnan and Stephen Lang were both in contention at one point or another.
Alas, now that Fox and director David Leitch have made their decision, fans can begin to look toward Deadpool 2‘s June 2018 release date with giddy excitement – excitement which has now been heightened thanks to none other than Reynolds. To celebrate the fact that production has officially kicked off, the actor took to Twitter earlier today to share the first set photo, which features the titular Merc taking a break outside the X-Men mansion.
Though not terribly revealing, the fact that the film is shooting scenes both inside and around the mansion indicates that the location may play a larger role than it did last time around. And if that’s the case, expect some significant easter eggs and references to the wider X-Men Cinematic Universe to be present here, as Fox continues to build out their burgeoning franchise – one which will also bring us New Mutants and X-Men: Dark Phoenix next year.
That being said, we don’t imagine that any of the X-Men will show up in David Leitch’s sequel, as the Tweet from Reynolds was accompanied with the caption, “Dropped by the X-Mansion. Big [f***ing] surprise. No one’s home.” That shouldn’t really shock anyone, given that we didn’t see Professor X and the gang in the first film, but for those still holding out hope that there might be a quick cameo from a familiar face, we’d say that it’s almost guaranteed at this point that that won’t be happening.
Deadpool 2 will see Reynolds spearhead a cast comprised of Josh Brolin (Cable) and Zazie Beetz (Domino), along with the returning Blind Al and Morena Baccarin’s Vanessa, the latter of whom is expected to undergo a big evolution in the film. Look for the flick to hit theatres on June 1st, 2018.