Did The 'Deadpool 2' Teaser Hint At The Arrival Of Hope Summers, Cable's "Daughter"?

Logan has been a blockbuster hit, and fans are just as excited about the Deadpool 2 teaser released before the film. But there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it nod to a particularly important X-Men character — the Mutant Messiah, Hope Summers! Is this teaser setting up the arrival of Hope Summers in this R-rated corner of the X-Men universe — and if so, what could Fox be planning?

The Evidence

Deadpool has always fancied himself something of a superhero, but this teaser for Deadpool 2 suggests that he'll be as incompetent as ever in the sequel. With a brutal armed robbery in progress, Deadpool ducks into a telephone kiosk to change, but it goes badly wrong — in typical Deadpool fashion! But watch that teaser carefully, and you'll see a single word scrawled on the wall of the kiosk:

HOPE.

It's a word that carries a lot of meaning to #XMen fans. The character of Hope Summers, created back in 2007, is strongly associated with Cable — who's already confirmed to appear in Deadpool 2. In the comics, Hope's story is pretty complicated; she was the first mutant born after mutant race was brought to the edge of extinction by the Scarlet Witch. The newborn was prophesied to be the 'Mutant Messiah', and countless groups — from anti-mutant forces to Mr. Sinister — hunted her down. Cable took her into the future, and brought her up on the run from another time-traveler, Bishop.

Hope Summers was returned to the present-day in the "Second Coming" arc, and ultimately played a key part in reactivating the mutant X-gene during the "Avengers Vs. X-Men" event. Since then, though, the comics have struggled to work out what to do with the character; Dennis Hopeless used her quite effectively in his brief Cable and X-Force series, and she's promising to return in Hopeless's Jean Grey series, launching as part of the "ResurrXion" era.

What Role Could She Play?

Hope Summers is an important figure in X-Men history, however controversial she may be. It's particularly interesting that Fox has hinted at using the character in the Deadpool / Logan R-rated section of their franchise — one where we've just witnessed a mutant extinction. Meanwhile, the infant Hope was sought after by Mr. Sinister, a villain already teased in X-Men: Apocalypse's end-credits scene.

Before we join too many dots on the road to #XForce, though, we need to take note that Fox's attitude to their cinematic universe seems to be subtly different to that of, say, the rival Marvel Cinematic Universe. As Simon Kinberg told Deadline:

"We go into making the best movie we can. It’s not just about a Colossus or Deadpool cameo. Connecting all of these movies will happen when it organically makes sense. These movies aren’t simply being built as stepping stones to a larger story. Each one is wholly enclosed and a movie worth seeing."

Where Marvel is focused on the overarching narrative, with the movies destined to build to the crescendo that is Avengers: Infinity War, Fox is treating each movie as a completely separate product. That's clearly worked for Deadpool and Logan, but it may cause problems in the long-term.

What this does mean, though, is that Hope Summers won't simply be introduced because she's needed for X-Force. If Hope is indeed in Deadpool 2, then it's because she's essential to the plot of that film. Sure, she may go on to become part of Fox's X-Force, but we shouldn't assume that. Instead, we should only assume that she's relevant to Fox's still-enigmatic plans for the Deadpool sequel.

Right now, the truth is that we've just had the subtlest possible nod to Hope Summers. That said, the teaser for Deadpool was clearly designed to get fans talking, and every detail will have been put there for a reason. That word 'Hope' may well be nothing more than a red herring, a way of getting the Internet buzzing about a possibility that simply won't materialize; or, instead, it may be a crucial teaser, hinting that a major figure in X-Men history is about to make her way into Fox's X-Men universe.

(Source: Deadline)