Before DC's Green Lantern, Kyle Chandler Almost Played A Marvel Hero In The Deadpool Movies

Almost everyone in Hollywood has participated, or at least been reported to be participating, in a superhero property. It's simply the latest big trend that employs everyone in a union (unless you're a VFX worker), just like crime procedurals employed every actor who later broke big once upon a time. Whether a celebrated and legendary actor like Harrison Ford, or an indie director like Ryan Coogler, no one is safe from the superhero movie industrial complex.

The latest beloved actor to join a superhero franchise is Kyle Chandler, the greatest dad actor, who has been tapped to star as Hal Jordan in the Green Lantern TV series that is part of James Gunn's fledgling DC universe. Accepting the responsibility of the Power Ring and fight for the Green Lantern Corps, Chandler reportedly beat rumored contenders for the role like Josh Brolin. The Green Lantern TV show is set to be in the same vein as "True Detective," but the cops have superpowers and answer to alien overlords. 

Before ultimately joining DC, Chandler was in talks to possibly join a different superhero franchise: the "Deadpool" movies. According to reports from The Wrap, director Tim Miller wanted Chandler to play Cable, the cybernetic mutant soldier from the future in "Deadpool 2." Unfortunately, due to Ryan Reynolds' new deal for the sequel, the actor got approval over casting decisions, and apparently Chandler wasn't what Reynolds was looking for, and strangely enough, that role went to Josh Brolin. That's right, Chandler has finally triumphed over Brolin, winning round two of this imaginary feud that we just came up with.

One could argue everyone ended up winning this way. Kyle Chandler not playing Cable in "Deadpool 2" — a fun movie yet one that was clearly a downgrade from the first one — allowed Chandler to have a streak of fantastic movies between 2018 and 2019. In those two years, Chandler appeared in "Game Night," "First Man," and the criminally underrated "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" (a great movie with the best non-Japanese score for a "Godzilla" movie, thanks to composer Bear McCreary).

Before Josh Brolin landed the role of Cable, Randy Orton, aka The Viper, also auditioned for the role, meaning there is an alternate universe where he got the part. Perhaps in that same universe, Chandler became a professional wrestler. 

Ultimately, it doesn't matter who got to play Cable, because it seems like that was a one-and-done role, with the character not returning for "Deadpool & Wolverine." The reasoning behind Cable's exclusion is that the third "Deadpool" movie took a more nostalgic approach and served as a continuation and conclusion to the 20th Century Fox movies rather than to the "Deadpool" movies. But perhaps he'll be back for "Avengers: Secret Wars."