In a world that's saturated by superhero movies[1] and TV shows, one costume-clad vigilante is separating himself from the pack much in the same way that his comic book counterpart did so many years ago. "Deadpool" will not only challenge the superhero genre, but the character's meta element allows him to do it with a little self-aware humor.
For those unfamiliar with the character, he's an immortal mercenary in the Marvel Universe with a notoriously unclosable mouth. Previously, "Deadpool" only existed in the critically panned "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." The character, still played by Ryan Reynolds, was adapted for the film and completely ditched his comic book origins, much to the dismay of fans. However, Reynolds fell in love with Wade Wilson and did his best to get a proper comic book version of the hero on the big screen. He was denied for many years, but when some leaked test footage[2] dropped on the internet two years ago, fans clamored for the movie to get green lit.
"That's how we're sitting here today. This is quite literally, and I'm not exaggerating, the first Marvel, or any kind of comic book, fan movies ever made," Reynolds told a crowd at an AOL Build event[3] for the cast of the movie. "It was propelled into production exclusively by the fans. They overwhelmed 20th Century Fox with tweets, Instagrams, hate mail and someone did some sky writing I think. Basically they overwhelmed them and they said 'yes.' They not only let us make the movie, but they let us make the movie as a rated R 'X-Men' film."
Despite the film's 39-year-old star boasting it as the only fan-generated Marvel film, "Deadpool" has a lot more than support separating it from other superhero films. Due to very complicated comic book reasons[4], the character of Deadpool is self-aware, meaning that he realizes that he and the people around him are merely imaginary characters in a comic book. In order to do Deadpool justice on the big screen, that had to be addressed.
"There's jokes in there about my buddy Hugh Jackman. Deadpool makes jokes about Ryan Reynolds and his hideous acting techniques," Reynolds confessed to the crowd of the movie's many meta moments. He went on to paraphrase the exact line of dialogue from the movie:
"Do you think Ryan Reynolds got his career from his superior acting method? No, looks are EVERYTHING!"
"Deadpool" will apparently be the self-aware satire of the superhero genre that many fans have spent more than a decade hoping for. However, the cast made sure to tell the crowd that it will still be grounded in reality and feature some important elements that all good action movies need to have — namely a strong supporting female character. "Deadpool" found that with Vanessa[5] (Morena Baccarin). Baccarin teased some details about her very different love interest during the AOL Build event.
"When I read it, I was like: 'Wow this is something you never see in an action film or superhero film is the chick that doesn't need rescuing. She actually calls him an a------ when he rescues her. It's amazing," the 36-year-old actress told the crowd. "In the audition process I kept hearing over and over again that she's the kind of girl you want to sit down and have a beer with — so don't be precious, you know?"
It seems whether it's making great content for the fans, establishing a meta world view or introducing strong and exciting new characters, "Deadpool" is doing something right. Outlets such as Hitfix[6], Variety[7] and Empire[8] have all given early screenings of the "X-Men" offshoot positive reviews.
Will you be buying a ticket to "Deadpool" when it comes out on Feb. 12? Comment below or tweet your best "Deadpool" thoughts to @TylerMcCarthy[9].
References
- ^ saturated by superhero movies (www.ibtimes.com)
- ^ leaked test footage (youtu.be)
- ^ AOL Build event (www.aol.com)
- ^ very complicated comic book reasons (marvel.wikia.com)
- ^ Vanessa (www.ibtimes.com)
- ^ Hitfix (www.hitfix.com)
- ^ Variety (variety.com)
- ^ Empire (www.empireonline.com)
- ^ @TylerMcCarthy (www.twitter.com)
