Olivia Munn Turned Down a Role in Deadpool Because She Didn’t Want to Just Be ‘Eye Candy’

Could Psylocke have locked lips with Ryan Reynolds?

Olivia Munn is ready to tear things up in the forthcoming X-Men: Apocalypse (she literally is – check out her slice-and-dice skills in the trailer). But in an alternate Marvel universe, she could have kicked ass in a wholly different superhero movie.

The actress, 35, reveals to American Airlines’ American Way magazine that she turned down an offer to be in Reynolds’ blockbuster-in-waiting Deadpool. Why? Because she didn’t want to play the part of the girlfriend.

What she was looking for, apparently, was action – and lots of it.

In a fortuitous bit of superhero switcheroo, Munn ended up taking on the role of telepath Psylocke in X-Men: Apocalypse after filmmakers assured her that the purpled-haired mutant would have “an important presence” in the movie.

Munn, for her part, had one overarching requirement.

“I said, ‘Is there a fight scene?’ ” she says she asked producers, adding, “The fight scene … could be her monologue.”

“I thought Psylocke was always one of the most lethal characters,” the actress explains of the sword-wielding heroine, “and I said, ‘Yes, as long as you’re not using her to be the eye candy. She has really powerful abilities.’ And they said, ‘Yes, that’s an important part.’ ”

Fans can size up just how important Psylocke is to the X-Men – and their frearsome, godlike nemesis Apocalypse – when the film rushes theaters on May 27.

This article originally appeared on People.com