Garrison Kane
Marvel Entertainment
Before settling on Negasonic Teenage Warhead, the team almost went with another character entirely: Garrison Kane. That’s right, one of Cable’s mercenary team, Six Pack, almost made it into “Deadpool.”
Debuting in the comic books in 1991 in X-Force #2, Garrison Kane was a powerful mercenary, possessing extensive cybernetic enhancements that essentially turn him into a cyborg. He gained those enhancements alongside Wade Wilson as part of the second Weapon X program. So why did they replace Kane with Negasonic? It’s all about the budget. “In the original script the action in the third act was great, but it was just Deadpool and a lot of guns,” said Miller. “One of my notes early on was that I wanted to see more superhero stuff. We had Garrison Kane in there for a while, but in the final round of budget cuts we had to take him out, because he was a pretty expensive dude.” The problem was essentially with Kane’s powers: Turned into a cyborg by the Weapon X program, Kane has a pair of bionic arms that change shape. “He would have been a visual effect for a large part of the movie,” said Miller. “And as it turned out, a visual effect too far.” Thankfully, they had a backup plan, and Miller chose Negasonic simply because her name stood out.
“I went through the list of Marvel characters and picked a few others I thought could be visually spectacular and fun. And at the end of that list was Negasonic, which I just thought was a freaky, funny name. And I sent this list over to the writers, Rhett and Paul, and they were like, ‘Oh my f***ing god, we have to use her!’ So that’s how she ended up in the movie.”
A deadpan goth teen, she too worked as the perfect counter to Deadpool’s over-the-top, zany antics. Alongside Colossus, the pair perfectly counterbalance the explosive personality Deadpool is known and loved for. And let’s face it — they made an awesome team, too.
Deadpool’s X-Men Partners Weren’t Exactly Picked For Their Powers
By Ryan Leston/May 25, 2022 12:26 pm EST
In fact, it was pretty awful.
Deadpool has always been a far quirkier character than the X-Men mutants, so the creative team would have to be absolutely sure that any supporting characters would fit the tone of their movie. There was also the possibility that the more well-known X-Men might overshadow Deadpool in his own film. They couldn’t let that happen.
“We didn’t want to populate his world with X-Men. They’re two separate franchises, and I think had we done that, we would have been making a mistake. Even if we did have the budget.”
How to assemble Deadpool’s X-Pals
“Going into the sequel, we are embracing this idea that it’s a small budget movie,” said Wernick. “And we’re not gonna populate it with the entire X-Men cast.”
Obviously, the more spectacular X-Men like Cyclops and Storm would require a large budget to bring them effectively back to the big screen. After all, their impressive powers would require plenty of CG and post effects to make it work. Throwing in the entire team would be even more expensive, so the team was forced to look for a handful of X-Men supporting characters who wouldn’t cost too much to recreate. Thankfully, they had some ideas.
The first “Deadpool” movie featured both Colossus and the lesser-known Negasonic Teenage Warhead. But it seems they weren’t chosen for their power sets; instead, Wernick and director Rhett Reese had specific reasons for including each of them.
Colossus
Piotr “Peter” Nikolaievitch Rasputin (aka Colossus) made his first appearance in the X-Men comics back in 1975, in Giant Size X-Men #1. His mutation grants him the ability to transform his entire body into an “organic steel” form — becoming much larger and near invulnerable. But his powers weren’t as important as his attitude:
“He was the perfect foil,” said Wernick. “[He was] a great foil to Deadpool because he’s very self-serious and goody-two-shoes,” he told Yahoo! Movies.
Of course, you can see this in full effect in the final film. A straight-talking, serious, and no-nonsense kind of mutant, he regularly butts heads with Deadpool. A recurring theme in the film is Colossus trying to convince him to take his powers and responsibilities seriously and join the X-Men — with Wade having none of it.
Although Colossus possesses a very cool, visually impressive power, it turns out that was far less important than setting up an interesting dynamic between him and Deadpool. As you can see from the movie, that more than paid off. But even after the script was written, director Tim Miller wasn’t sure they’d be allowed to use him:
Negasonic Teenage Warhead
That’s right — it was all about her kick-ass name.
Marvel nabbed the rights to use Ego the Living Planet in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” in exchange for the right to change up Negasonic’s powers. That’s quite a bit of bargaining, but it looks as though it paid off for everyone.
Garrison Kane
Marvel Entertainment
Before settling on Negasonic Teenage Warhead, the team almost went with another character entirely: Garrison Kane. That’s right, one of Cable’s mercenary team, Six Pack, almost made it into “Deadpool.”
Debuting in the comic books in 1991 in X-Force #2, Garrison Kane was a powerful mercenary, possessing extensive cybernetic enhancements that essentially turn him into a cyborg. He gained those enhancements alongside Wade Wilson as part of the second Weapon X program. So why did they replace Kane with Negasonic? It’s all about the budget. “In the original script the action in the third act was great, but it was just Deadpool and a lot of guns,” said Miller. “One of my notes early on was that I wanted to see more superhero stuff. We had Garrison Kane in there for a while, but in the final round of budget cuts we had to take him out, because he was a pretty expensive dude.” The problem was essentially with Kane’s powers: Turned into a cyborg by the Weapon X program, Kane has a pair of bionic arms that change shape. “He would have been a visual effect for a large part of the movie,” said Miller. “And as it turned out, a visual effect too far.” Thankfully, they had a backup plan, and Miller chose Negasonic simply because her name stood out.
“I went through the list of Marvel characters and picked a few others I thought could be visually spectacular and fun. And at the end of that list was Negasonic, which I just thought was a freaky, funny name. And I sent this list over to the writers, Rhett and Paul, and they were like, ‘Oh my f***ing god, we have to use her!’ So that’s how she ended up in the movie.”
A deadpan goth teen, she too worked as the perfect counter to Deadpool’s over-the-top, zany antics. Alongside Colossus, the pair perfectly counterbalance the explosive personality Deadpool is known and loved for. And let’s face it — they made an awesome team, too.
Debuting in the comic books in 1991 in X-Force #2, Garrison Kane was a powerful mercenary, possessing extensive cybernetic enhancements that essentially turn him into a cyborg. He gained those enhancements alongside Wade Wilson as part of the second Weapon X program.
So why did they replace Kane with Negasonic? It’s all about the budget.
“In the original script the action in the third act was great, but it was just Deadpool and a lot of guns,” said Miller. “One of my notes early on was that I wanted to see more superhero stuff. We had Garrison Kane in there for a while, but in the final round of budget cuts we had to take him out, because he was a pretty expensive dude.”
The problem was essentially with Kane’s powers: Turned into a cyborg by the Weapon X program, Kane has a pair of bionic arms that change shape. “He would have been a visual effect for a large part of the movie,” said Miller. “And as it turned out, a visual effect too far.” Thankfully, they had a backup plan, and Miller chose Negasonic simply because her name stood out.
A deadpan goth teen, she too worked as the perfect counter to Deadpool’s over-the-top, zany antics. Alongside Colossus, the pair perfectly counterbalance the explosive personality Deadpool is known and loved for.
“I went through the list of Marvel characters and picked a few others I thought could be visually spectacular and fun. And at the end of that list was Negasonic, which I just thought was a freaky, funny name. And I sent this list over to the writers, Rhett and Paul, and they were like, ‘Oh my f***ing god, we have to use her!’ So that’s how she ended up in the movie.”
And let’s face it — they made an awesome team, too.
