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insane, more original, more R-rated,” Fox told him, he says,
“but you don’t have as much to make it with.”
Surely also on the studio’s mind was that Deadpool, also
played by Reynolds, had appeared as a non-costumed mercenary
under his civilian name in the critically disappointing and commercially
so-so X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). Reynolds and
actor/martial artist Scott Adkins also played the post-experiment
version—here called Weapon XI, sans costume, and referred to
colloquially by one character as “the dead pool” for the pooling of
dead subjects’ abilities. As Reynolds stressed over the summer, the
“Deadpool appearing in Origins is not the Deadpool we are representing
in this film, in any way, shape or form.” He conceded, “We
didn’t quite get Deadpool right, so this is kind of an opportunity to
get the most authentic version possible on the screen.”
The new movie does seem to well represent the Deadpool of
Marvel Comics, where writer Fabian Nicieza and artist and character-conceptualist
Rob Liefeld created him as a supervillain in
The New Mutants #98 (Feb. 1991). In both screen and print, mercenary
Wade Wilson is promised a cure for his terminal cancer if
he undergoes an experiment designed to create rapid self-healing.
Unbeknownst to him, those in charge of the project are actually
planning to control and weaponize him. He escapes to become a
superpowered mercenary, whose constant wisecrack yammering
earns him the nickname “the merc with a mouth.” Oh, and he
sometimes breaks the fourth wall to address the audience directly.
That came about gradually in the comics, beginning most
prominently with a plot-recap page in Deadpool Vol. 3, #4 (April
1997), in which writer Joe Kelly had three characters address the
reader. But that was considered non-canonical since it wasn’t part
of the story itself. In issue #27 (April 1999), Kelly, within the
story, had Deadpool make an aside to the audience, but that generally
was explained as the character suffering hallucinations and
only thinking there was an audience. The concept became solidified
in the following month’s issue, when Deadpool, replying
to a supervillain’s query about how long it’s been since they last
fought, replies, “Issue 16.” It went on from there, including when
Nicieza himself returned in 2004 for the series Cable & Deadpool.
“When you do that every month,” says the writer-editor, who’s
also scripted for Captain America, the Avengers and other characters,
“you’re meta-commenting about the relationship between the
RYAN REYNOLDS (ALSO AT LEFT) WITH
CO-STAR MORENA BACCARIN IN DEADPOOL.
character and the readers in a much more personal manner” than
otherwise—although he notes, “a little of that goes a long way.”
Deadpool has continued to be a cult favorite in numerous
series, miniseries, one-shot specials and guest appearances, fueled
by his audacious, often vulgar banter and madcap if deadly
antics—the result, Nicieza says, “of the constantly regenerating
cells that fight the cancer. It drives him crazy. Because he can’t
stay locked on a thought for very long. His brain cells, like his
other cells, are perpetually regenerating.” He’s like a wisecracking
Spider-Man with no fi lter whatsoever and a penchant for
gleefully shooting bad guys in the head. And the fan-following
Deadpool inspired helped to get the new fi lm made, Kinberg
says, confirming a story Reynolds has told.
In July 2014, two-year-old test footage of the star as Deadpool
in an action sequence leaked online. “And the Internet,” Reynolds
told late-night talk-show host Conan O’Brien in August, “put Fox
in a hammerlock death-grip and they greenlit our movie.” That’s
an oversimplification, but fan reaction to the footage indeed “was
into latest Marvel hero in Fox’s super-actioneer
PRODUCER
SIMON KINBERG
PHOTOS: JOE LEDERER. TM & © MARVEL & SUBS. TM & © 2015 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.