Since playing a Cable lookalike in Avatar, Stephen Lang has been a fan-favourite choice to take on the role of Deadpool's ally on the big screen. He's even campaigned for the part on social media and while that didn't end up panning out for him, the excitement to see Josh Brolin as the character is now huge.
Asked in a recent interview about just how close he came to playing Cable, Lang admitted that it wasn't anywhere near quite as near as you might think. "No, no, I never auditioned for it and you know, truth be told, I’m fairly Cable-ignorant." The actor went on to explain why he isn't all that familiar with the character and it boils down to him no longer actually reading comic books by that point in his life!
"Look, my relationship with Marvel Comics goes back to the ’60s when – and I’m talking about as a reader, I was right there for the first Spider-Man, I was a Fantastic Four fan, I loved Doctor Strange, I love Jim Steranko, Jack “The King” Kirby, all them, Steve Ditko, you know, I knew who they were and I was reading all that stuff, I will say that it – by the time Cable came around. I'd kind of moved on."
As for who he would like to play in the Marvel Universe, Lang said: "My favorite Comic Book of all the Marvel series, was always Sargent Fury and His Howling Commandos. I friggin’ loved Sargent Fury’s Howling Commandos and to me it was always like, I want to be Nick Fury." Will we ever see that become a reality? It seems unlikely but stranger things have happened and he would be a decent fit...