Deadpool 2 Star Says She Was Ecstatic To Play Cinema’s First Gay Superhero

Though the pansexuality of Wade Wilson has been regularly hinted at in the course of his two movies, it’s his reluctant ally Negasonic Teenage Warhead who holds the honor of being the first openly LGBTQ superhero in a major comic book film, with Deadpool 2 providing the character with a relentlessly cheery girlfriend named Yukio.

The inclusion of this same-sex relationship earned the endorsement of media monitoring organization GLAAD, and actress Brianna Hildebrand seems pretty happy herself about how it turned out. Speaking to Red Carpet News TV, the star recalled giving her enthusiastic approval when her colleague ran the idea past her.

“[Star and co-writer Ryan Reynolds] sent me an email about it while they were in the writing process asking if I would mind if they gave Negasonic a girlfriend, and I was like, ‘Mind? I’m ecstatic about that.’”

All the same, Hildebrand did have one suggestion about how the relationship was portrayed, in that she didn’t want the film to make too big a deal out of her character’s sexual orientation.

“I just asked him to not make it — which I knew he wouldn’t, obviously, and the writers [Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick] — but I just felt it would be more impactful maybe if it was just kind of mentioned, if it wasn’t just like, ‘Negasonic’s gay now, and now that’s what we’re gonna focus on.’ So yeah, I think he and the writers did it beautifully and it definitely worked out the way I had wanted it to.”

Though Negasonic’s relationship with Yukio certainly wasn’t the focus of the movie, Hildebrand’s proud of the impact that this inclusion’s already making.

“Each person that’s come up to me expressing how important Negasonic is to them has been an individual story that’s been really special,” Hildebrand said. “One girl in particular told me that after she saw [the movie] and [saw] Negasonic and Yukio together, that she came out to her dad, which I thought was super cool and really nice.”

The actress further stressed the importance of onscreen representation, and considered how she may have benefited from seeing more LGBTQ characters in movies while growing up.

“Maybe if I, growing up, had seen an openly gay or queer character as a superhero, maybe I would have come out sooner, or maybe I would have felt more empowered about the things that I am able to do and [felt] more comfortable in my own skin. I think those things are really important,” she said.

Seeing how Negasonic’s constant squabbling with Wade has become a cherished tradition of the Deadpool series, it’s a safe bet that Hildebrand will have some part to play in the upcoming X-Force movie. In the meantime, you can catch Deadpool 2 right now on Digitial, and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD from August 21st.