Adopting a time-travelling mutant for the silver screen is no mean feat.
That’s something that Deadpool 2‘s David Leitch addressed head-on during an interview with Screen Rant – the same interview in which Leitch entertained the possibility of an Atomic Blonde sequel. But on the topic of his upcoming Fox tentpole, the writer-director outlined how he’s approaching the backstory behind Nathan Summers.
Better known to you, I, and the Merc With a Mouth as Cable, we know that Avengers: Infinity War‘s Josh Brolin has signed on to play the famed mutant, and anything with even a passing knowledge of Cable’s storied history will know all too well that the lore surrounding Nathan Summers can be difficult to parse – let alone streamline for a two-hour feature film.
First introduced as the miracle child of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, Cable’s history stretches all the way back to 1986, and though he doesn’t name-drop any specific comics or points of reference, David Leitch assured fans that his handling of Nathan Summers is “all in the spirit of canon.” So take from that what you will.
And regardless of which comics Leitch and his writing team – namely Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick – have chosen, the filmmaker stressed that there’s simply no way Cable’s entire origin story could be condensed into a single feature film.
Look, I think besides all of the Deadpool, sort of the film universe Deadpool, you kind of have to be selective of like how you approach these characters because there’s a canon of work that’s so massive that you could never put it all on screen. So we’ve been really particular what we’re going to put in and what we’re going to leave for potential future if it goes that way and, uh, I think you’ll like it. It’s all in the spirit of canon, and also in the spirit of like what Deadpool the movie is.
Deadpool 2 shoots for theaters on June 1st, 2018, and when it does, it’ll seemingly carve out more room for Colossus. Russian actor Stefan Kapicic is back in the voice booth to portray the towering mutant, joining a list of returnees that includes T.J. Miller (Weasel), Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead), Karan Soni (Dopinder), Leslie Uggams (Blind Al), and Morena Baccarin (Vanessa).