Official confirmation of Bill Skarsgård’s role in Deadpool 2 finally arrives from, of all places, the very real Twitter account of the sequel’s early breakout character, Peter.
The actor, known for his roles in It and Hemlock Grove, does indeed play Zeitgeist, the mutant introduced in 2001 in X-Force #116, during Peter Milligan and Mike Allred’s tenure on the Marvel Comics series. “Watch out for Zeitgeist’s acid breath!” Peter writes in the tweet. “It’ll getchya if his kindness doesn’t kill you first! (Seriously. SUCH a nice guy).”
RELATED: Deadpool 2’s Mystery Kid Finally Gets a Code Name
That’s a reference to Zeitgeist’s mutant power, which is, yes, acidic vomit that’s capable of eating through 10-centimeter-thick steel in less than 30 seconds. Axel Cluney’s ability first manifested itself during a drunken makeout session in which he burned the girl’s face. Now perhaps it’s understandable why he’s shown in the trailers wearing a protective mouthpiece; it’s sort of like a splash guard.
Watch out for Zeitgeist’s acid breath! It’ll getchya if his kindness doesn’t kill you first! (Seriously. SUCH a nice guy) pic.twitter.com/GCeyHcKjKh
— Peter W. (@PeterW_1974) April 27, 2018
Skarsgård’s character was introduced in February along with most of the other members of X-Force in the second full-length trailer for Deadpool 2. Initial speculation was that he was either Zeitgeist or a jab at Weapon XI from 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It turns out he’s the former.
RELATED: Hugh Jackman Finally Makes the Wolverine/Deadpool Crossover Happen
Played in the sequel by Rob Delaney, Peter has his own Twitter account — with nearly 79,000 followers! — on which he shares the joys of beekeeping, posts animal photos and, today at least, introduces his fellow members of X-Force.
Debuting May 18, director David Leitch’s Deadpool 2 stars Ryan Reynolds as the titular Deadpool, Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, T.J. Miller as Weasel, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Stefan Kapičić as Colossus, Zazie Beetz as Domino, Julian Dennison as Russell and Josh Brolin as Cable.