Yukio, Negasonic Teenage Warhead’s Deadpool 2 Girlfriend, Explained

Yukio - Deadpool 2 - Negasonic Teenage Warhead

Easily one of the best running jokes in Deadpool 2 involves Negasonic Teenage Warhead’s (Brianna Hildebrand) new girlfriend, Yukio (Shioli Kutsuna). It’s pretty simple: every time Deadpool sees Yukio, she says, “Hi Wade,” and he says, “Hi Yukio!”

That’s it. That’s the whole thing. But multiple times throughout the movie, the action completely stops so they can do this pleasant, simple bit. And it crests in the first end credits scene, when Deadpool pops his head around a corner for one last “Bye, Yukio!”

But if you’re a fan of the comics of X-Men, you might be left scratching your head as to who, exactly, she is from the source material. Particularly given the energy whip thing she shows off in the finale, some fans thought she might be the character Surge.

Nope! She’s not just from the comics canon, she’s also appeared in the movies before. Though at the same time, she’s a completely original character. Confused? Read on for a bit of the explanation!

Who is Yukio in Marvel Comics?

The character was created by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, and first introduced in 1982’s “Wolverine #1.” She was a thief and a rōnin, and often an ally of the X-Men. That’s pretty much it! She’s a cool ninja assassin type person who shows up whenever the mutant team travels to Asia. She has no powers. The end!

Who is Yukio in the X-Men movies?

She first showed up in 2013’s The Wolverine played by Rila Fukushima. On the surface it was a relatively faithful portrayal of the character, down to her being part of a ninja clan and meeting Wolverine (we’re grading on a curve here, people). Except, since this is the X-Men movies, she was also a mutant with the ability to predict peoples’ deaths.

In Deadpool 2, Yukio has been aged down and given electrical powers. She’s portrayed by Shiori Kutsuna.

So what’s going on with Yukio in Deadpool 2?

In an interview with CBR, Deadpool 2 co-writer Paul Wernick confirmed that this is the same Yukio from the comics (and the previous movie), but also really just them using her name.

“Fox has a bible of all 400-plus characters that they have rights to,” Wernick said. “We generally, when we’re building out a movie, look at that list, and kind of go through and go, ‘Oh yeah, yes, yes, no, love that name, oh those powers are cool,’ and we build that cast that way. Yukio jumped out at us as just a character we would love to see further explored.”

So there you go! It is Yukio, but also it isn’t Yukio. That should clear things up! Bye, Wade!

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