Deadpool 2 may have been the big screen debut of cybernetic soldier Cable, but it certainly won’t be the last you’ll see of the time-travelling rogue. The character played by Josh Brolin is set to appear in at least three more films, but if you’re already hankering for another up-close view of the man also known as Nathan Summers, concept artist Jerad S. Marantz has posted an assortment of early designs for the fan favorite on his Instagram account.
In the caption to one of several torso images, the artist known for his work on various MCU and Planet of the Apes films explains that a few ideas were spitballed around on how best to present the Techno-Organic Virus that infects much of Cable’s body.
“Did a lot of exploration for #cable on #deadpool2. This one shows some options for the arm and the spread of the techno organic virus. I worked on many variations with costume designers @kurtandbart. Great film!”
Another thought that arose when developing the character was to have a fully-fledged prosthetic arm under the infected flesh, with Merantz explaining:
“Early #conceptart for #cable arm. This was a pretty cool idea. In order to control the #technoorganicvirus Cable embeds this prosthetic under the virus tech in order to still use it as a functioning arm. It was a great change of pace to do some hard surface work in #zbrush. I really enjoyed bouncing ideas back-and-forth with the costume designers @kurtandbart and director @davidmleitch”
The concept artist also shared some insights on the process of designing Cable’s time travel suit, saying:
“Some material development for #cables time travel suit. Spent a lot of time working on these with costume designers @kurtandbart I did a bunch of these exploration renderings in #keyshot. I was experimenting a lot with the texture and bump. I was really surprised how many options I could generate and found quite a few happy accidents during the process.”
Funnily enough, after all this work was put into bringing the character to life, Josh Brolin has recently said that his performance in Deadpool 2 left some room for improvement. Feel free to disagree, but if that’s the case, then we’re keen to see what the actor’s A-game might look like in the planned X-Force movie.
