Deadpool & Wolverine went above and beyond in squeezing in as many genuinely mind-blowing cameos as possible — mind-blowing because they were people we never expected to see in the Marvel multiverse again. Chris Evans as Human Torch! Jennifer Garner as Elektra! Even Channing Tatum’s Gambit. Can you get a more unlikely cameo than someone who never even made it to the screen the first time around?
Apparently, yes. New behind-the-scenes images confirm that Deadpool 3 almost went and resurrected a variant of an iconic Marvel character we really thought had been swallowed by Alioth for the rest of time. A snap of many of the movie’s stunt doubles posing during a break in filming seems to confirm that, at one point, alongside the likes of Toad, Psylocke, and Azazel, the film was supposed to feature none other than White Nick Fury.
Stunt performer David Macdonald — who also stood in for Tatum as Gambit — was to be the one wearing the eyepatch, in a suit that is extremely reminiscent of the one David Hasselhoff wore in 1998’s hardly remembered TV movie Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. That movie — somehow written by future The Dark Knight scribe David S. Goyer — is a wild ride, by the way. Not quite as wild as that 1990s Captain America film with the rubber ears, but still bonkers. Needless to say, the TV series that it was supposed to spawn never materialized.
OK, recapping for anyone with questions… Yes, Nick Fury was once played by David Hasselhoff and, yes, Nick Fury used to be white. It was the Ultimate comics, launched in 2000, that first reimagined the character as Black, with his appearance specifically based on Samuel L. Jackson. This made casting Jackson himself in the MCU a no-brainer. Ironically, this then caused the mainstream Marvel comics to follow suit, with the biracial Nick Fury Jr. — the original’s son — introduced, essentially erasing White Nick Fury from canon.
Seeing as Jackson is so synonymous with Nick Fury these days, hanging around the franchise since its very beginning in 2008’s Iron Man, the reappearance of White Nick Fury was not something we expected even the Multiverse Saga to serve up. It’s unknown why his presence was ultimately cut from Deadpool & Wolverine — we can only imagine what cheeky quip Ryan Reynolds had prepared for when Wade Wilson laid eyes on him — but maybe he could still get his shot in the MCU.
Considering that Hasselhoff himself has already cameoed in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, this deleted cameo has now planted the idea of his Fury variant returning for a hysterical walk-on part in Avengers: Secret Wars. Bonus points if he gets to come face-to-face with Jackson’s version. I know, it’s not exactly likely, but Deadpool & Wolverine has taught us that sometimes, just sometimes, the MCU can deliver on crossovers we couldn’t imagine in our most demented daydreams.