Josh Brolin recently discussed playing Cable in Deadpool 2 and compared the experience to a “business transaction” unlike his time as the MCU’s Thanos.
Cable was a welcome and well-received addition to the franchise, but now that Disney owns the rights to X-Men and the Regenerating Degenerate is basically a part of the MCU, the future of the series, and Brolin’s character, in particular, remain in an ambiguous developmental state. Of course, a report that surfaced a couple of months ago all but suggested that the actor is in talks to return in a potential threequel and made it pretty clear that they want to keep Brolin around as part of Wade’s infamous X-Force.
Which certainly makes sense, as the two of them together make for a legendary duo, one ripe with narrative opportunities to explore. Besides, fans absolutely loved Brolin and his portrayal of Cable in the second film, so why wouldn’t they want him back?
Though as much as we appreciated his superb acting skills, it seems that Brolin himself had a more difficult time on the set of Deadpool 2 as opposed to playing the Mad Titan in the MCU. Here’s what he had to say about the two franchises in a recent conversation on the Team Deakins podcast:
“Deadpool was hard. Even though it was funny, it was harder. That was more of a business transaction, it was more, ‘We need to make this like this,’ whereas I didn’t feel that way with Avengers.”
Frankly, the two characters couldn’t be further apart in terms of distinctive traits, even if they exist in the same fictional universe. Brolin highlighted this difference as well by bringing up a conversation he had with the Russo Brothers about Thanos, noting:
“I mentioned [Marlon] Brando in Apocalypse Now, this guy who is very elusive and insane but what he is saying makes sense and is poetical [and] I started seeing the parallel, which I liked for me. I loved being able to resort to a film like Apocalypse Now when I was doing something like Avengers.”
By the sound of it, the actor didn’t have as much freedom with Cable as he did with the Mad Titan in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Though it could also be the fact that he related to Thanos through Brando’s character in Apocalypse Now, a creative resonance that was clearly lacking in Deadpool 2.