10 Things Everyone Always Gets Wrong About Deadpool
6. Deathstroke Wasn't His Only Inspiration
While Deadpool’s real name of Wade Wilson was indeed chosen as a homage/rip off of Deathstroke’s Slade Wilson, he wasn’t supposed to be based on the character. Instead, the name was chosen as an in-joke over original artist Rob Liefeld’s character design. Another Marvel artist spied what Liefeld was working on, and asked why he was drawing DC’s Deathstroke.
But when the character was first conceived, Deathstroke wasn’t even in the equation. The DC hitman is as serious as they come, and while both he and Deadpool are handy with their fingers on the trigger, neither their narratives, motivations nor general abilities are that similar.
Nothing is truly original these days though. Deadpool certainly took a lot of inspiration from existing comic book characters, but they were a lot closer to home than Deathstroke.
Rob Liefeld has been very open about this borrowing from existing properties, saying to Forbes “I had to make my own Spider-Man and Wolverine. That’s what Deadpool and Cable were meant to be, my own Spider-Man and Wolverine”. It’s certainly a positive way for him to channel his disappointment at not being able to write for his favourite characters.