Deadpool's debut in the MCU has already teased to be a chaotic one as he finds himself on a multiverse-hoping journey with Wolverine accompanying him in Deadpool and Wolverine. What was not as clear was the threat Deadpool is seemingly tasked with defeating by the TVA, though it appears fans may now have an answer.
Emma Corrin was previously confirmed to be portraying the villain in Deadpool and Wolverine, but both Corrin and Marvel Studios had been coy about sharing who said villain would be. The film's official copyright appears to have spoiled this and confirmed Corrin will be portraying the villainous mutant Cassandra Nova, according to IGN.
Within the X-Men comics, Cassandra Nova is the evil twin to the team's founder, Charles Xavier, who has been at war with her brother since before either were born.
Nova was originally conceived without a body, prompting her to copy Xavier's DNA to create a body for herself to develop inside the their mother's womb. She then attempted to kill Xavier before their birth, but had her physical body destroyed that barely clung to life as a mass of cells on a sewer wall for decades until her new body had fully developed from the cellular mass.
The character of Nova is also the ideological antithesis to her brother driven almost entirely out of spite for Xavier, leading her to pursue the destruction of everything and all ideals Xavier holds dear. Her most infamous attempt was using an army of Sentinels in an attempted genocide of the mutant homeland of Genosha that left 16 million mutants dead.
Nova's inclusion in Deadpool and Wolverine shows Marvel Studios isn't pulling any punches when it comes to introducing the X-Men universe into the larger MCU. That said, it remains to be seen how she will be able to handle to the two titular and seemingly un-killable mutants.
Deadpool and Wolverine is scheduled to release in theaters on July 26, 2024.