Marvel's New Juggernaut In Deadpool & Wolverine Looks Even Bigger In Real Life

Among the many familiar heroes and villains from the old 20^th Century Fox Marvel universe who come back to take a bow in the box office smash "Deadpool and Wolverine," one stands out in particular: Juggernaut, aka Cain Marko. Last seen in 2018's "Deadpool 2" and, before that, way back in 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand," the longtime X-Men nemesis is notable for the fact that he's now been played by different people in all three of his live-action film appearances.

The latest actor to inhabit the role of the powerful, seemingly unstoppable Juggernaut is actor and bodybuilder Aaron W. Reed. While Juggernaut doesn't get a lot of screen time in "Deadpool and Wolverine," the Let's Talk Movies page on Facebook posted some shots of Reed out of costume — and it's clear that the guy's physique is even more impressive in real life than it even looks onscreen.

In fact, you've probably been dazzled by his mountainous muscles in his previous collaboration with "Deadpool and Wolverine" star Ryan Reynolds and director Shawn Levy. Reed appeared in the 2021 film "Free Guy," where he provided the body for Dude, a massively pumped-up version of Reynolds' Guy character whom the latter battles in the film's finale (with Reynolds' face and voice digitally transposed to Dude). As for his work as Juggernaut, it turns out that Reed apparently wasn't the first person approached.

While some of the returning Fox Marvel characters in "Deadpool and Wolverine" are played by the original actors — like Jennifer Garner's Elektra, Tyler Mane's Sabretooth, and Aaron Stanford's Pyro – other major Marvel villains from those films were quietly recast. Although the actor who played Juggernaut in "X-Men: The Last Stand," Vinnie Jones, was approached, he declined to return to the role, leading Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds to recruit Aaron W. Reed.

"Deadpool 2" took a different path altogether for filling Juggernaut's massive shoes: director David Leitch provided the motion capture for Juggernaut's face, while both he and Reynolds did performance capture for the character's body on set, with Reynolds providing Marko's voice. For "Deadpool and Wolverine," however, Reynolds, Shawn Levy, and Marvel decided to go back to hiring a real, living actor to don Juggernaut's helmet and gear.

As for Reed, he's done some other acting work outside of his two team-ups with Reynolds and Levy, appearing on TV in "NCIS: Los Angeles," "Jane the Virgin," and "French Connection," as well as "Dawn of the Zombie Apocalypse." He's also a former pro wrestler for WWE, where he competed under the name Lift Sawyer. Although his version of Juggernaut meets a grisly end in "Deadpool and Wolverine," there's always the chance that Reed could return as a Juggernaut variant.