There's little chance that Cable,Australia a major character in the Deadpooland X-Men corner of the Marvel comic-book-movie world over at Fox, would ever cross paths with Thanos, the big bad guy from the Marvel Cinematic Universe at Disney.

But if they did, it just might tear the space-time continuum. Permanently.

That's because Josh Brolin, who's already played the gorilla-sized purple villain from Titan in multiple Disney Marvel films, has apparently won the role of Cable, Mashable has confirmed. Cable is a Deadpool companion of sorts -- definitely don'tcall him a sidekick -- with an origin story so loopy and time-bending that we'll just let someone else explain it.

Grizzled, world-weary and heavily armed (pun intended here), Cable is a perfect foil for the Merc with the Mouth as a serious, lantern-jawed, no-nonsense older fella with attitude. Though he's probably spent more of his comic-books life apart from Deadpool, their four-year run together in Cable & Deadpool made their pairing too popular to pass up in the movies.

Brolin beat out rumored contenders Michael Shannon and David Harbor (the sheriff in Stranger Things), and has signed a four-film contract to play the beefcake mutant with a taste for heavy artillery, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the news Wednesday. Fox had no comment, but a source close to the production confirmed the news.

The Deadpoolsequel is due in theaters sometime next year.