X-Men: Apocalypse‘s Olivia Munn was tired of playing the superhero’s girlfriend, so she turned down Deadpool in order to gain her own superpowers.
Morena Baccarin’s role as Vanessa — aka Deadpool’s damsel-adjacent girlfriend — almost went to Olivia Munn.
But as Munn explains in an interview with American Way Magazine, she turned down the role because she’d already done the ‘superhero girlfriend’ thing.
Then X-Men: Apocalypse offered her the role of Psylocke, a powerful mutant who gets to kick ass all on her own.
Although it’s a much smaller role, in a movie that will likely make a much smaller splash than the record-breaking Deadpool, Munn ultimately preferred a more physical, powerful character.
Related: New X-Men: Apocalypse clip teases cult following the first mutant
“I said, ‘Is there a fight scene?'” Munn recalls. “The fight scene could be her monologue. I thought Psylocke was always one of the most lethal characters, and I said, ‘Yes, as long as you’re not using her to be the eye candy. She has really powerful abilities.’ And they said, ‘Yes, that’s an important part.'”
Of course X-Men: Apocalypse has a lot of characters, and Munn remains worried that Psylocke’s scenes (which are primarily physical, as she doesn’t have a lot of speaking lines) will end up on the cutting-room floor.
“If they’ve chopped up some stuff or taken out moments and the fight scene is reduced for whatever reason, then the moment is gone,” she allows.
Still, we applaud her for sticking to her guns, as it were — Deadpool was a fantastic, groundbreaking R-rated superhero movie, but Vanessa wasn’t exactly a kickass example of female empowerment. Olivia Munn as Psylocke will be epic, and we can’t wait to see her in the role.