Emma Corrin might just deliver the best MCU villain since Thanos with their menacing, monstrous character in Deadpool & Wolverine.

Deadpool & Wolverine is shaping up to be Marvel’s next grand success, with an estimated opening of upwards of $200 million if pre-release ticket sales are to be believed. The film is set to feature a host of cameos, while also being the feature-length debut of mutants in the MCU.

However, as they say, a story is only as good as its villain, and Emma Corrin, who essays the role of Cassandra Nova, has crafted their villainous persona for the character by taking inspiration from two very exciting legends of Hollywood.

Fans have already received a glimpse of Cassandra Nova, and based on the conversation that Emma Corrin had with EW regarding the character, it is easy to see how their inspirations and conversations with Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds have worked their way into how the character has been portrayed. The set of inspirations for the character of Deadpool & Wolverine‘s version of Cassandra Nova is indeed unique, but once the audience understands what Corrin is trying to do with the character, Nova transforms into a truly menacing villain.

Emma Corrin’s version of Cassandra Nova has a lot of Gene Wilder in it

Entertainment Weekly spoke with Emma Corrin about their villainous part in the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine, and they revealed what director Shawn Levy and lead star Ryan Reynolds had in mind for the character. They said:

Ryan and Shawn pitched this idea, which I was totally on board with: ‘We want this villain to not be a villain in the sense that you expect them to be. We want you to be so endeared by her, so charmed by her, and just when you think that maybe she’s totally seen into your soul and you are going to be best friends for life, you’re dead.’

The dynamism that the actor brings to the role is very reminiscent of Gene Wilder, as pointed out by the EW article. The portrayal of the character was meant to have a sense of unpredictability, which brings to mind the introductory scene of Willy Wonka from Wilder’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, where the chocolatier immediately plays with the audience’s expectations by faking a limp, before doing a flip to retrieve his cane when he realizes he has left it behind.

Inglorious Basterds had a major role to play in crafting Cassandra Nova

The character of Cassandra Nova, as she is portrayed in Deadpool & Wolverine, also took inspiration from Hans Landa, the prime antagonist of Inglorious Basterds (dir. Quentin Tarantino), played to perfection by Christoph Waltz.

It was the polite and ‘nice’ nature of the character that Levy, Reynolds, and Corrin wanted to draw inspiration from, given how disarming and charming the character was, despite his background and occupation, which he saw nothing wrong with, and took a hefty amount of pride in. Emma Corrin said: He’s so disarmingly polite and nice and unaffected, and it’s really creepy. all the more sinister because he doesn’t need to do anything.

Audiences can already see shades of the inspirations that made the character in whatever little has been revealed about her, through trailers, teasers, and spots that have been made public in the last few months. Given the amount of care that has gone into crafting the character, Deadpool & Wolverine is shaping up to be quite the spectacle, which is only made grander by Corrin’s contribution and the ideation behind this version of Cassandra Nova.

Deadpool & Wolverine hits theatres on July 26th, 2024