There hasn’t been a casting rumor mill as ravenous for leads as the one for Deadpool 2. Casting rumors for characters like the mutants Domino and Cable have prospective actors delivering public statements, raising social media campaigns, and fans pre-emptively starting petitions and creating fan art about any actual casting. The latest actor on the sacrificial altar of Deadpool 2 is Russell Crowe for the important role of Cable. The actor has already received fan art of him in the role, as well as the coveted approval of Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld.
Crowe’s dance with the Cable role began on Twitter when Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld — an apparent Russell Crowe fan — suggested the Australian actor audition for Cable in Deadpool 2. After a little back-and-forth between the Gladiator actor and the comic book creator about how it’s ultimately Ryan Reynolds’s decision who gets the mutant role, fans lost their collective minds. What followed was a deluge of fan art, Russell Crowe pumping up followers by retweeting fan art of him as Cable, and just general chatter that doesn’t even remotely confirm the actor is in any consideration for the role.
Rob Liefeld probably doesn’t even have much say in the casting process for Deadpool 2, but the small exchange was enough to get fans riled up about the prospect of Russell Crowe playing the time-travelling son of Cyclops in the Deadpool sequel.
The fervor around the role of Cable is mostly a result of a post-credits gag in Deadpool when Reynolds tells the audience — while in character as Deadpool — that Cable will be in the sequel. The reason why fans are so enthusiastic about the character appearing alongside Deadpool is thanks to the popular 2004 Marvel comic book series, Cable & Deadpool, which cemented the duo as the Marvel Universe’s version of the quintessential Buddy Cop trope — with Deadpool playing the loose cannon to Cable’s straight-edge mutant cop.
Prior to Crowe, several other actors were rumored for the role including, most recently, Pierce Brosnan, whose name was associated with the role after a cryptic Instagram photo of the actor hanging out with Logan star Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds himself. A similar tidal wave of fan art and mock-ups of the former James Bond as the mutant also followed the casting rumor. The two join other rumored Cable actors including Stephen Lang, Dolph Lundgren, John Cena, and Keira Knightly.
There is still no confirmation for who will play Cable in Deadpool 2.
