Joining the Deadpool Fan Club

The franchise lives up to the hype.

Jul 29, 2024

I’m not sure I’ve ever written about this here, but I was a big Marvel Comics reader as a kid. Among my favorite titles were The Avengers, Iron Man (my favorite superhero), Power Man and Iron Fist, and Marvel Two-in-One. As an adult, I’ve seen a lot of characters from the Marvel universe (including quite obscure ones) come to life on the big screen, and in far more cases than not, the adaptations have been very good. It’s been a thrill to watch advancements in cinematic special effects reach the height necessary to effectively represent this genre.

One Marvel character I never had any interest in, however, was Deadpool. The reason was simple. He wasn’t around when I was a kid. He didn’t start showing up in Marvel comic books until around the time I graduated high school (years after I was no longer a reader). In fact, I think I’d barely even heard of the character until he popped up at the tail end of the 2009 film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

I saw that movie in the theater, and I remember a bunch of comic book enthusiasts around me excitedly whispering “Deadpool” when it was revealed that a bit-character introduced earlier in the flick, played by actor Ryan Reynolds, had been transformed into the rapidly-healing mutant. A fantastic fight scene ensued, ending with what I just kind of figured would be Mr. Pool’s final film appearance.

Little did I know that the character had a pretty significant cult following, and was too big to just go away. Something else I was unaware of was that Deadpool, as depicted in the comics, is largely a slapstick comedic character known for his raunchiness, pop-culture references, and breaking the fourth wall. It’s that version of the superhero, once again played by Ryan Reynolds, that launched its own movie franchise in 2016. A sequel came in 2018, and the third film, Deadpool & Wolverine, released just last weekend.

My family has always loved Hugh Jackman as Wolverine (this is the whopping tenth film in which he’s played the role), and with all the hype surrounding his return, we figured it was probably time to check out the first two Deadpool movies. We watched them last week, and I found them pretty darned funny and entertaining. They’re kind of like an uber-violent, hyper-lewd, super-fast-paced version of the Police Academy movies… but with lots of cameos, and superheroes rather than cops.

Okay, Police Academy isn’t the best example. I’m just trying to convey its degree of over-the-top, immature silliness to those of you Daly Grind readers who are around my age. That’s because Deadpool is every bit as targeted at Generation X (of which both Reynolds and Jackman are card-carrying members) as it is die-hard comic book fans. From the music (lots of 80s stuff) to many of the jokes, there’s a smorgasbord of Gen-X nostalgia.

Deadpool & Wolverine, which we watched last weekend, is no different. And I, like seemingly everyone else who’s seen it, agrees it’s the best of the three. Beyond a much bigger budget than the first two, and even more laughs and cameos, what I particularly appreciated about the film was that it played Wolverine’s character just as straight as in the X-Men films. In fact, he was basically the straight man of a two-man comedy team with Reynolds. But Jackman is such a compelling actor that he manages, several times — at the drop of a hat — to shift the audience back to the somber, tortured, sympathetic Wolverine a lot of us have become familiar with over the last 25 years. He even has a surprisingly emotional scene with an old co-star.

But comedy, of course, is what’s front and center in the film. And what makes Deadpool-brand comedy so unique in the year 2024 is its disinterest in political correctness. It’s quite irreverant, even by the standards of a few decades ago, and its irreverance that today’s comedy is sorely laking. It’s good to see such risks being taken, and hugely rewarded by audiences.

In case I haven’t made it clear in my writing, this is not a movie for young kids. But for adults who aren’t offended by very low-brow humor, I highly recommend it.

Have you seen any of the Deadpool films? If so, what did you think? Let me know in an email, or in the comment section below.

Random Thought

Obligatory Dog Shot

Stella’s superpower is finding a sliver of shade on a hot, sunny walk.

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