Rob Liefeld confirmed that a major Marvel villain and actor was set to lead the antagonistic charge in Fox's canceled X-Force movie. 20th Century Fox spent six years from 2013 to 2019 attempting to get an X-Force movie off the ground, starting with plans for a darker, grittier trilogy from Kick-Ass 2 writer Jeff Wadlow. Those plans evolved after Deadpool 2 came along with its own X-Force and Daredevil creator Drew Goddard started to cook up a spin-off for Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool, Josh Brolin's Cable, and Zazie Beetz's Domino. Sadly, Goddard's X-Force was canceled when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, which also pushed Deadpool 3 (Deadpool & Wolverine) back to 2024.
The Direct exclusively spoke with Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld at MultiCon 2026 and asked him about the canceled X-Force movie. The man behind the X-Force noted that Cable actor Josh Brolin was "really excited" about the team-up after landing a multi-picture deal to play the time-traveling mutant at Fox. But beyond that, Brolin (who also played the MCU's Thanos) was meant to have dual roles in X-Force as Stryfe, a regular foe of the team with connections to Apocalypse:
"I think I think it's safe to say, Josh [Brolin] was really excited, because he signed a multi-picture deal, and he was excited about the prospect of not only playing Cable, but longtime fans of X-Force know that he would have been portraying Stryfe as well."
As many X-Men diehards will know, Cable is otherwise known as Nathan Summers, the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor (a Jean Grey clone). Stryfe was created by the Askani Tribe in the far future as a backup in the event of Nathan's death, but he was ultimately taken and raised by Apocalypse to serve as his new host body, only to be abandoned when it became clear it was not viable.
Honing in on Liefeld's subtle confirmation that X-Force was set to feature Stryfe, the Marvel Comics veteran revealed that the Cable Variant was "absolutely" the villain of the script that was abandoned with Disney's Fox acquisition. In fact, there were even talks about teasing Stryfe in Deadpool 2's post-credits scene:
The Direct: You mentioned Stryfe. Was that something that was going to happen with the older release?
Liefeld: "The X-Force movie that was going to be coming to screen that Fox had planned before Disney bought the Fox catalog; he was absolutely in that movie. Spoiler alert! It would have been great… There were, at one point, discussions about him being in an after-credits scene in 'Deadpool 2', but they struck that."
Deadpool 2's post-credits scene ultimately saw the Merc With a Mouth messing with Cable's time-travel device to rewrite the timeline and save Vanessa. Sadly, Brolin's Cable hasn't appeared since as he sat out Deadpool & Wolverine, but there are rumors that Reynolds wants Cable back for his next MCU movie.
It's clear that Liefeld was excited about the potential of X-Force and Stryfe, and it sounds as if he wasn't the only one. He made it clear that Brolin was excited at the chance to play "two sides of the same coin, being the good and evil:"
"But no, Josh [Brolin] told me, ‘The opportunity to portray those two characters, the two sides of the coin, being the good and the evil, was something he was really excited about.’ But I mean, again, in respect to Josh, there's a possibility he has moved way beyond."
The Future of Marvel's X-Force Movie
Unfortunately, Goddard hasn't had much luck getting a morally ambiguous superhero team-up project off the ground for reasons beyond his control. Not only was X-Force abandoned when Disney bought 20th Century Fox in 2019, but just five years prior, in 2014, Sony also canceled Goddard's Sinister Six movie that was set within The Amazing Spider-Man universe to instead reboot the web-slinger.
It should come as no surprise that Goddard has moved on from Marvel, having just penned Project Hail Mary and now being on board to write The Matrix 5. He is also part of James Gunn and DC Studios' larger creative committee, although there is no sign that he is developing a DCU movie or show of his own.
Meanwhile, Marvel Studios is reportedly developing a new X-Force project to be released after Avengers: Secret Wars in the MCU's third saga. It's unclear whether the X-Force revival is the mutant team-up movie that Ryan Reynolds has been writing to replace Deadpool 4, in which he is expected to take a supporting role.
