I’ve been saying it since the character was confirmed to be in the Wolverine movie, and now it’s been confirmed: There WILL be a Deadpool spin-off film. FOX announced the project via Variety. For all of us Deadpool fans who are worried about the future of the character after seeing the Weapon XI debacle, apparently there are some reasons for us to believe we will get to see the Deadpool we all know and love, not the one FOX destroyed in Wolverine. Let me go over the facts, and then let the official plot speculation begin!!!
First off, we absolutely have to address the ending of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Everyone who saw the movie saw **SPOILER** “Deadpool” as Weapon XI get his head cut off by Wolverine, then seemingly fall into oblivion. Some of us who stayed to the end of the film were treated to one of several secret endings. Now, I’ve never seen the ending in question and initially I doubted it’s existence, but more and more reports coming out about the ending suggest to me that this is true: The ending involves the rubble of the reactor. You see Weapon XI’s head laying on the ground, and a mysterious stranger walking toward it. This stranger reaches down to pick up the head and says “What the hell are you?” Then he turns to face the camera, and it is revealed that this stranger is actually Wade Wilson, just as we saw him in the beginning of the film! He then breaks the 4th wall by whispering to the audience: Shhh… Thus implying that he is in fact secretly still alive and can still become the Deadpool we all know and love on film!!!
The studio confirms that Ryan Reynolds will return to reprise his role as Wade Wilson. Now, interviews with Reynolds leading up to Wolverine’s release indicate that he knows his Deadpool, and he will only return to the character if he could do a true Deadpool origin film, complete with breaking the 4thwall. Real quick, wouldn’t it just be great to see Deadpool in his solo film talk to the audience about what FOX did to him in the Wolverine movie? Something mocking the whole Weapon XI thing? I think my head would explode from awesome overload. But I digress. So with Reynolds confirmed to return, we can assume that this spin-off will at least be pretty close to the Deadpool film we all deserve to see. This was seemingly confirmed by FOX, as Former FOX exec Jeff Katz mentioned it will be “Classic Deadpool.” While this will still be a FOX film, and we should always worry when FOX is in charge, the film will have Lauren Shuler Donner and Marvel as producers to oversee the character that they have a special affinity for. So that is absolutely a good sign. It’s understood that this story will return the character to his roots, and it will feature plenty of Deadpool mouthing off, bordering on the edge of slapstick. I’m officially psyched now. Call me an optimist, but I really believe all the signs point toward us getting a Deadpool film that we would actually enjoy. Will it be perfect? Hell no, this is still FOX we are talking about. But I do believe it will be very close to what we know, and in these times where comic heroes get butchered on screen all the time, isn’t that all we could really hope for???
Facts out of the way, let’s speculate! This story, being a true origin, would include Wade as a “patient” in Dr Killbrew’s lab. I would hope that the film would feature “Francis”, a character who is responsible for turning Wade into Deadpool. Those are just musts. But what else should we see in the film for it to be a good Deadpool film? Take it from this Deadpool fanatic, here is what we should see: Deadpooland his initial infatuation withlady Death, a storyline that could run behind the scenes for the first and dare I say it, second Deadpool film! Yes, I believe this is franchise potential, not because I love the character but because I know the character. He is bad ass, a smart ass, and completely insane. People will love him, they just need the exposure.
Anyway, we need to see his classic black and red costume. He needs to have his usual array of accessories, including guns, swords and grenades. Many Deadpool fans may want to see his belt, that allows him to holographically change into anyone, so that people wouldn’t see his horribly scarred face (that he is actually ashamed of, and that should be the case here). The belt also allows him to teleport. I’d love to see the teleportation, but I actually don’t want to see Deadpoolhave the ability to mask his identity. I think that would distract and confuse the audience too much, and would be the death of the character. But he should teleport. Of course, if he has that belt, the belt’s creator should be featured in the film. We need to have ‘Pool’s best bud and weapons supplier Weasel in this film! And while we are on the subject of Deadpool’s “friends” we need to see some blind Al!!! For those of you who don’t know, blind Al is an old blind woman whom Deadpool kidnapped and keeps locked up in his “Dead hut.” His “secret hideout.” Al is a good friend to Wade, even though he abuses her in various ways and she dishes the trash talk just as good as Wade does. I feel like this character is essential, as any real Deadpool fan could tell you, she is a big part of the character’s humble beginnings on the comic pages, and a strong source of drama later down the road. A Deadpool film should be funny, should be violent, but it should also be dramatic and tragic. This is, after all, the tragedy of a man who was once in love, got cancer, and was experimented on until he had a pizza face. He was promptly driven insane, and though cured of his cancer, he felt he could never be loved again as a result of Killbrew’s experimentation. It’s a classic tragedy, and despite the humor in the comics, it can get very sad occasionally. These are key.
The first film probably wouldn’t need a “villain” in the classic sense as Dr Killbrew and “Francis” would serve that purpose very well when showing how Wade became Deadpool. The film should largely take part during that period, but it should have the last half hour establish Deadpool’s mercenary activities in Hell House, thus setting up the nefarious T-Ray as the villain in a Deadpool sequel. We can only cross our fingers and hope that eventually Deadpoolgets to face off against his arch nemesis in T-Ray. He is a complex and twisted villain, and I think he could work real well on screen. T-Ray was a mercenary who mastered in the “mystical,” and constantly clashed with our beloved merc withthe mouth. Dead-head’s will tell you that there is a very “soap-opera”-ish storyline involving T-Ray and relating to Deadpool’s TRUE origins, one that would absolutely blow my mind if I ever got to see it on the big screen. There is just too much history here to decide definitely what the plot should entail. That is the beauty of the character. The material is truly a great story that wouldn’t require any modernization or changing to make it “movie ready.” And the character has years of story linesripe with movie potential. Fans should be excited, because it is very possible that we’ll see the merc withthe mouth on the big screen again, just as he was perfectly portrayed in the beginning of Wolverine. And we may see him on screen many times after that. We can only hope!
You can bet that I will keep all of you Dead Head’s posted on any developments related to this project!