One of the earliest cast members announced for the Deadpool movie was Ed Skrein. The former Game Of Thrones alum, who exited that show to head up the new Transporter series, was long thought to be playing one of Deadpool’s various adversaries. Considering the Merc with a Mouth’s long list of enemies, the possibilities were endless, with the most popular fan theory positing that Skrein was to play Garrison Kane aka Weapon X. In light of Skrein’s Twitter post this morning, the role of Kane is still up for grabs, as his actual onscreen monicker can clearly be seen on his chair (and in the hashtag):
#deadpool #ajax pic.twitter.com/wfyRU9i9fV
— Ed Skrein (@edskrein) April 7, 2015
Based on the early character descriptions – each bearing a fake name to heighten security surrounding the production – Skrein could easily have been playing Kane or Ajax. This is how the movie’s big bad was described back in January:
Any ethnicity, early 30s to early 50s. Big, muscular, dangerous, violent, vain, insecure and more than a bit of a dick…. but with a sense of humor. He is not a psychopath, he’s practical but morally neutral—he doesn’t enjoy torturing people, he just doesn’t care. ROLE REQUIRES THREE SEQUEL OPTIONS.
Ajax, aka Francis, was first introduced in the comics back in Deadpool #14. An overseeing goon at the hospice for failed Weapon X supersoldiers, he too becomes subject to the program’s sadistic experiments. After several run-ins with Wade Wilson, who mercilessly taunted him, Ajax escapes the Weapon X facility and begins hunting down its surviving members – saving Deadpool for last.
Co-starring Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Gina Carano and T.J. Miller, Deadpool arrives in theaters on February 12, 2016.
Based upon Marvel Comics’ most unconventional anti-hero, DEADPOOL tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.
