Its crazy when you look at the upcoming releases for the superhero film genre and it’s pretty obvious that they’re here to stay until 2020. While Marvel and DC go about building their own respective universes, Fox have decided to firmly hold onto their rights and go about making their own X Men universe. I feel that this would have been the best way to go about things because ever since the franchise’s boom in the 80s and 90s, the X Men’s roster has snowballed to such an insane degree that it’s hard to keep track of even to this day. I remember trying construct a flow chart of it in my mind the other year where there was the main X Men, the original X Men from the 60s, the other X Men led by Cyclops, the all-female X Men (Which was awesome), then there was Wolverine and the X Men, Uncanny Avengers etc. etc. So the fact that the mutants are staying out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is probably for the best not just for legal reasons but also for story purposes. Introducing the aspect of mutants to the Marvel films opens up the avenue for bringing in all sorts of muties and you’ll probably get people complaining about all these characters not being introduced: Gambit, Pyslocke, Domino, Jubilee, Rachel Grey, Kid Omega, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Raphael, Leonard-Oh fuck it.
With the establishment of an X Men exclusive universe, it’ll be interesting to see what storylines and characters Fox will be looking to introduce. One film in particular has been announced to answer the prayers of many. In 2016, Deadpool will be introduced to the big screen and will most likely be a big hit. Wade Wilson’s rise in popularity was extremely intriguing to watch due to its unpredictability. Despite not getting a big solo adventure for a few years, Deadpool was often seen goofing off on the side which provided a lot of amusement and most likely resulted in some new readers. Deadpool could be seen in Marvel’s animated movies (Wolverine vs Hulk), video games (Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions) and even in Wolverine’s Hollywood prequel which we were all so keen to deny its existence after seeing it for the first and only time. Deadpool eventually got to be the star of his own video game and despite mediocre reviews it showed that the anti-hero was most likely rising to new heights of popularity. So why am I slightly concerned about this movie?
Let’s recap on my history of reading comic books. After being interested in the Spiderman and X Men films, I eventually found a Marvel universe called the Ultimate Universe which was designed to bring in new readers due to its continuity free background. While Ultimate Spiderman and Ultimate X Men solidified my love for comic books, they were not my first experience. Before all that I found out about this superhero called Deadpool who was super weird but also highly amusing. The first Joe Kelly run back in the 90s kept my interest for a while and it was hard not to become enamoured with Wade Wilson. While it reeked of bad 90s aesthetic it carried this charming sense of self-awareness which allows it to still be readable to this day. After that, I have read very little Deadpool so I’m not going to say that I am an expert or even a fan of his. However, I’d like to think that I have an understanding of what the character was about.
For all of Wade’s gun toting, limb slicing, fourth wall breaking insanity, there was this brutal sense of tragedy underlying everything. We know that Deadpool was a test subject in the Weapon X program and the project eventually drove him “nutty!” but there was so much more to it. Wade had been completely disfigured and unrecognisable from the project; while he had attained all of the assets to become the world’s greatest mercenary he was also robbed of his human appearance which clearly took a toll on his mental health. The story took the time to gaze into how much self-loathing, depression and misery surrounded Wade and how it inhibited his ability to make connections with others. He locks Blind Al in the basement, he emotionally abuses his friend Weasel and has trouble committing to a relationship with Siryn. The insane shift in tone that the book would take was what made it great for me because while it was incongruous it made sense because it perfectly suited Wade’s character. What better way to hide all of your shame and torment by acting nutty and pretending nothing is wrong? Wade acts like a joke because that’s what he feels like – a worthless, insignificant laughing stock who can’t connect with anyone or view himself in a positive light. The fact that Wade’s conception is a god damn parody of DC’s Slade Wilson (Also known as Deathstroke) makes it all the more harrowing to giggle at. Deadpool can be looked at as a comedian in some ways and it’s not all that uncommon for comedians to suffer from poor mental health because it’s their coping mechanism.
Again, I don’t know everything about Deadpool but his portrayal in the media doesn’t strike a chord with me. We see him spouting “hilarious” one liners in that cringe worthy form of humour known as “randomlol”. “Oh hey, Chimichangas are so funny! Lol, you’re so funny Deadpool, I like it when he winks at the camera and shouts gibberish”. Not everything is a miss with the way he’s portrayed because I quite enjoy Nolan North’s voice portrayal of the character and Ryan Reynolds also had a nice attempt at trying to play Wade for 5 minutes in X Men: Origins but it was clear that the studio wasn’t interested in fairly representing Deadpool. So is there hope that they will do the character justice in 2016? The only way we can see is by giving the studio a chance but I want to let it be known that Wade’s insecurities and self-hatred are just as fundamental as his comedic exterior. I’m afraid the film will just omit the heavier parts in fear of turning off viewers who just know Deadpool for being “randomlol”. A few months ago I found out that when Joe Kelly was interviewed, he stated that when initially writing Deadpool the creators were certain that the whole thing would eventually collapse so they were comfortable in just doing whatever the hell they wanted. I wonder if that’s what gave them the opportunity to create the tragic yet silly tone that the story flipped between. Now that Deadpool has an established reputation, it can be slightly worrying to see if the upcoming film will stay true to the original formula.
But if it has Deadpool punching Kitty Pryde 70 feet in the air I suppose I can’t complain much.
I also recommend this video by youtube personality ComicDrake who voices his disinterest in the Deadpool character.
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