Gina Carano and Colossus Join X-Men Spin-Off Deadpool

By  · Published on February 14th, 2015

Relativity Media

The headline for this news is totally inconsistent, I know. Gina Carano is a real person, while Colossus is a character. But that’s the sort of thing we’re going to increasingly see the more characters, particularly superhero and other comic book characters, become the new marquee names and true movie stars of this era of cinema.

The thing is that Carano is still a bigger name than the character she’s reportedly playing in Deadpool, according to The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog. It’s a character I’m not even familiar with as a former “X-Men” comics junkie. Her name is Angel Dust, and she was introduced as one of the subterranean Morlocks in 2002, long past my time as a reader.

The other thing is that Colossus is said to be joining the movie, but there’s no word on who is playing him yet. It could be Daniel Cudmore, the actor who has portrayed the metallic mutant in three X-Men movies already – X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand and last year’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. Even if that’s who it’ll be, in this case the character has the bigger name, headline and marquee-wise.

Although I don’t know much about Angel Dust, I always liked the idea of the Morlocks as a group of mutants in the “X-Men” universe who weren’t conventionally attractive comic book characters. They’re outcasts, many of them because they were physically “freaks” or just felt like one (as part of the ’90s “freak” subculture as a teen, I related), sometimes because their mutant quality wasn’t exactly a “super power” or “special ability.” And one thing that’s always been notable about Deadpoool (Ryan Reynolds) is he’s got a scarred face. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m surprised he and the Morlocks weren’t regularly in cahoots in the comics.

Carano herself isn’t the most conventional movie star, either. She’s a former MMA fighter who has become a significant action heroine thanks to Steven Soderbergh casting her in Haywire (not her first film, but it was her breakout) followed by a role in Fast & Furious 6. She’s going to be perfect in the X-Men spin-off.

Deadpool hits theaters about one year from now, on February 12, 2016.

UPDATE: Cudmore tweeted the following, meaning they’ll be recasting the part of Colossus:

Thanks everyone for all the support for me 2 reprise the role of #Colossus in #Deadpool but unfortunately it won’t be happening for me con’t

— daniel cudmore (@danielcudmore) February 17, 2015

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Christopher Campbell began writing film criticism and covering film festivals for a zine called Read, back when a zine could actually get you Sundance press credentials. He's now a Senior Editor at FSR and the founding editor of our sister site Nonfics. He also regularly contributes to Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes and is the President of the Critics Choice Association's Documentary Branch.