Deadpool creator blasts Disney for not making use of the character

Since Disney bought Fox, it’s been unclear if the gleefully violent Deadpool could fit in the MCU. Creator Rob Liefeld has ideas for how to get around that.

Deadpool was always a weird fit for Disney. The first two Deadpool movies, with Ryan Reynolds as the main character, were big hits for Fox, but they traded on gleeful profanity, over-the-top violence, and an intensely meta sense of humor. They were great, but not what you’d call family-friendly, so when Disney bought Fox last year, there was a question of whether Deadpool would have a place.

And that was before the coronavirus came along and shut down most of Hollywood. Now, things are looking less rosy than ever.

Or at least, that’s the feeling you get from artist and writer Rob Liefeld, who created the character of Deadpool for Marvel Comics back in the ’90s. “You know what? There may not be another Deadpool [movie], and I’m fine,” he told Collider. “Because I have to live with the fact that I had two amazing experiences, two movies I’m extremely proud of, I love knowing everybody on those movies. I love Ryan [Reynolds], Josh [Brolin], Zazie [Beets], David [Leitch], Tim Miller. All of them. The work they did was fantabulous, those movies are here to stand the test of time. You know, but in the world we live in, nothing is guaranteed. And it takes a lot to make movies. And post-quarantine, it’s weird.”

Liefeld didn’t sound much more optimistic talking to IGN. “There’s a demand there, I hope they fill it, but I’m not sure they will,” he said. But a Deadpool movie isn’t the only way the character could turn up outside of comics. IGN asked Liefeld if there might ever be another Deadpool video game — he fronted a game for the PS3 back in 2013 — and Liefeld did not hold back.

“I’m just going to tell you right now: screw movies,” he said, immediately going beyond video games. “Screw this whole Deadpool movie talk, OK?… Here’s what I would say. ‘Hey Disney, Hi. It’s Rob. You paid 70 billion dollars for Fox. OK? You paid 70 billion dollars. You can’t run your Disney parks, which are 50% of your overall earnings, they have been shut down for five months. You have no way to get your 3 billion dollars’ worth of movies to the theaters. No Mulan, no Black Widow, no Eternals.'”

"Animators can work from home. Digital artists can work from home. […] Deadpool’s kind of popular. Deadpool cartoons, Deadpool video games – of course they should be making them. [Bob] Iger, whoever is running the ship over there, what are you doing to get a return on your 70 billion dollars? […] Of course they should be making more Deadpool video games, of course they should be making a Deadpool cartoon. What the hell?"

Okay, shots fired. And if we just wanna talk about movies, Liefeld pointed out that Deadpool wouldn’t have to fit neatly into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “[Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige, love you buddy, you’re a genius, but there are other geniuses,” he said. “The guys that made Into the Spider-Verse? Geniuses. Disney had nothing to do with that. Disney had nothing to do with Deadpool, Deadpool 2, Logan. Let these other lieutenants make you a return on your investments.”

Now, neither we nor Liefeld know exactly why Disney has dragged their feet with Deadpool, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was because they were trying and failing to think of a way to squeeze him into the milder, less caustic MCU. And they could probably do it if they tried hard enough, but it wouldn’t be the Deadpool people have come to know over the last few years.

My vote would be to just continue in the bloody disgusting direction the series has been going and release Deadpool 3 under a different studio; lord knows Disney owns enough of them. Otherwise, the merc with a mouth may be forever silenced.

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