negasonic-teenage-warhead

At a recent ‘Deadpool’ Q&A, the movie’s writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (who are returning to script the sequel), revealed that they only chose to use Negasonic Teenage Warhead (played by Brianna Hildebrand) as Colossus’ sidekick in ‘Deadpool’ because they liked her name.

negasonic-teenage-warhead-645x370However, upon examining the comic book character, they realized that the character’s telepathy and precognitive powers didn’t fit the role they needed for the story.  Wernick and Reese wanted a sullen goth teenage girl, but they needed for her to essentially have the powers of the ‘New Mutants’/’X-Force’ character Cannonball.

In order to change her powers, they had to turn to Marvel for permission, but rather than simply grant permission, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige used the request to strike a bargain.  They would allow the change to Negasonic Teenage Warhead, in exchange for the use of one of the Marvel characters that 20th Century Fox held the rights to.

Who?  Kang the Conqueror, the time traveling baddie that is closely associated with The Avengers, but whose film rights are lumped in with those of the ‘Fantastic Four’?  Or what about a headliner like The Silver Surfer?  Hell, why not ask for Wolverine, himself?

Who did Feige demand in exchange?

ego-the-living-planet

Wenick reveals:

“Kurt Russell [‘s Ego the Living Planet] in the new ‘Guardians’ movie was the character that Fox swapped with Marvel to [change] Negasonic Teenage Warhead powers.”

Uh… ok.

Ego the Living Planet‘s rights were apparently lumped in with those of the ‘Fantastic Four’.  In ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ Kurt Russell portrays this bizarre being that turns out to be Star-Lord’s father, a dangling plot thread from the first movie.

Apparently, Fox was fine giving up the rights to this obscure oddity and Marvel probably knew they had a better shot at brokering this deal than trying to snag a more important character.  Also, at this point, the future of the ‘Fantastic Four’ at Fox is uncertain.  The last movie was one of the most notorious bombs in years (superhero movie or otherwise) and the whole property might be tainted to the point that Fox won’t be able to reboot the brand before the rights automatically revert back to Marvel.

How do you feel about this deal?  Do you think there’s a chance that Fox and Marvel might get to swap out other characters in the future?  If so, what exchanges would you like to see?

Source: Playlist