Can you hear that? That’s the sound of all my hopes and dreams being pulled from my body and being stomped on. That’s the sound of my dream dying. My dream of one day seeing a great movie featuring my favorite hero, the merc with the mouth, are being destroyed. Yes, I now believe that FOX has bastardized the property and have totally changed the character, and I’m pissed about it. It’s no secret that I’ve been campaigning for a Deadpool solo film for years, and I had firmly believed that the casting of Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool was a good indicator that it would happen. Everything from that point on led me closer and closer to the conclusion that it would happen, and that it would actually be good. Even in the bold face of changes, I defied the critics and defended FOX’s take on good ole ‘pool. But I’m starting to see how wrong I really was.
The latest Wolverine trailer heavily featured a bizarre looking mutant with Baraka like blades coming from his bandaged wrists and the ability to shoot lasers from his eyes. This mutant seemed to have a “ninja-like” ability in combat and was one ugly bugger. People have been buzzing that this freaky looking mutant is in fact Wade Wilson. So who better to address this than the man playing Wilson, Ryan Reynolds. MTV News recently sat down with Reynolds and asked him straight up about the possibility that this mutant is Deadpool. Reynolds was very clear, and his answer doesn’t bode well for Deadpool fans:
“That, I would say, is Deadpool, yeah,” Reynolds told MTV News. “When I’m in the scarred makeup too, and you’ll see closer shots obviously in the film, and it’s hard to even tell that’s me, but you can tell. You’ve just got to find a better shot. I’m not going to get into exactly what’s going on with his mouth, particularly because he is ‘the merc with the mouth,’” added Reynolds when asked, given his previous response, what it was like to film with his mouth sealed. “But it’s going to be pretty interesting when people see it. People are going to be blown away and have a deep appreciation for what it is and how that character fits into this universe.”
Uh oh. I don’t like the fact that it looks like Deadpool’s mouth is sewn shut. He talks, that what Deadpool does. That, and killing. If the character isn’t a sarcastic and sometimes bitter yapper, it’s just not Deadpool. So I’m pretty pissed off at what is happening. To shed a little more light on what Reynolds thinks about the character he is playing in Wolverine, here is another snippet from another interview. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing for Deadpool fans or not, but here goes:
“Fox may differ from me, but I personally don’t consider him as Deadpool, I’m the thing that will eventually become Deadpool. I really think I more or less play Wade Wilson, I’m playing the creature that will eventually become Deadpool, but in this movie it’s his newly formed version.”
Deadpool is a pretty damned easy character to do. There is just no excuse for this. I am fine with the look of Wade all scarred up, and I may be the only one, but the mouth and what appears to be laser eyes and blades built into his arms, I just don’t know anymore. See, when all this debate sprouted after that recent Wolverine trailer, I honestly thought it was Deadpool, but that all those flaws could be explained away. If you look at the clip that show’s the blades on Deadpool’s arms, it looks like they are wrapped with some sort of ace bandage or something like that. So I thought that he just attached them to his arms on his own; I never for a second thought that they would try to make ‘pool like Wolvie. I could still be wrong on that, and I really hope I’m wrong. I also thought that Deadpool wasn’t fully done with the “treatment” that left him scarred; the “treatment” that made him the Wade we all know and love. So the scars could be explained away, and even the mouth thing. The shot with the Cyclops-like laser eyes is a little harder to explain. I really don’t know, but that is also the most confusing of all these potential changes to the character. I get the other stuff, being tied to Weapon X may prompt FOX to give him built in adamantium blades similar to Wolverine. They wanted to change the look of scarred Wade, I get that too. But why in the hell would you give him laser eyes?!? I just can’t believe that’s him. It has to have some special explanation.
I’m holding out hope that Reynolds is just being coy, or that things will change in the movie before then. Perhaps Reynolds is just pulling a Michael Bay, and intentionally mis-leading us. There is still the mysterious “Weapon XI.” I’m hoping that the dude with the laser blasts and the blades in his arms is just a screwed up Weapon XI. The toy could be a big part of the whole mis-information thing. It’s possible, right?!?
Or maybe they will fix the character for the solo spin-off film. I have to believe that, or a part of me would die inside. Seriously though, take a close look at what Ryan Reynolds had to say about the performance and the character. Am I just being paranoid? Or do his words lead you to the same conclusion that they led me to? You can bet that I will be there opening weekend, to see for myself. If I’m wrong, you can expect a very long post where I bash FOX over and over and over again. Until then, I’m going to hold out hope that FOX does the right thing.