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Will DEADPOOL 2 Bring Some Much Needed Queer Representation?

After live-tweeting the Super Bowl but being conspicuously absent from the much anticipated ad slots, Deadpool himself has blessed us with our first proper trailer for the sequel to 2016’s smash hit superhero flick. Deadpool broke ground as a relatively low budget R-rated take on comic book movies, and ended up making over 900 million dollars. The film took a roster of lesser-known X-characters and created a fun, rude romp that was a huge hit with fans. There’s a lot to pick apart from the new trailer, but the most significant part for us was one shot which heralded the introduction of not one, not two, but three classic X-canon characters!

At exactly 1:39 into the trailer we see Deadpool, Domino, and a motley crew of characters standing in the cargo door of a military-looking plane. It’s a great shot, as it implies that the film will live up to the anarchic team-up charm of the first installment. But more importantly it reveals some new exciting additions to the cast, including one which has the potential to shake up the stale superhero landscape forever.

Deadpool 2‘s filmmakers have done a great job hiding the fact that Terry FREAKING Crews is in the movie. From the looks of this picture he’ll probably play Hammer, a mutant with superhuman strength who historically has been an ally of Cable, and more recently appeared in the Cable and Deadpool team-up comic. Hammer was most notably a part of Cable’s superhero team the “Six Pack,” which is likely exactly who we’re looking at in the new trailer. Crews’ Hammer is joined by a shady-looking character who appears to have no mouth, which means it’s likely that he is in fact Generation X’s stoic stalwart, Chamber. Though Chamber hasn’t historically been a part of the Six Pack, the Deadpool team is fond of mixing up canon and Chamber would be a very cool addition to this burgeoning movie team. Crews also stands in front of a very outrageously dressed character who ’90s comics fans will almost certainly recognize as Shatterstar, and that my friends is a very, very, very big deal.

Shatterstar was created by ’90s comics bad boy turned comics dad, Rob Liefeld, and Fabian Nicieza, debuting in New Mutants #99. Shatterstar is most well known for his fabulous costume–including the outrageous headgear that we spotted in the trailer–which is peak Marvel in the ’90s, not to mention his preposterous power set that consists of an almost omniscient level of super skills, the results of some extra-dimensional genetic engineering. He also has two radical swords–that are each made out of two swords–and shares regenerative powers with Deadpool himself. But what makes Shatterstar an exciting addition isn’t any of his cool ’90s schtick. It’s actually all about X-Factor (volume 3) #45. This 2009 issue saw Shatterstar, who’d spent his life without any romantic interest, kiss New Mutants and X-Force legacy member Rictor, whom he’d been in an ambiguous “friendship” with for a very, very long time. The pair went on to have a relationship, making Shatterstar one of the few canon queer characters in mainstream comics, alongside Deadpool himself!

Deadpool’s sexuality has long been a conversation in comics, as he constantly falls in love with women, Death, and lots of male superheroes around him. He’s been called “omnisexual” and “pansexual,” whilst his co-creator claims he can be “all sexualities” due to his constantly shifting brain chemistry. Though that particular explanation is a whole world of problematic, we love Deadpool’s fluid sexuality and think it’s high time that it was celebrated on screen, and the introduction of Shatterstar is the perfect moment to do it.

The film’s creative team has been really open about wanting Deadpool’s sexuality recognized, with the first film’s director Tim Miller stating in an interview with Collider: “Pansexual! I want that quoted. Pansexual Deadpool.” During a chat with Variety, Ryan Reynolds spoke about the character’s romantic tendencies, saying he was excited about the potential. “I love that about Deadpool,” gushed Reynolds. “I love that he can break any boundary. In the future, I hope we get to do that more.” He’s also said it would be “nice” for Deadpool to have a boyfriend and that he “certainly wouldn’t be the guy standing in the way of that. That would be great.” All of this makes us think Deadpool 2 has a lot of potential for introducing some canon queerness to the cinematic superhero landscape!

Are you excited for a potential Shatterstar X Deadpool hookup? Just want to see Terry Crews in a superhero movie? Hoping this rings in the queer-ification of the cinematic X-Men universe? Let us know in the comments!

Images: Fox/Marvel

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