Hold on to your chimichangas, Deadpool fans, because according to a new report, the Merc with a Mouth might be facing off against one of the weirder characters in the Marvel Universe: Black Tom Cassidy. Per a Deadline report, The Strain star Jack Kesy has been cast in the hotly anticipated Deadpool 2 in a major villain role. Sources close to the project haven’t confirmed exactly which Marvel villain Kesy will play, but early signs are pointing to the malevolent mutant Black Tom Cassidy.
For those of you who don’t know, Black Tom Cassidy is an Irish mutant with the power to generate concussive blasts through wood, which he usually focuses through his handy-dandy shillelagh. Cassidy, the cousin of X-Men member Banshee, can also bend plant life to his will, manipulating it and using it to generate energy. Oh, and because plants are apparently the opposite of sound, Black Tom is immune to his cousin Banshee’s sonic powers. Because comics.
Black Tom first appeared in 1976’s Uncanny X-Men #99 and went on to become best friends with Juggernaut, as well as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. He has squared off with Deadpool in the “Blacklisted” arc in which Black Box hired him to murder the Merc with a Mouth. Spoiler alert: it didn’t go well for Black Tom.
Everything you need to know about Deadpool
The report also asserts that Cable, who will be played by Josh Brolin, is the film’s “principal villain,” which may sound odd at first to those who think of the time-traveling mutant cyborg as a good guy. Though Cable and Deadpool had a long-running partnership in the comics, things didn’t start out that way. In Deadpool’s first appearance, he was hired by another time-traveling mutant, Tolliver, to murder Cable and the New Mutants. Given that this will be the first time Wade Wilson and Nathan Summers cross paths onscreen, it’s understandable that they might not see eye to techno-organic eye right away. After all, Deadpool doesn’t exactly seem like the kind of guy who makes a great first impression, especially on a notoriously grumpy dude like Cable.
Jack Kesy will join newcomers like Brolin, as well as Zazie Beetz as Domino and incoming director David Leitch (John Wick). Returning from the first film are Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Stefan Kapicic as Colossus, and Karan Soni as the put-upon taxi driver Dopinder.
Deadpool 2 hits theaters on June 1, 2018.
Images: Marvel Comics/20th Century Fox/Miramax Films