Could ‘Deadpool 3’ finally right a shameful X-Men franchise wrong 18 years later?

Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry has had her fair share of ups and downs in the superhero genre over the years but if her rumored cameo in Deadpool 3 turns out to be true, it could be a chance to right a shameful wrong that was done to her regarding one of her most iconic roles, Storm from the X-Men.

Some 18 years ago, X-Men: The Last Stand was poised to cap off the trilogy begun by Bryan Singer’s first two movies. However, at the time Singer was busy with Superman Returns, so 20th Century Fox looked for a replacement. This week it was revealed X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn was all set to take the job but quit at the last minute. The reason? He accused studio executives of tricking Berry in order to get her to agree to take the part. As Vaughn explained at the New York Comic Con:

“One of the main reasons I actually quit X3 and it was a true story, and I don’t care if I’m not meant to say it, but Hollywood is really political in an odd way. I went into one of the executives office and I saw an X3 script and I immediately knew that it was a lot fatter. I was like, ‘What the hell’s this? This draft?’ Oh, don’t worry about it. Like no, no, I’m the director. I’m worrying about this draft. Tell me what it is. Wouldn’t tell me, so I grabbed it from him. It was like a crazy moment, but I grabbed it.

Open the first page and it said Africa, Storm. kids dying have no water, she creates a thunderstorm and saves all these children. Okay, it’s pretty cool idea. They said it was the ‘The Halle Berry script,’ because she hasn’t signed up yet. But once she gets what she wants it to be and she signs up, we’ll throw it in the bin. And I was like, ‘Wow, you’re going to do that to an Oscar-winning actress who plays Storm? I’m out of here. So I quit.”

Days of the past’s future

While this story is another disgusting example of Marvel’s mistreatment of its women lead stars, right up there with Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow not truly getting the sendoff she deserves, there could be a chance to redeem this dark chapter in mutant history. You see, with Deadpool 3 on the horizon, a film that is rumored to feature a number of cameos from Fox’s former X-Men universe, including Storm, the filmmakers could easily insert this scrapped scene into that film. Imagine, almost two decades later, if we finally got to see what Vaughn called a “pretty cool idea” of Storm saving dying kids in Africa with a thunderstorm?

This isn’t the first time a Storm subplot has been scrapped in an X-Men movie, either. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Storm were meant to have a romance in the far-flung future of 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. However, the pair sharing a kiss ended up being a deleted scene instead of making the final cut. If Berry’s rumored appearance in Deadpool 3 really does happen and reunites her with Jackman, this could be an opportunity to revisit their characters’ forgotten romance.

Regardless, we hope whatever unfolds for Berry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be worlds away from the deceit outlined in Vaughn’s anecdote. We’ll be watching with bated breath to see if Storm really does show up in Deadpool 3 when it comes to theaters on May 3, 2024.