Tackling Deadpool is a priority for Marvel Studios, with Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth set to enter the MCU before the wider X-Men team. What this means is that Deadpool 3 is expected to have the job of setting up the mutant mythos in the franchise. And one of the most prominent villains of Fox’s X-Men movie series might just feature in it.

Our sources have supplied us with various updates on Deadpool 3 already, such as that it may include a couple of the Avengers as well as a few of the X-Men, and that it’ll release in 2022, which seems all but confirmed now. Today, however, We Got This Covered has learned from our sources – the same ones who said a Joker sequel was in development and that Taskmaster will be the villain in Black Widow – that it’s possible William Stryker could turn up in the film. That’s about all we know for now, but it looks like the studio is mulling over his inclusion at present.

Stryker is by far the villain with the most appearances in Fox’s movies. He’s served as the big bad of both 2003’s X2 and 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, as played by Brian Cox and Danny Huston, respectively. In the prequel films, meanwhile, the role was taken over by Josh Helman, showing up in both 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past and 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse.

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In all of these, Stryker was depicted as Wolverine’s nemesis, the head of the Weapon X project who turned him into the amnesiac Adamantium-boned beast he is. In the comics, though, he’s traditionally portrayed as a religious fanatic who encourages mutant hatred via his TV broadcasts and secretly leads the Purifiers terrorist group. It’d be interesting to see which road the MCU version takes, though the latter would probably be a bit heavy-going for a Deadpool flick.

Again, though, this isn’t confirmed just yet and Stryker’s involvement in Deadpool 3 is just a possibility at this point. It’s relatively early days on the project, after all, which is thought to be coming in 2022. Although, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have confirmed they’ve already discussed ideas with Marvel, so perhaps we’ll learn a bit more about their plans sooner rather than later. Watch this space.