Liev Schreiber Didn't Return As Sabretooth

Despite featuring so many familiar Marvel movie faces, Liev Schreiber did not reprise his Sabretooth role in Deadpool & Wolverine - and, to be honest, I'm glad. Deadpool & Wolverine has become the MCU's latest billion-dollar movie and the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. The number of cameos in Deadpool & Wolverine is partly to thank for this success, as it expertly capitalized on the nostalgia of its older audience, bringing back a litany of Marvel movie heroes and villains that made their debuts in the 2000s.

These mostly included characters from the first X-Men trilogy, though only a handful were portrayed by their original actors. Tyler Mane's Sabretooth was among them, a character whose rivalry with Wolverine in Marvel Comics runs far deeper than what was depicted in 2000's X-Men. Despite its faults, X-Men Origins: Wolverine did a better job of exploring the relationship between Wolverine and Sabretooth, with a younger version of the latter portrayed by Liev Schreiber. Yet despite play a much more fleshed-out Sabretooth, Schreiber doesn't feature in Deadpool & Wolverine - and I think that's a good thing.

Deadpool & Wolverine's Sabretooth Fight Was Anticlimactic (Even If That Was The Point)

Tyler Mane's Appearance Lasted Seconds

Sabretooth is one of the first cameos to appear in Deadpool & Wolverine, arriving moments after the titular duo duke it out for the first time. He appears alongside a litany of other villains from Fox's X-Men franchise, including Pyro and Toad, as they surround the two with the intent of bringing them back to Cassandra Nova's compound. It is here that Wolverine and Sabretooth square off, with Deadpool stating, "People have been waiting decades for this fight." The "fight" then ensues with the two running at each other, only for Wolverine to swiftly decapitate Sabretooth.

The scene was one of a few subversions of expectations, as the fight that Deadpool suggests was decades in the making was over in one fell swoop. It helped convey the brutality of this Wolverine variant, whose approach to combat is more unbridled than that of the original X-Men universe's Logan. At the same time, it was undeniably anticlimactic, significantly diminishing the strength of Tyler Mane's Sabretooth by comparison - which is why I'm happy it wasn't Liev Schreiber instead.

Liev Schreiber's Sabretooth Deserves A Better Return Than Deadpool & Wolverine

Liev Schreiber Delivered A Fleshed-Out Sabretooth

Schrieber's Sabretooth was one of X-Men Origins: Wolverine's best features despite the movie being largely lambasted overall. While Fox's decision to make Sabretooth Wolverine's half-brother was a little out of left field, the movie did a fine job of fleshing out their relationship and deepening their ties after X-Men. After sharing much of the limelight with his on-screen half-brother, Schreiber portrayed a far more developed version of the character whose rivalry extended far beyond the few brutish fight scenes involving Tyler Mane.

Having Schreiber reprise this role for a few seconds total would therefore have been an egregious disservice to his character. Sabretooth's lack of involvement in the X-Men franchise after X-Men Origins: Wolverine meant that the relationship between the two brothers would remain frustratingly unresolved. Deadpool & Wolverine might have been the perfect place to do this, especially as members of the resistance were afforded their own heroic endings, but it was ultimately something that Schreiber wasn't keen to explore anyway.

Why Liev Schreiber Didn't Return For Deadpool & Wolverine

Schreiber Wasn't Keen On Meeting The Physical Demands

Liev Schreiber recently spoke to Collider about his absence in Deadpool & Wolverine, despite the bond established in X-Men: Origins: Wolverine. As fans started to campaign for his return as one of the many cameos in the movie, Schreiber was touched by their support but resolved that he was happy to sit it out nonetheless, stating:

To be honest, it's a lot of work getting your body up to that point. I know I watched Hugh [Jackman] get himself ready again, and I thought, 'I'm okay to sit by the sidelines.'

His reaction is understandable, given the immense amount of work Hugh Jackman put into getting back into shape, with his efforts being flaunted in Deadpool & Wolverine's climactic final sequence with a tongue-in-cheek shirtless scene.

While it is unlikely that Schreiber would also have been expected to appear shirtless at any point, the physical demands of embodying most comic book movie characters are still significant. Should his Sabretooth have appeared in Deadpool & Wolverine, then I would hope that Schreiber would have been afforded a much larger role than Mane, which would have doubtlessly included a longer fight scene, or more fight scenes overall. Still, Schreiber and Wolverine might share a scene after all down the line now that Hugh Jackman's character is established in the MCU and the multiverse still thrives.