The latest trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine gave audiences their first good look at the movie’s big bad, Cassandra Nova. She’s an X-Men character with a weird history in the comics and no obvious connection to Deadpool. So how does she fit into the merc with a mouth’s introduction into the MCU? The trailer doesn’t give us too many hints, but based on the multiversal shenanigans we know the movie will involve, the key to understanding Deadpool & Wolverine may be a mostly forgotten spinoff comic of the big 2015 Secret Wars event. Here’s why.
Let’s go over what we do know about Deadpool & Wolverine. Beyond just giving us the long-awaited screen team-up of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in their respective superhero roles, it will act as a sort of swan song to the Fox universe of Marvel movies. In addition to Jackman reprising his role as Wolverine, the movie will also see Jennifer Garner and Aaron Stanford return in their roles of Elektra and Pyro, respectively. The movie will also somehow tie Deadpool into the greater MCU. Which is where Cassandra comes in.
Cassandra Nova is mostly known as the first villain in Grant Morrison’s iconic run of the X-Men from 2001 to 2004. To make a complicated story short, she’s Charles Xavier’s sister. The complicated version of the story involves psychic babies fighting inside the womb, though, so maybe go look into that if you are interested. But baby fighting aside, Cassandra Nova sent a shock through the comics when she arrived in 2001. Her first act is to massacre 16 million mutants. Morrison’s run on X-men was a major shift, and Cassandra Nova was in many ways the face of that shift. But we don’t need to bother too much with Morrison’s X-Men.
Instead, we’re going to talk about X-Men ‘92. During the larger Secret Wars event that upended the entire Marvel comics universe in 2015, Chris Sims and Chad Bowers helmed the spinoff title X-Men ‘92. It served as a loose continuation to the beloved X-Men animated series from the ‘90s (which currently has an amazing sequel show on Disney+). The villain of the first arc of X-Men ‘92 was Cassandra Nova. Here, though, she took on the role of cosmic censor, in a cheeky ode to the animated series’ censors, and sought to make the X-Men more appropriate for all ages. That includes making Wolverine a pacifist and imposing other changes to keep the morality of the story safe. The entire arc is about the X-Men learning to break out of her morally black-and-white brainwashing and censorship and become more complex characters once more. This role of a censor is why Cassandra Nova makes the perfect villain for Deadpool & Wolverine.
The biggest issue with bringing Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool into the MCU is clashing tones. Deadpool has starred in two R-rated movies filled with sex, drugs, graphic violence—you name it. Meanwhile, the MCU has remained squarely in the PG-13 category on the big screen (though Echo on Disney+ is rated TV-MA). Disney, Marvel, and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige clearly have a certain brand they are trying to uphold. Deadpool doesn’t really fit into it. Now under Disney, there were initially worries that the third Deadpool movie wouldn’t be rated R because of that brand image the MCU has stuck to.
With the meta-humor of Deadpool, we know the movie will deal with this issue as well as what it means for the Fox universe of movies to end. At one point we see a fight scene take place in a desolate locale with a partially buried 20th Century Fox sign, and there is an extended bit in the latest trailer about Kevin Feige not wanting Deadpool to talk about cocaine. And while Kevin Feige might be the literal censor that Deadpool has to make it past, Cassandra Nova is a great villain in the film to also represent that role. In keeping with her mission in X-Men ‘92, Deadpool & Wolverine could see Cassandra Nova seeking to make Ryan Reynolds’ hero more appropriate for all audiences, and hopefully failing. It’s a great way to wrap up the Fox age of Marvel and bring Deadpool into the MCU fold while still retaining his signature R-rated charm. But audiences will have to wait until Deadpool & Wolverine comes out on July 26 to find out just what the MCU has in store for Deadpool.
