After directing the hell out of Deadpool, Tim Miller left some pretty big shoes to fill. Said shoes are now occupied by former stuntman and Atomic Blonde helmer David Leitch, who’s sitting behind the camera for Deadpool 2 and who’s described the project as his “dream job.”
He’s got a lot to live up to, of course, not only having to introduce and explain Josh Brolin’s Cable (he’s the future son of Cyclops, taken to the future to be cured of a technovirus, now returned from a nightmare future to save the present… at least, I think), but also a whole new team of mutants known as the X-Force.
Like Deadpool himself, the X-Force are a Rob Liefeld creation, taking a more militaristic and aggressive approach to their enemies than those lily-livered, do-gooder X-Men. But you have to wonder, why exactly would Deadpool, a rather disorganized and chaotic character, take the time to form a new superhero team?
Well, Leitch explained to USA Today what the Merc’s motivations are, saying:
“Building a team in the classic style of all action movies, there’s great opportunity for conflict, but it’s not because he doesn’t want to. Maybe his fun, never-stop-talking personality is a little grating and people get tired of him. It’s not for lack of his good heart. At the end of the day, he wants to be a better person and do the right thing, and sometimes his thinking is flawed, like all of us.”
Sure, it’s a little garbled, but he seems to be saying that, deep down, Deadpool just wants to be liked and to do ‘the right thing,’ and having some buddies around to help him handle (and probably quickly befriend) Cable is probably a smart choice. Some of my favorite bits in the first film were when he was bouncing off Colossus and the brilliant Negasonic Teenage Warhead, so if the sequel has more of that I’m not going to complain.
Another reason, of course, is that Fox are still pressing ahead with their plans for a full-blown X-Force movie. They’ve already put the kibosh on one version in favour of the original Deadpool (a smart choice in retrospect), but they’ll no doubt be keeping a close eye on which mutants go down well with audiences in order to use them fully in any future problems. Then again, if Disney goes ahead and buys the Fox IPs, it could all be for naught.