Deadpool and the X-Men

Aaron Stanford thought his Marvel days were long behind him before Deadpool & Wolverine brought him back as Pyro.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the 12 Monkeys star discussed how he managed to reprise his old X-Men role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, looking back on several calls Disney sent his agent hinting at the invite. “They wanted to know what my availability was, but they wouldn’t say what it was in regards to. Then there was another phone call and another phone call and just more and more inquiries,” Stanford explained. The point of those calls was eventually made clear in a meeting with filmmaker and regular Ryan Reynolds collaborator Shawn Levy, who told Stanford, “Yeah, you guessed correctly. We want to bring Pyro back after 20 years.”

Pyro (Aaron Stanford) is shooting and manipulating fire in the FOX X-Men films.

Pyro’s return was officially confirmed during Deadpool & Wolverine‘s Super Bowl reveal teaser, in turn showcasing Stanford wearing a more comic-accurate version of his Marvel uniform. Looking back on his X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand scenes, the actor admitted that his Brotherhood of Mutants character was “really shortchanged in terms of a costume. In X2, we start off with Pyro in Xavier’s School for Gifted Mutants. The SWAT team bursts in in the middle of the night and we have to flee. So for half the movie, I’m in my jammies. I never got the cool leather, tactical suit that all the X-Men wear. And in X3, I was just dressed in an ensemble from Hot Topic, basically.” By comparison, Stanford felt giving Deadpool & Wolverine‘s Pyro “a proper superhero costume that was actually taken from the comics themselves was very cool,” with other trailers previewing the return of more X-Men movie characters like Sabertooth, Lady Deathstrike and Azazel.

“Yeah, you guessed correctly. We want to bring Pyro back after 20 years.”

Outside the Fox X-Men timeline — including a returning Hugh Jackman as Deadpool’s co-star — confirmed Deadpool & Wolverine cameos range from Jennifer Garner’s Elektra to the Time Variance Authority and Alioth from Disney+’s Loki. Famed singer Taylor Swift was also rumored to appear in the movie, though a report last month shot down that cameo claim. The story, meanwhile, will follow a TVA-recruited Wade Wilson as he tracks down a parallel universe Wolverine to help save his loved ones, ultimately putting them in the crosshairs of X-Men villain Cassandra Nova.

Aaron Stanford Revisits His X-Men Role

Amongst Stanford’s more recent roles include appearances in Star Trek: Picard and Finestkind. Deadpool & Wolverine, meanwhile, is Disney’s second major X-Men release of 2024 after the acclaimed X-Men ’97 cartoon, which currently stands as Marvel’s highest-rated series on Rotten Tomatoes.

Deadpool & Wolverine arrives in theaters on July 26.