10 Things Everyone Always Gets Wrong About Deadpool
Wade Wilson ISN'T a Deathstroke rip-off.
Deadpool has always had a little bit of a cult following, one that’s ebbed and flowed with the quality of his stories. Following the mammoth hits of the two Ryan Reynolds led movies though, his fan base has exploded. That, tied to some inconsistencies and disagreements between Deadpool writers since his creation, has led to a few misconceptions surrounding the character.
Writer Joe Kelly once remarked that he could "have some fun" with Deadpool because everyone working on it expected it to be shut down and the character packed away. While this style undoubtedly contributed to some of the things people still get wrong to this day, it also introduced the now fundamental fourth wall breaking element of Wade Wilson's character, duly reflected on screens big and small.
Christopher Priest, who took over from Kelly directly, claimed the writer's style was "a little hostile to new readers", and tried to bring some clarity back to the fold.
Still though, some misunderstandings remain, and Deadpool is the type of character who really embraces the silliness and impermanence of the established tenets in the superhero genre.
10. He's Always Been An Anti-Hero
A pretty basic one to kick us off.
He straddles the line of reluctant hero/anti hero most often these days, and that’s certainly the route Ryan Reynolds has taken him down in the two solo movies. However, there never used to be a grey area about the issue: Deadpool was a villain.
He’s tasked with killing the New Mutants in his first appearance, hitting the ground running with his villainous edge. Following this he was a recurring X-Force character, serving as an antagonist once more.
In fact Mark Waid, who wrote Deadpool’s second miniseries in 1994 when the character was still being established, has spoken about his regret in taking the role. “Frankly, if I’d known Deadpool was such a creep when I agreed to write the miniseries, I wouldn’t have done it,” Waid would later say in an interview with Wizard.
Deadpool’s failure to answer for his crimes was Waid’s biggest sticking point, and it wasn’t really until 1997 that Deadpool started his path to redemption with Joe Kelly’s run. Christopher Priest took over and kept the anti-hero vibe Kelly had cultivated, and it’s stuck ever since.