The Cosmic Wonder: Marvel Reportedly Reshot a Key Cassandra Nova Scene in Deadpool & Wolverine to Set Up Secret Wars

Marvel reportedly went back and reshot a specific plot point in Deadpool & Wolverine, and it centers on Cassandra Nova, her motivation for being evil, and why she ended up ruling the void. The change did not alter the overall story much, but it did shift her backstory in a way that carries real implications for where the Multiverse Saga goes next, possibly all the way to Secret Wars.

Worth remembering: when Deadpool and Wolverine first land in the void and we see Deadpool lying on the ground, there is a Secret Wars comic cover sitting right next to him on his left side, and that cover was visible in the trailer too. The reshoot in question changed how Cassandra Nova ended up in the void in the first place, and if the original version had stayed, it is possible we could have seen Patrick Stewart, who was mentioned a lot throughout the film, get an even bigger focus tied directly to Cassandra Nova.

An insider says the reshoot changed whether Cassandra Nova knew the TVA sent her to the void

According to an insider whose claims I consider very reliable and who I am not aware of getting anything wrong so far, Cassandra Nova originally did not know who sent her to the void, and she had no deal with the TVA at all. In that original version, she believed her brother Charles Xavier was the one who put her there. It is only when she confronts Paradox that she learns it was actually the TVA all along, and the reshoot is what changed this setup.

In the finished film, you can hear her reference the TVA sending her to the void repeatedly. When Wolverine tells her she must be that dangerous, that terrifying, she responds that the TVA certainly thought so, since they sent her there before she could even walk. She also briefly recaps her history with Charles Xavier, how they shared a womb, how she tried to kill him, and how he ultimately defeated her there, matching what happens in the comics.

Cassandra Nova's comic history includes killing millions of mutants on Genosha

In the comics, Professor X's fight with Cassandra Nova ends with her thought dead, but she survives and spends her existence seeking revenge against him. She was responsible for the Sentinel attack on Genosha in the comics, killing millions of mutants, the same attack referenced in X-Men '97. In Deadpool & Wolverine, she is shown as similarly menacing, killing without much thought, and she even mentions wearing Doctor Strange's skin around for days.

The reshoot reframes her revenge around a broken deal with the TVA rather than hatred for Charles Xavier

The bigger change is in her motivation. Once she knows the TVA sent her to the void, it turns out she actually had an agreement with them: you send me your garbage and I will clean it up, but you leave me alone, I rule the void and you rule the Multiverse, and we are both happy. That deal let her do whatever she wanted, build her own army, and be as evil as she pleased with no restraints, in exchange for killing whoever ended up in the void on the TVA's behalf.

This is why I think the reshoot happened. If her motivation had simply been hatred toward her brother, the ending scene inside Ant-Man's skeleton, where Wolverine says he is saving her for Charles, would not make sense as written. Instead, when Pyro reveals that Paradox made a deal with him to get rid of her, she realizes Paradox broke their agreement. That betrayal, on top of knowing the TVA put her there in the first place, is what makes her leave the void, something she had never done before.

Her threat to erase the Multiverse fits my Battleworld theory for Secret Wars

Once Cassandra Nova is furious with Paradox, she goes into his head, learns about the Time Ripper, and decides she is going to delete every universe in the Multiverse until nothing is left but the void. Based on other things I have discussed before, I believe that outcome is probably going to be Battleworld, though I do not think it will be caused by a single person like her, unless that person is Doom.

My expectation is either the Multiverse suffers incursions until every universe is destroyed, or Doctor Doom causes the destruction himself while trying to take over everything, possibly fighting and killing Loki in the process. I do not think Loki actually dies, since I think he is going to be a major player in both Doomsday and Secret Wars, but I think that confrontation is what gets him to let go of the Multiverse. Once everything is destroyed, what is left is the void itself, essentially an MCU version of Battleworld made up of the remnants of every universe. I think the reshoot may have been done specifically to plant that idea, since even though Cassandra Nova herself is now gone, she laid out exactly what could happen: the TVA destroyed, every universe destroyed, and the void as the only thing left standing.

The original version, where she is furious at the TVA without knowing about the deal, could have still worked, and I do not think either version would have made Deadpool & Wolverine itself better or worse as a film. But I do believe the reshoot sets up Secret Wars in a bigger way, so I am fine with the change, even if it meant losing a possible Charles Xavier cameo. I do still hope and believe he comes back for Secret Wars.

A separate rumor claims a Hydra project is in development with Deadpool's Hydra Bob

The same insider, described here only as a source I am treating with caution since she has been right about some things involving Deadpool & Wolverine but also wrong about others, has also claimed that a Hydra project is in the works at Marvel Studios, reportedly built around Hydra Bob, a longtime supporting character from the Deadpool comics who is said to be a big part of it. In the comics, Bob is not a typical Hydra agent. He is portrayed as reluctant and often cowardly because he was forcibly recruited into Hydra, and he has since become something like Wade Wilson's sidekick.

I do not think revisiting Hydra would be a bad thing. I think Hydra has probably still been operating in the shadows the entire time, since the classic idea is that you cut one head off and two more grow. With more Captain America projects clearly coming and the MCU expected to do a soft reboot after the Multiverse Saga ends with Secret Wars, we could get a new Steve Rogers Captain America story that revisits familiar elements like Hydra. I am just not sure why this particular character would be made a prominent part of a whole project, and I do not know whether he would ever actually cross paths with Deadpool in the MCU.

There have also been rumors that Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds are going to stick around as Deadpool and Wolverine even after the Multiverse Saga wraps, appearing beyond Doomsday and Secret Wars in further films together. If that is true, it lines up with Deadpool's own line about being made to do this until he is 90, which might have been foreshadowing rather than a joke, especially given that the film became the highest grossing R rated movie of all time. I would expect people to want another buddy team up movie for the two of them down the road, on top of everyone already expecting to see them in Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars, and it is possible, though purely speculative on my part, that Hydra Bob could somehow find his way to Deadpool if that Hydra project moves forward.

What do you think Marvel changed Cassandra Nova's motivation for, and do you want to see a Hydra Bob project happen?