Film

Five Reasons Why Deadpool Is Your New Favourite Marvel Character

Not your grandma's superhero.

by Patrick Lenton  29 January 2016
Brought to you by 20th Century Fox

This article was proudly brought to you by 20th Century Fox

This article is proudly brought to you in partnership with 20th Century Fox.

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Unless you’ve been living in the same hermetically sealed box as Donald Trump’s hairpieces, you’ll be well aware that Deadpool is hitting cinemas on February 11 as the first of 2016’s mammoth serving of superhero movies. With so many superhero franchises beginning to follow a pretty familiar template, you’d be forgiven for thinking you know what to expect this time round.

Not so. Unlike a lot of the more established superheroes, Deadpool’s only been on the scene since the ’90s. This means he hasn’t had to endure 45 different reboots, sequels or prequels by unimaginative film executives until his character is as empty and hollow as a New Year’s resolution.

This is only the character’s second movie outing, and the first where he’s the star, and Deadpool promises to be a very different beast to the bevy of superhero movies we’ve become accustomed to, and not jsut because of its unapologetic R rating. Let’s have a look at exactly what makes Deadpool the ultimate contemporary superhero.

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He’s A Master Of Breaking The Fourth Wall

Deadpool knows that he is Deadpool and knows that you know that he knows he is Deadpool. Did that hurt your head? Good, Deadpool would enjoy that. Unlike any other superhero, Deadpool is completely self aware — he knows that he’s a superhero and, in his comic books, frequently talks directly to the reader. In this superhero-saturated world, it’s nice to have one who understands that we’re at Peak Franchise, and will actively discuss it with you.

Deadpool is also mad as a result of his superpowers, which can help explain his constant monologuing. And judging from the trailer, there’s plenty of fun fourth-wall breaking in the film too – including a reference to his horrible appearance in that ill-fated Wolverine movie.

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He’s The Pop-Culture Treasure Trove Of Your Dreams

For anyone who’s read the comics, the best part of Deadpool is his dialogue. It’s led him to be nicknamed ‘the Merc with the Mouth’, because he’s a mercenary with a… mouth. Which made the decision to sew his mouth shut during his brief cameo in X-Men Origins: Wolverine all the more baffling.

He also loves Betty White.

I mean, who doesn’t? In the comics, Deadpool famously and uncharacteristically spares the life of one of his enemies, after slaughtering hundreds of minions because “he too has recently lost someone”. It was later revealed that the loss he was referring to was Bea Arthur, also from Golden Girls. This movie is going to be amazing.

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He’s Indestructible

So, the story is that Deadpool got his powers from the same shady science place that Wolverine got his – the Weapon X project. Deadpool doesn’t have claws, but his healing factor is cranked up a few notches more than Wolverine’s. It also makes him horribly ugly. In the movie, Deadpool has volunteered himself for the project after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, but then is betrayed by the evil, punchy scientists. His existing tumour then spread across his whole body, leaving him horribly disfigured; “a ballsack with teeth,” as he puts it.

Deadpool has two swords and two guns and a tendency to use both liberally. He also has a bad case of sass-mouth and as the first trailer shows, the results are super gory, the language explicit and lots of heads go boom, making Deadpool is the most fun you can find packed into spandex.

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He’s Supportive Of Other Superheroes

On paper, there are a lot of similarities between Deadpool and Spiderman. They both wear the same kinds of red spandex super-suits. They both do lots of flips, they both crack wise. So it was kind of inevitable that they would form a close connection in the comics, even if Deadpool is an unpredictable, amoral mercenary for hire who enjoys killing people, and Spiderman is a man made of spiders or something.

There’s even a not-so-subtle suggestion that Deadpool has an unrequited crush (or at least a severe spandex-boner) for his more vanilla counterpart, as evidenced by the many, many instances in the comics seemingly written for the benefit of fans with very specific tastes.

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His Marketing Campaign Is Really Quite Enjoyable

You can tell the film creators are devoted to the spirit of Deadpool when you see marketing like this spoof rom-com poster, or even this billboard.

Then to top it all off, six days ago he sent us a personalised Australia Day promo where he managed to summarise exactly what Australia Day has come to be: a celebration of our shady criminal past, blackout drinking and hatred of New Zealand.

He’s even released a surprisingly informative PSA on the importance of checking yourself for testicular cancer, which genuinely has the potential to save more lives than most superheroes you could name.

And that’s why, in the words of Bonnie Tyler,  “I’m holding out for a hero ’til the morning light/He’s gotta be sure/And it’s gotta be soon.”

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Deadpool hits theatres February 11.