Casting rumors come in two major flavors. On the one hand, you have concrete news about actors meeting with executives and filmmakers to discuss their participation in upcoming productions. On the other hand, you have the echo chamber of social media, where casting rumors can materialize out of thin air and then be given credibility during an interview or social media exchange with an actor. Not all fan rumors end up at the first stage, but it is true that some social media rumors have actually ended up with the actor being offered the role.

I only bring this up so that when a new hot rumor floats across your superhero screen — like, say, Russell Crowe playing Cable in Deadpool 2 — you’ll know to check whether the rumor falls within the first or second category. Yesterday, We Got This Covered (via Heroic Hollywood) caught a quick exchange between Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld and Russell Crowe about the latter playing Cable in the sequel, and Crowe had this to say:

If you’re a conspiracy theorist, you might argue that Liefeld has the inside track on any casting rumors and might know who Ryan Reynolds and company have on their Deadpool 2 wishlist. That being said, this is clearly a rumor that falls in our second bucket. This exchange does not really qualify as fire; it barely even registers as smoke. Our best hope of this happening is that 20th Century Fox takes notice of all the articles being written about Crowe and calls him in for an interview; it wouldn’t be the first time that buzz surrounding a character had been reverse-engineered by an audience at home.

Of course, the reason we all write about this is simple: Crowe would actually be an excellent candidate for the role. His filmography is populated by no-nonsense tough guys that would give him immediate credit in the role with fans. Furthermore, as The Nice Guys proved, Crowe also has an underrated knack for comedy, playing the perfect straight man to Ryan Gosling’s comic relief. With the right skills for the role — and a backlog of action movies for Reynolds and companies to mercilessly riff on — Crowe would check all the boxes for a Deadpool sequel. I guess we’ll see if this is glorified fan rumor has any legs.