Deadpool 2: 8 Lessons It Must Learn From The Original Film

7. Get A Better Villain

Okay, so Deadpool at least made an attempt to parody the fact that it has a "generic villain" in its opening credit sequence, in which the name of the actor starring as said villain is replaced with the words "A British Villain." The British villain this time around, then, was played by Ed Skrein, who delivers an archetypical performance as the bad guy of the film - a guy named Ajax. And whilst Skrein is fine in the role, it seems very much against the agenda of a Deadpool motion picture to shoot for the most obvious bad guy imaginable; Ajax is rendered interchangeable from an endless list of recent British villain types played by Mark Strong in everything, and glimpsed in such recent films as Furious 7. What's worse, the movie doesn't acknowledge this "generic" villain trope after that one joke in the opening credits. Whilst this is all perhaps forgivable for the first film, Deadpool 2 needs to step up its game when it comes the villain department; superhero movies so very frequently fall down when it comes to the bad guys, most of which are entirely forgettable. But should that be a case in a Deadpool movie, where deconstructing the genre is entirely the point? Fix it, sequel. And it's not like there's a lack of available options, it's just a matter of working out which Marvel villains are actually available to use (he's fought a significant number of characters who are probably classed as Spider-Man or MCU villains, so it's a bit of a nightmare). Someone like Taskmaster would be brilliant though.