Popverse's top stories of the day

• How Disney+'s What If...? is the moonshot for the next 50 years of Marvel Studios & the MCU
• Watch: Dune: Prophecy's Desmond Hart explained: His secret identity, his past, and his possible future [SPOILERS]
• Dune: Prophecy's Desmond Hart explained: His secret identity, his past, and his possible future [SPOILERS]

---

A lot of factors came together to create the cameo wonderland that was Deadpool & Wolverine but, as you might expect, two voices that carried some of the most power were scriptwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Reese and Wernick, who have crafted the screenplays for all three Deadpool films, tried their best to work in characters that Marvel fans would love to see (studio permitting), but there was one noticeable absence. 'Just where the hell was Cable?,' some vocal fans asked.

Well, now we can answer them.

Speaking to IndieWire on August 9, Reese and Wernick provided a special window into working all the cameos they could into the movie and, eventually, touched on the ones they couldn't. Asked if there was ever an iteration of the script that included Josh Brolin's return as Cable, Wernick responded, "Yeah, look, we had access to just about everybody, right? [...] But he didn’t make the cut on this one, unfortunately. We love him and would love to have seen him in it though."

But there was a reason that the time-traveling cyborg didn't find his way into the final script of Deadpool & Wolverine, which writer Wernick was happy to explain was a creative decision, and not one of scheduling or something more nefarious.

"We wanted to tap into this idea of people or characters who didn’t get their proper ending at Fox to pay tribute to them, to give them a legacy," he said. "I think on the Cable side, absolutely he was considered. I think it’s just he was just in 'Deadpool 2.'"

---

Related: This summer, Marvel's betting on blood. But is it working?

---

To be fair, Wernick's got a point. Cable's onscreen adventure was just six short years ago, compared to fellow cameos like Jennifer Garner's Elektra, who hasn't been in a movie since 2005, or Channing Tatum's Gambit, who had literally never been on the big screen (remember, Taylor Kitsch played Remy in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Not that you should be remembering X-Men Origins: Wolverine). 

Still, the choice was bound to disappoint folks who enjoyed Josh Brolin's performance as the grizzled X-Men, including Josh Brolin himself. Speaking to The Playlist, Brolin said oof his absence from the film, "I will never know where that went or what that is or what I’m involved with or what I’m not involved with —the MCU being involved now. Cable was a lot of fun. I really liked doing that role. That was a lot of fun."

Earlier in the interview, Brolin said with heartbreak in his voice, "I so wanted to be in that movie."

But don't fret, Cable fans including Josh, at least one Marvel creator still has hopes we'll meet ol' Nathan Summers again - the Brolin version, even! Concluding his statement on the character's absence from the script, Paul Wernick admitted, "he’s still a character that, my guess is, will appear in the Fox-Marvel mash-up universe at some point."

Since you're one of the people that could help make that decision, Mr. Wernick, we certainly hope so.

---

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

• How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
• The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
• All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst
• Our weekly Marvel insider's column, Marvel Matters