Deadpool & Wolverine couldn't get everyone back, which meant having to secretly recast multiple characters, including a few major X-Men villains.
Marvel Studios' first foray into the world of the X-Men turned out to be a rather sweet swansong to the Foxverse and its films. It also gave other characters like Wesley Snipes' Blade one last chance in the limelight before they're recast in the MCU.
However, most of the cameos in the Deadpool threequel can be found huddled in Cassandra Nova's compound in The Void, acting as her personal army. While some actors from years past returned as her henchmen, like Aaron Stanford's Pyro, others didn't or simply couldn't.
6 X-Men Villains Recast in Deadpool & Wolverine
Psylocke (Ayesha Hussain)
Funnily enough, Olivia Munn's Psylocke in X-Men: Apocalypse was already a recast, as Mei Melançon previously played the mutant in X-Men: Last Stand.
In Deadpool & Wolverine, the character is recast again, with Ayesha Hussain and her Psylocke acting as one of Cassandra's many henchmen.
While she managed to wrangle Dafne Keen's Laura away from helping Logan and Wade using a psionic whip, she was confirmed dead in footage released by Ryan Reynolds showing Gambit's survival.
Juggernaut (Aaron Reed)
Originally played by Vinnie Jones in X-Men: Last Stand, Juggernaut was a member of Magneto's Brotherhood. In the attack on the hospital at the climax of Last Stand, he's knocked out by Elliot Page's Kitty Pryde.
In Deadpool & Wolverine, he became one of Cassandra's enforces, played by bodybuilder Aaron Reed.
In the fight at Cassandra's compound, Reed's Juggernaut fights with Laura, who ends up cutting his feet and head off, with his helmet used to disrupt Cassandra's powers.
Azazel (Eduardo Gago)
Jason Flemyng played the teleporting mutant in X-Men: First Class, working under Sebastian Shaw in the Hellfire Club, but would be killed off-screen in its sequel, X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Azazel returns in this threequel as one of Cassandra's many henchmen, played by Eduardo Gago.
Unfortunately for Azazel, he's killed on-screen this time at the hands of Blade, who anticipates his teleportation and kills him with a well-timed razorang.
Callisto (Chloe Kibble)
Dania Ramirez previously played Callisto in X-Men: The Last Stand, with Chloe Kibble taking over the role in Deadpool & Wolverine as one of Cassandra's henchmen.
It's not certain who killed her in the climactic fight with Cassandra, but Ramirez's Callisto was killed by Halle Berry's Storm when she was thrown against an electrical fence and electrocuted to death.
Lady Deathstrike (Jade Lye)
Kelly Hu played Lady Deathstrike in X-Men: United but was replaced by Jade Lye in the Deadpool threequel.
She's briefly seen fighting Wolverine at the beginning of the resistance's attack on Cassandra's compound but doesn't put up nearly as big a fight against Logan as Hu's Deathstrike did in United, going down easily.
She's actually taken down a second time by Blade when he slashes her in the face with his machete.
Quill (Nilly Cetin)
Last seen in X-Men: The Last Stand, played by Ken Leung, Quill recast with Nilly Cetin in Deadpool & Wolverine, "the only female variant to date."
Not that it wasn't obvious enough, but this only further reinforces that all these recasts are, technically speaking, still Variants of these existing Foxverse characters, just like Hugh Jackman's Wolverine.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now playing in theaters worldwide.
