It has long been rumoured that Michael Shannon, who recently appeared in action movie Bullet Train, was meant to play a major role in Deadpool 2. Now, after years of speculation, Bullet Train producer Kelly McCormick has confirmed that, yes, Michael Shannon was almost Cable in Deadpool 2.
Cable is a key X-Men character both in the comics and Deadpool movies. In Deadpool 2, he is a time-travelling cyborg soldier who is trying to prevent the death of his wife and children by any means possible. Although initially a foe to Deadpool, the pair’s entertaining back-and-forth is one of the best qualities of the comedy movie, and Cable ultimately ends up redeeming himself by saving Deadpool’s life and timeline.
In Deadpool 2, he is played by Josh Brolin, who has had more than his fair share of Marvel movie roles. He portrayed MCU villain Thanos in a number of Avengers movies including Infinity War and Endgame, which are considered to be among some of the best Marvel movies of all time.
But the Mad Titan actor wasn’t always meant to be Cable. In an interview with IndieWire about Michael Shannon’s appearance in Bullet Train, McCormick revealed, “he actually almost was Cable.”
“Then there was some sort of hiccup conflict at the very last minute, and then we just ended up reconnecting on this one, and felt really lucky that this was the role for him,” she added. Because Josh [Brolin] was so good as Cable, I can’t even imagine [what that would have been like].”
As revealed in the interview, Deadpool himself also appears in Bullet train — kind of. Ryan Reynolds appears in the end as a fellow assassin, and McCormick explains that he was really keen to do so. “That was, of course, what Ryan wanted to do, and he wanted to give back, and he loves to play with David, and we keep missing each other because he’s so busy and David [Leitch] is so busy,” she said.
Bullet Train is now available to watch in theatres now. If you want to know more about the world of mutants, check out our guide on how to watch the X-Men movies in order as well as our guide to the recently-announced X-Men ’97. Don’t forget our guide to Deadpool 3, either!