Deadpool Creator Rob Liefeld Says Cable Is "On a Mission" in 'Deadpool 2'
The creator of Deadpool and Cable reveals why the son of two X-Men has arrived.
Ever since Cable, the son of X-Men leader Cyclops and the clone of Jean Grey (long story) appeared in The New Mutants #87 back in 1990, Marvel fans have been ga-ga over a cyborg mutant who goes bang-bang. But, Cable isn’t just going to shoot up the place in Deadpool 2. According to co-creator Rob Liefeld, Cable is laser-focused on a mission.
On Wednesday, the newest trailer for Deadpool 2 showcased Cable, played by Josh Brolin, who brings to the table intensity and anti-hero recklessness not seen since Brolin starred in 2008’s W. In a phone interview with Inverse the day the trailer premiered, Liefeld revealed that behind Cable’s mayhem lies a singular purpose.
“Clearly he’s on a mission,” Liefeld says. “What that mission is, you gotta stay tuned.” The famed comics creator humorously acknowledges how little he can actually reveal. “I’m not gonna be much help here,” he says laughing.
Could Cable’s mission be to form a badass unit of killer mutants? Fans are speculating that Deadpool 2 will be the introduction to the X-Force, a spin-off band of mutants who take up lethal black operations. In one shot of the trailer, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Domino (Zazie Beetz) is standing alongside new mutants that fans speculate to be Shatterstar and actor Terry Crews, who may be playing G.W. Bridge or Hammer.
Liefeld wouldn’t confirm who the onscreen, unnamed mutants are. “But you’re welcome to stare at the screen and see if they resemble people who you think they resemble,” he says.
But he does anticipate that fans will “flip” when they see Cable in Deadpool 2. “Today, people saw his persona,” Liefeld says, advising fans they should understand the fundamentals of Cable and Deadpool’s relationship.
“I told Marvel, let me do a guy who is more aggressive, who is a soldier,” remembers Liefeld about Cable’s creation. Cable’s grim perspective is made mighty obvious in the trailer, as Brolin narrates: “I was born into war. Bred into it. People think they understand pain. But they have no concept of it.”
Now pair that guy with a Bea Arthur-loving goofball in red spandex and you have the unlikely dynamic duo of Cable and Deadpool, who have shared a long history together, including the popular Marvel series Cable & Deadpool, which ran for fifty issues.
Liefeld, who has spent time on the set of Deadpool 2 and has actually seen his creations pow-wow before his eyes, promises fans that the sequel over-delivers on what they’ve hungered for since Deadpool in 2016. That movie, Liefeld says, just had one problem: It was too short.
“The first movie is a 100 minutes long, in a world full of bloated movies,” he says. “When people walked out of the theater, they kept rushing back because they loved visiting Ryan Reynolds and Deadpool.”
Liefeld hypes Deadpool 2 as “ten times better” and is “spectacular.” “Ryan as a producer has checked all the boxes. Ryan has brought even more tricks, better jokes, more action. David Leitch is the best shooter on the planet. People are going to be out of their minds.”
“People just wanna hang with Deadpool,” adds Liefeld.
Deadpool 2 will be released in theaters on May 18.
