He played the character in three of the X-Men movies so why did Daniel Cudmore decide to pass on Colossus in Deadpool? Ryan Reynolds first became interested in playing Deadpool in the early 2000s, with his portrayal of Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity partly inspired by the “Merc With a Mouth.” It took over a decade for Deadpool to receive his first solo movie, however, and along the way, Fox learned of his interest and managed to snag him for an extended cameo in X-Men Origins – Wolverine.

Reynolds took the role with the understanding it would lead to a spinoff starring Deadpool – though he was skeptical of how the prequel handled the character. The Deadpool of Origins is a literal Frankenstein’s Monster of random mutant powers and abilities, with his mouth having been sewn shut. Needless to say, fans were not happy with how the movie treated the character and talk of a Deadpool movie soon died. It was only following the leaking of Deadpool test footage by parties unknown that the project was revived, and led to two hugely popular, R-rated blockbusters.

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Despite their R ratings, the Deadpool movies are the most successful of the X-Men franchise. The first movie only features a couple of X heroes in Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) and Peter Rasputin / Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapičić). Colossus has been something of a breakout character among audiences, with his deathly serious moral code providing a good balance with Reynold’s antics. While the continuity of the X-Men series is notoriously messy, it’s clear the Colossus seen in Deadpool has little in common with the character shown in prior adventures played by Daniel Cudmore (The Twilight Saga: New Moon).

This is because Deadpool director Tim Miller (Terminator: Dark Fate) disliked the version seen in previous movies, which he dismissed aa dude with “shiny skin.” He wanted his Colossus to be hulking and speak with a Russian accent, just like the comics. While some fans assume Cudmore wasn’t offered the chance to reprise the role, the actor once explained on Twitter he was called about the project. Instead of physically playing Colossus he would have been involved as a CGI stand-in and his voice wouldn’t have been used, so he decided to pass.

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Fans were disappointed with the decision to replace Cudmore, feeling his take on the character never got his due despite appearing in three X-Men movies. His part in each movie essentially amounted to a cameo, and he wasn’t allowed to use a Russian accent since director Bryan Singer felt it would be distracting. While its a shame the movie’s didn’t find more for Cudmore’s Colossus to do, it can’t be denied Deadpool’s take was a more faithful – and much funnier – interpretation. In the end, the actor’s decision to pass is more than understandable since he wouldn’t have physically played the part, nor would his voice have been heard.

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About The Author


Padraig Cotter
(3484 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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