Confession: I got a great big heaping girl crush on Zazie Beetz. Like many others, I first started watching the stunning and charismatic Beetz as Van, Donald Glover’s on-again, off-again girlfriend in the FX series Atlanta. Now a new promo for Deadpool 2 shows that Beetz is ready to take it to another level.
In a new promotional clip for the Marvel movie, titled “Domino Audition,” Beetz makes her debut as Domino, a superhero who claims “luck” as her power. As the clip shows, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) isn’t really buying it.
To be fair, “luck” is underwhelming shorthand for Domino’s ability to manipulate her environment and circumstances in stressful situations (Marvel has a much more exhaustive definition of her powers here). We can see Domino’s luck in action during one sequence in the clip when Domino leaps through the air, gun in hand, and lands—luckily—through a skylight into an open passenger seat in an armored truck.
But superhero chops aside (and Beetz does look impressive in the short glimpses we’ve seen so far), a recent Bustle article notes that Beetz’s real strength was keeping up with Reynolds’ rapid-fire wit:
“She, you know, in the read and in the test she went toe-to-toe with Ryan and that’s not an easy task, he’s such a brilliant actor,” [Screenwriter Paul Wernick] told IGN. “She kept pace with him and that’s reason enough to see how that plays out over the course of the next movie and franchise.”
Reynolds and Deadpool 2 director David Leitch were so taken with Beetz that they wanted her to bring her own style to the role, preferring that she wear her hair natural rather than the straight, choppy style Domino sports in the original comic.
Beetz told Vogue earlier this month that she was “shocked” by the decision, saying that she had no issue changing her hair for the role.
“For David and Ryan, my hair being bold and strong helps Domino come across as bold and strong,” Beetz said.
Luckily for us, we’ll get to see all that Beetz brings to Deadpool 2 come May 18.