It was hardly a week ago when Aaron Stanford played coy on the possibility of ever reprising his character Pyro, of X-Men trilogy fame, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so one can only imagine the mischievous glee he felt when we all learned he was already back for Deadpool & Wolverine.
Indeed, with the first trailer for the Merc With the Mouth’s third cinematic outing now in the wild, we now know that one of the many surprises it has in store for us is the return of Fox’s iteration of the Brotherhood of Mutants, and Stanford’s fire-wielding extremist looks to be playing a big role in whatever campaign they’ll be finding themselves in this time around.
For those of you unfamiliar with the history of both Stanford and Pyro in the X-Men zeitgeist, however, here’s the breakdown.
Who is Pyro in the MCU?
Pyro is one of the many legacy figures being roped into Deadpool & Wolverine, having been a key antagonist in Fox’s original trilogy of X-Men films, chiefly in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, where he had fully come into his own as one of the Brotherhood’s most prominent members.
Prior to that, Stanford first portrayed the character in X2, where he was a friend of Iceman and Rogue at Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters before being radicalized by Magneto by the film’s end. The character also had a trivial cameo in the inaugural X-Men film, but that iteration was portrayed by one Alexander Burton rather than Stanford.
The last time we saw Pyro, he was knocked out cold (no pun intended) by a vicious headbutt from Iceman in the climax of X-Men: The Last Stand, and with no Bobby Drake in sight and therefore no apparent score to settle in Deadpool & Wolverine, it’s hard to say what his beef with Wade Wilson is, assuming said beef is even with Wade Wilson at all.
Indeed, perhaps during their foray into the Fox universe, the TVA found their way to the remnants of the Brotherhood (who we know includes Sabretooth, Toad, and now Pyro), and the mutant posse wound up being a bit less agreeable than Wade, to put it lightly, and have since taken to the front lines to prevent their home continuity from being tampered with.
That’s just one idea in a sea of straws we’ll probably be grasping at until the next trailer comes along, though. For now, let’s all just let Stanford have his moment—his gloriously brazen moment.
(featured image: Marvel Studios)
