Like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness before it, there was a seemingly endless list of Deadpool & Wolverine cameo rumours before the movie finally arrived in theaters.
Some came from social media "scoopers," while others were teased by the actors themselves. Talking to Happy Sad Confused host Josh Horowitz, director Shawn Levy set the record straight on some of the internet's wildest claims.
Asked about a possible appearance from Sir Patrick Stewart's Professor X, the filmmaker responded, "Never even discussed. Studied by Emma Corrin, big time, because the Cassandra siblinghood to Professor X is really interesting to us, but never discussed, never considered."
As for the X-Men (who we'd hoped to see suit up in their own comic-accurate costumes), Levy added, "I read a lot about Storm. I read a lot about Anna Paquin coming back. I mean, I read everything. The internet has been a delightful smokescreen for the truth. Pyro was in early. Tyler Mane's Sabretooth was in early."
Given Liev Schreiber's prominent role in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, many fans expected he'd reprise the role of Sabretooth. Instead, the plan was always to use X-Men's Mane.
"No, although Liev is awesome," Levy said. "Never Liev, always Tyler. Zeb Wells, one of our fellow writers, from his youth, was a big fan of Tyler Mane's Sabretooth. He wrote that in an early draft of the script and it stuck."
Concept art has previously confirmed Deadpool 2 was once set to feature the cast of 2015's ill-fated Fantastic Four reboot. Despite them making an appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine's emotional credits montage, that's as far as their involvement in the movie ever got.
"To be in the movie more than that clip? No, we knew early on that Chris Evans was going to be our Johnny Storm," Levy confirmed.
The director also elaborated on Ryan Reynolds' recent Jordan Peele remarks, saying he was eyed to play a "high-ranking TVA bureaucrat villain" very early on in the writing process. Mephisto, who we expect to see make his MCU debut in Ironheart, was also under consideration.
"I don't remember if that was Jordan character, but I do remember in some early versions...again, our offices are littered with ripped-up beat sheets that didn't quite feel right," Levy revealed. "I know Mephisto was in some of those."
Reynolds has also shared a couple of new shots of Channing Tatum's Gambit in Deadpool & Wolverine which you can check out in the Facebook post below.