Marvel fans are expecting a ton of mind-blowing cameos in the upcoming “Deadpool and Wolverine,” but one returning X-Men actor has already been revealed: Aaron Stanford as Pyro. The actor popped up in the official “Deadpool and Wolverine” trailer, much to the delight of fans. Stanford debuted as John Allerdyce, aka the mutant Pyro, in 2003’s “X2: X-Men United” and reprised the role in 2006’s “X-Men: The Last Stand.” He’s now back after an 18-year break and “very happy” with the results.
“I was just very happy to even have a costume,” Stanford said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly about his return as Pyro. “In the original ‘X-Men’ films, Pyro gets really shortchanged in terms of a costume.”
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“In‘X2,’ we start off with Pyro in Xavier’s School for Gifted Mutants,” he explained. “The SWAT team bursts in in the middle of the night and we have to flee. So for half the movie, I’m in my jammies. I never got the cool leather, tactical suit that all the X-Men wear. And in‘X3,’ I was just dressed in an ensemble from Hot Topic, basically. So to have him be in a proper superhero costume that was actually taken from the comics themselves was very cool.”
While “Deadpool and Wolverine” director Shawn Levy told Entertainment Weekly that there are lots of cameos in his movie, he stressed that the team behind the Marvel tentpole “didn’t want any of the cameos or characters to be the story of the movie. But they are peppered in throughout.”
“There’s a lot of characters,” he added. “The internet is a delight of rumors about the multitude of character cameos that are in this movie. Some rumors are true, some are way off base.”
Joining Stanford as a returning X-Men in “Deadpool and Wolverine” is actor Tyler Mane, who played Sabretooth in the original “X-Men” film back in 2000. A clip from the new film confirmed that Jackson’s Wolverine will face off against Sabretooth at some point in the film.
“Deadpool and Wolverine” opens in theaters July 26 from Disney.
