‘Deadpool 2’s’ Trailer Has More Totally X-Cellent And UneXpected Characters

After the runaway success of Deadpool, the Merc with a Mouth’s sequel is just going for it. Hard. The follow-up, which crashes into theaters this May, not only features the return of Ryan Reynolds’ irrepressible murderous motormouth and his cavalcade of weirdo sidekicks (hell yes, Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead!), it also features the debuts of two major league X-characters: Cable (Josh Brolin) and Domino (Zazie Beetz).

The new Deadpool 2 trailer is a raucously meta affair, with Wade Wilson calling out unfinished VFX, taking a jab at Henry Cavill’s digitally-erased mustache in Justice League, and going full Toy Story with a pair of Deadpool and Cable action figures. The trailer is a riot, filled with bullets and bombs and, well, more bullets. It’s gloriously over-the-top, just like the comics of the early ’90s that it is so endearingly pulling from.

It also features a few surprise characters that, upon realizing who they were, made me jump up and down. Repeatedly. At work. I am 33 years old. In a professional setting. Jumping up and down over comic book characters. That’s how awesome this is.

So, first of all, Deadpool 2 leaning into the merc’s X-Force roots by including Domino and Cable has me x-static. Just having them in the trailer, just seeing Brolin growl his way through dialogue and beat the hell out of lackeys made my day. Seeing Zazie Beetz in action as one of my fave characters ever? Smiles for miles. But there’s one shot that just blew my mind:

That’s Domino on the far right, a mystery character next to her (maybe Negasonic Teenage Warhead, but maybe not?), obviously Deadpool in the center… and then two major players that we previously had no idea were in the movie.

First up: that dumb dumb in the white body armor has to be Shatterstar. F’ing Shatterstar!

THIS MADE ME JUMP UP AND DOWN. I LOVE SHATTERSTAR. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH THAT I AM SCRAPPING ALL INTEGRITY BY TYPING IN ALL CAPS. SOMETHING I NEVER DO.

I HAVE HAD A SHATTERSTAR ACTION FIGURE ON MY DECIDER DESK FROM DAY ONE, PEOPLE.

Shatterstar is ridiculous. He was created by the braintrust behind Deadpool himself (Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza), so he fits right in with this movie. He’s a genetically-engineered warrior from an alternate dimension that is dominated by bloodthirsty pop culture; in one of his earliest appearances, a teammate said that he looks like an extra in a Duran Duran video, and they were not wrong. He wears ridiculous headgear, has a topknot ponytail and two side braids, and carries double-bladed swords because one blade is not enough. He is also, as was established a few years after he debuted, a pansexual superhero who was in a longtime relationship with his X-Force teammate Rictor. So, he’s doubly, triply, quadruply awesome. Oh–and his superpower is basically “swords,” because he never uses his actual superpower (which involves channeling energy blasts through his swords or something).

Next to Shatterstar is a character I can’t identify, but  I recognize the actor: that’s f’ing TERRY CREWS. If ever that beloved, mountainous, teddy bear of a man was going to end up in a superhero movie, then Deadpool 2 is a perfect fit. Who he’s playing remains unknown, but considering the company he’s keeping and this sequel’s gleeful celebration of all things 1992, it’s highly likely that he’s playing one of Cable’s longtime associates, G.W. Bridge (yes, George Washington Bridge) or Hammer.

I’d lean towards Hammer since, well, they both have shaved heads? Hammer is a tech genius who never really got much attention in the comics, so Crews would be able to inject a lot of personality into that role. But if he’s playing G.W. Bridge, then he’s basically playing Nick Fury; both Bridge and Fury are no-nonsense, high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. officers in the comics.

Either way, Deadpool 2 is shaping up to be a movie that I cannot wait to see. I mean, it made me have a visceral, giddy physical reaction. I need this in my life.

Deadpool 2 hits theaters on May 18, 2018.

Where to stream Deadpool