The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast

The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast Episode 051

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20th Century Fox’s Deadpool (2016)

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Note: We like our language NSFW salty, and there be spoilers here…

Face Front, True Believers! Illegal Machine, Mr. Fixit & Diabolu Frank look at Ryan Reynolds’ latest outing as The Merc With A Mouth, Wade Wilson, that dude who totally isn’t Deathstroke the Terminator with Spider-Man’s tongue, who debuted in X-Men Origins: Wolverine seven years ago no matter what Days of Future Past did to the movie continuity. Also, we talk about the trailers that played in front of the movie like X-Men: Apocalypse (Frank’s crappier showing had 10 Cloverfield Lane and Grimsby) before looking at Deadpool in film and in the comics (with a rousing defense of the career of Rob Liefeld, for reals.) Also, we all forgot to mention the soundtrack by Junkie XL with the boss mid-80s goth industrial bell things over and over again (of course Frank dug them.) Oh, and we blow off your mail for a quick rundown of all those new followers Captain America brought in before we made everyone forget this podcast existed with all those rolled spine specials and DC junk. Excelsior!

As you can tell, we love a fierce conversation, so why don’t you socialize with us, either by leaving a comment on this page or…

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4 thoughts on “The Marvel Super Heroes Podcast Episode 051”

  1. I first met Deadpool in X-FORCE #15. I distinctly remember that issue because it came with a four-pack action figure set that included Cable, Deadpool, Stryfe, and Four-Arm I got form the Sears Christmas Catalogue. I thought he was awesome at the time and collected the four-issue miniseries by Joe Madureira. But I got tired of the character right around the time Joe Kelly and Gail Simone were making him more than a cookie-cutter Ninja With Attitude. By the time he was full-on crazypants I wanted nothing to do with Deadpool or Cable (and certainly not Stryfe and Four-Arm).

    As for the movie, I expected it to be hugely successful but not something I would enjoy. With all of the viral marketing, hailed as brilliant by many, the only jokes I ever liked in the trailers were T.J. Miller’s descriptions of Wade’s face. So I didn’t expect to see it on Opening Night, but my wife was really excited for it. She hasn’t read Deadpool in more than two comics (if that) and I don’t believe she’s a Ryan Reynolds fan (I’m not even sure she’s seen a Ryan Reynolds movie, honestly), but a couple years ago we got the X-BOX / Kinect and a fighting game called MARVEL VS. CAPCOM, where Avengers and X-Men duked it out with guys from STREET FIGHTER and other arcade games I have no reference for. Anyway, the Wife’s favorite character to play was Deadpool because of the sarcastic quips and onomatopoeic verbalization of his attacks. (When he shoots, he shouts, “BANG! BANG! BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!!!”)

    She had greater expectations, and thus was more disappointed. I had zero expectations, and was neither disappointed nor truly entertained. The opening credit sequence was clever and impressive, and after that there a few gags and bits in the first twenty minutes that made me think, begrudgingly, that I would have to admit the movie was good…

    …But then the novelty of a hard-R-rated superhero movie wore off. As soon as Wade was diagnosed with cancer, the forward momentum nose-dived. I got really bored, and stayed that way for a while. The villain, Ajax (spelled F-R-A-N-C-I-S), was like a blackhole from which no entertainment could escape. Every time he appeared I stopped caring about the movie and wondered if they recast the actor who played Beast in the last two movies, or if James Marsden was doing a British accent.

    After the jokes and gimmicks, the plot of this film is a razor-thin revenge story, but I never cared about it because the villain was boring, and I wasn’t sure he deserved Deadpool’s wrath. The “torture” scenes were comparatively pedestrian, and if Wade’s vengeance is really fueled by being made “unfuckable”, well boo-fucking-hoo! Lots of people suffer burns and disfigurements worse than him and don’t also become immune to everything.

    Then there’s Colossus. For a moment there, I actually thought we’d finally get a good Piotr (that’s the name) on screen, but he was actually the WORST part of the movie. Look, I realize Colossus is a difficult character to portray; in one part, because physically he’s got shiny metallic skin, which is damn near impossible to render without looking super computer generated. The other pitfall for the character is that he’s a friendly Russian–and most friendly Russians in popular culture since the Cold War have been comedy tropes. Piotr has the heart of an artist; he doesn’t like fighting. But this movie ramped him up to a zen pacifist. And then when he does fight, he gets the shit kicked out of him by a woman we’ve never heard of (the character, not the actress).

    The last thing I’ll mention is the humor. I don’t watch FAMILY GUY because they fire off a hundred jokes in a half-hour episode and maybe three of them would land for me. While the hit ratio for DEADPOOL was a little better, it was only a little better. It wasn’t totally unenjoyable; there were times when I laughed, and at least one time when I was the only person in the theater laughing. (My favorite line: “Captain Deadpool!” and I think I was the only person in the theater who realized the stinger was FERRIS BUEHLLER’S DAY OFF.)

    But the most important thing was when I heard “Careless Whisper” I immediately thought of you three. So… Congratulations for that!

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  2. I forgot to mention: I’ll co-sign the endorsement for Rick Remender’s X-FORCE. It was a guilty pleasure book that embraced all of the things I loved about ’90s X-Men (Archangel and Psylocke, Apocalypse, Deadpool) then grew to hate, but it did it with such reverence that it actually worked. Plus, Rememnder’s Deadpool was legitimately funny and crazy. I mean, he sings Gloria Estefan while being dismembered!

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  4. I thought it was a fun flick, but perhaps not nearly as meta as I wanted it to be. I don’t have any attachment to Deadpool per se; I’ve read a couple of his more modern appearances and liked ’em well enough, but he’s just Ambush Bug with guns and knives, and I don’t care about guns and knives very much, y’know?

    But year fun enough. The kids I hang out with all went back a few days later, but I said no thanks. Not sure what more I could have gotten out of a second viewing.

    As for the Liefeld hate Mac finds so unpalatable, I think the guy brings it on himself acting like comics’ answer to Kanye on social media. He co-created a character, his strongest visual, but I think what people like about the character beyond the look is the personality and the meta humor, which was all other people. So CO-creator he shall remain, and he shouldn’t be dissin’ the other people who added to it. That’s just bad form. I just think he’s very bad at presenting himself. But I don’t think you can look at the movie and its success and lay it at his feet. There’s as much Nicieza and Kelly and whoever else made the character what it is, and of course, the lion’s share of the credit must go to the director, writers and star, as with any film. Steel is a terrible film, but that’s not Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove’s fault; therefore, Liefeld doesn’t necessarily deserve the credit. I don’t think we should lay X-Men Origins at this feet either.

    I’m sure Ryan is sincere about not liking it, but I wonder if this isn’t retaliation for Frank making him want to quit podcasting after his takedown of Black Lightning in the Secret Origins comments section.

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