Was X-Force just a marketing McGuffin?

Question

The marketing team went out of their way to include the idea that they were a big part of the movie, but they ended being on screen for like 2 minutes. The way they were dispatched was hilarious, but after thinking about it afterwards, I felt more and more like they were basically just a marketing ploy to sell more tickets. In my opinion, they served absolutely no purpose in the movie, and they could have been completely removed and the plot would have advanced just the same.

Answer 1

According to the director and the writers, it was a prank:

[Director] David Leitch says the basic concept of killing off these characters right away was to “fuck with the audience through Deadpool’s lens”, and co-writer Rhett Reese adds that they actually shot additional scenes with the X-Force team for trailers, just to throw off the audience:

“One of the things we did, we asked the actors if they’d be willing to shoot extra footage – that indicated they were in more of the movie than we were actually going to use them in. So, Terry Crews and Bill Skarsgård and these guys all went out back in front of a green screen and did a bunch of fighting with stuntmen. And you see it in trailers. You see Bedlam kicking ass. They all stayed an extra half day to do that. It was awesome.”

“When they came to set we shot additional material that we knew we were just going to put in trailers that would never be in the movie,” says David Leitch. “It was all about playing a prank like only Deadpool would do. Ryan is reaching out from the screen and tickling you.”

_{SlashFilm, Here’s How ‘Deadpool 2’ Pulled Off That Big X-Force Moment}

Answer 2

An X Force Movie has now been confirmed, Ryan Reynolds confirmed it throughout the Deadpool 2 press interviews and talked multiple times about the fact that there would be no Deadpool 3 but instead moving forward Deadpool would appear in an X Force movie. Josh Brolin has talked about working on the X Force movie and he and Zazie Beetz have been confirmed as having signed up for the X Force movie.

A few links below but if you Google X Force, Deadpool 3, Cable or Domino there is loads of confirmed (not rumoured) information online about the future of the Deadpool Franchise.

• Movie Web, Deadpool 3 Is Unlikely, X-Force Movie Probably Next Says Reynolds
• Collider, Ryan Reynolds Doesn’t Think There Will Be a ‘Deadpool 3’; Predicts ‘X-Force’ Is the Future
• Cinema Blend, Josh Brolin Talks About Working With X-Force Director Drew Goddard
• Screen Rant, Deadpool 2: Zazie Beetz Will Reprise Domino for X-Force
• Collider, Exclusive: Ryan Reynolds Gives an ‘X-Force’ Update and Talks about the Film’s Rating