Josh Brolin is already a powerful figure in the main Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to his role as Thanos. Now he'll be a key component of the parts of the Marvel comic book canon that 20th Century Fox is allowed to play with, as he's scored the role of Cable in Deadpool 2.
Cable, dreamt up by Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld and writer Louise Simonson, appears in the comics as an alter-ego of Nathan ‘son of Scott’ Summers, and has long been associated with team X-Force. How much of his backstory makes it into the upcoming X-rated sequel remains to be seen, but we can expect him to boast the cybernetic technology that is a hallmark of the character. And, of course, he'll be interacting with Ryan Reynolds' mouthy merc.
Despite various different rumours and potential frontrunners for the role (including Michael Shannon, Stranger Things' David Harbour and even chatter about Pierce Brosnan), Brolin has emerged as the surprise winning contender.
David Leitch is in the director's chair for the sequel, and Zazie Beetz was recently announced as playing powerful mercenary Domino. Deadpool 2 will start shooting in June and heads to screens next year.
Brolin has firefighting drama Granite Mountain out on 22 September and will then be seen – well, his performance-captured alien alter-ego at least – as Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, due on 27 April 2018.