Deadpool & Wolverine featured a mishmash of exciting Marvel cameos, but it could not convince an X-Men: First Class actor to reprise his villain role in the MCU sequel. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman lead a multiverse extravaganza, including the return of fan-favorite characters like Blade, played by Wesley Snipes, and the on-screen debut of Channing Tatum as Gambit. However, some original actors did not make the cut. Jason Flemyng, who portrayed Azazel in X-Men: First Class, rejected Marvel Studios’ offer to return in Deadpool & Wolverine.
During an interview with Comicbookmovie.com for his next film The Stoic, Flemyng revealed that, like many other actors from the former Marvel-Fox universe, he received an offer to appear in Deadpool & Wolverine. His role in First Class as Azazel was as the secondary villain to Kevin Bacon’s Sebastian Shaw. In the comics, he was the father of Nightcrawler, even though that wasn’t addressed in the film franchise. According to Flemyng, who had to wear prosthetics and heavy make-up last time around, the prospect of suiting up again for a mostly stunt-based role simply didn’t seem appealing to him.
“It was the same thing. The same thing happened. Basically, they came to us and were like, ‘Would you like to do it? It’s three days fighting, two days makeup tests. Basically, you’ll be hired as a stunt performer.’ [frick], mate, listen, if I needed a couple of grand I’d have done it, but I didn’t at the time so I was like, ‘You know what, let a stunt man do it and they’ll do a good job. It’s fine.’ It’s actually not done me any harm because everyone keeps going, ‘Man, we saw you were in Deadpool, another big movie.’ Okay, if I get a few signatures at Comic-Con because I was in Deadpool, I’ll take it [Laughs].”
As he suggests, Juggernaut actor Vinnie Jones also didn’t accept the presumably low-ball offer to make a cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine, which included participating in the major battle sequence in the second act. And honestly, it’s hard to blame either of them. Although the cameos are neat for longtime fans, the roles are hardly meaty enough for the veteran actors to sink their teeth into. Outside the main team Deadpool created out of the forgotten Marvel-Fox superheroes, there is no time to prominently feature the villain characters in a meaningful capacity. That said, at least Flemyng may still reap the monetary benefits of his character’s appearance in the MCU while attending Comic-Con.
Deadpool & Wolverine Didn’t Bring Back a Lot of Actors
Flemyng and Jones were not the only X-Men actors to not show up in Deadpool & Wolverine, despite their characters returning in the MCU film. Villains that appeared in previous Fox-Marvel movies include Lady Deathstrike, Toad, Pyro, and Sabretooth. However, the last two of those saw the original actors reprising their roles, and the only ones who had voice lines in the film. Kelly Hu and Ray Park did not show up as Lady Deathstrike or Toad, respectively. Once again, it seems like this was a case of Deadpool & Wolverine simply not having enough time to give them more stuff to do, which could have swayed more actors to return.
Related Deadpool & Wolverine Editor Reveals Insane Reason Why Wolverine Variants Were Scrapped
The brown suit cost how much?
It’s been well-documented that Deadpool & Wolverine had a lot of ideas before production began that featured several different versions of the Marvel characters that appeared in the sequel. From more alternate versions of Wolverine to even more Deadpool variants, the creative crew behind the movie left a lot on the drawing board when filming began. Of course, those decisions to leave out certain characters and actors seem budget-related, especially since Wolverine’s brown and tan suit cost a whopping $100,000 to make for a 10-second appearance.
A follow-up to the highly successful Deadpool and Deadpool 2 films starring Ryan Reynolds as the Merc with a Mouth. The third film will be the first in the franchise to be developed under the Marvel Studios banner following Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox.
Release Date July 26, 2024
Cast Ryan Reynolds , Hugh Jackman , Emma Corrin , Morena Baccarin , Rob Delaney , Leslie Uggams , Karan Soni , Matthew Macfadyen , Brianna Hildebrand , Shioli Kutsuna , Stefan Kapicic , Lewis Tan , Randal Reeder , Jennifer Garner , Aaron Stanford , Billy Clements , Ollie Palmer , Chris Hemsworth , Rob McElhenney
Runtime 127 Minutes
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