Scott: Alright, Let's reply to some comments.
Mhm Mhm.
Okay, sure.
What the?
[suspenseful music builds]
[phone rings]
Hey, Ricky. What's going on?
Ricky: Deadpool!
DEADPOOL!!!
[suspenseful music builds]
Deadpool.
Scott: Fine, I’ll do a Deadpool video.
Welcome to Comic Misconceptions, I'm Scott
and I’m finally going to fulfill my promise from one year ago when I said this:
Past-Scott: First things first. To everyone asking for a Deadpool video, we’re working
on it. Present-Scott: Really just trying to make
Past-Scott more accountable these days. Plus, you all have been vaguely asking me for a
Deadpool video since the dawn of time so why not now? One aspect of Deadpool that has popped
up a lot and has been treated as fact is that he is a blatant rip-off of a DC character
Deathstroke. But, what if he wasn’t? Alright, let’s back up here. First, a little background
on these two characters and as I always do, I will over-generalize their respective histories
and link you to videos in the description where you can find more info on them if you
so choose. Deathstroke, originally Deathstroke the Terminator, was created by Marv Wolfman
and George Perez and premiered in New Teen Titans #2 from 1980. He can be summed up pretty
fairly as a genetically enhanced super solider turned assassin/mercenary named Slade Wilson
who fights using a combo of blades and guns. Deadpool on the other hand was created by
Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza and premiered in New Mutants #98 from 1991. He can be summed
up pretty fairly as a genetically enhanced assassin/mercenary named Wade Wilson who fights
using a combo of blades and guns. Hey! That’s like the same thing! It’s clear that these
two share more than a few similarities right? One of the big differences being their personalities,
of course. Deathstroke is more serious whereas Deadpool is pretty... the opposite of that. So
now we get to the main question again. Was Deadpool really truly a rip-off of Deathstroke?
Well let’s look at the evidence for that argument. First and foremost I think we can
all agree that the similarities are way too crazy to be a coincidence right? Unfortunately
that’s not really evidence. It’s improbable sure but not impossible strictly speaking,
for Rob Liefeld to come up with a Deadpool character completely separate from Deathstroke.
What evidence do we actually have? The biggest source I have found is this interview with
Fabian Nicieza the other co-creator of Deadpool in Classic Marvel Figurine Collections
#56 from 2008. In the last section of the magazine, Nicieza reveals the behind-the-scenes
of the creation of Deadpool. He explains and I quote “All I knew at the time was that
he was a lethal killer and super-agile; sort of a cross between Spider-Man and Punisher.
So I called Rob up and I said… ‘This guy is Deathstroke from Teen Titans!’ and he
laughed and said, ‘Ah, you caught me.’ And we both laughed since we both loved Teen
Titans, and had already discussed that Deadpool was going to be the ‘throwaway character’
out of the three that were being introduced that issue”. He goes on to say a bit later
in the interview quote “I named him Wade Wilson because that was out little in-joke
that made him a third cousin on his mother’s sister’s uncle’s cousin’s side to Slade
Wilson, Deathstroke”. That seems pretty straight forward and has certainly been quoted
and cited enough around the internet that it caught on as the official story. I mean,
it comes straight from the mouth of one of the co-creators of Deadpool. Case closed!
Right? Well, not exactly. At many, many different comic cons Rob Liefeld has held panels where
fans basically just ask him a lot of Deadpool questions. A lot of the answers are pretty
eye-opening. Getting straight to the point, whenever fans ask if Deathstroke was an inspiration
for Deadpool, Rob always seems to reply very clearly saying absolutely not. Links for three
videos of different panels that has happened in and an article written about one of them
in the description if you want to go take a look for yourself. Combining information
from all the different panels put together, Liefeld explains that the creation of Deadpool
was really inspired by Todd McFarlane. McFarlane was drawing Spider-Man at the time who we
all know is a masked character Liefeld was drawing New Mutants with a bunch of characters
who didn’t wear masks. Liefeld tells a story of how McFarlane used to taunt him about how
he’d have to spend a lot of time getting the faces and the hair and the eyebrows lined
up and all that stuff while Spider-Man was just a big oval, some big eyes and it allowed
McFarlane to work a lot faster. So when the opportunity arrived. Liefeld created his answer
to McFarlane’s Spider-Man and not just the character who was masked, but a character
who was almost always masked. With Spider-Man, you’d still have to draw Peter Parker's face
occasionally, but with Deadpool, he’s almost perpetually in his costume and mask. Liefeld
pitched Deadpool as bad Spider-Man with swords and guns and he based the name off of the
Clint Eastwood movie, The Deadpool from 1988. Audio from The Dead Pool (1988): -The dead
pool is just a harmless game. -Sounds pretty sick to me.
Scott: He goes on to explain that Wolverine was also a big inspiration. When a fan asked
why he made Deadpool’s main power healing, Liefeld replied quote “Because I was literally
copying Wolverine.” He elaborates on the connection to Wolverine by talking about Deadpool’s
proposed backstory as a Weapon X wash out that other writers expanded upon later. So
with Rob Liefeld’s story, we have a problem, an inconsistency. One co-creators said Deadpool
was based off of Deathstroke intentionally while the other plainly says that he wasn’t.
So, what’s the answer? Perhaps the easiest explanation here is that someone is just misremembering,
right? Radiolab did a fascinating episode about memories that I’ll link to below.
In it they talk about how every time you remember something, you’re literally changing and
altering that memory. This means that the more you reflect on old memories, the less
accurate they actually become. I love how Stan Lee puts it whenever he starts telling
stories from his past experiences. Stan Lee: I have said this so often, at so
many places that for all I know it might even be true.
Scott: Kind of a little self-deception. You tell a lie so much that it actually starts
to become true for you. That’s not to say that either person said out to purposely spread
a lie, but rather that both could whole heartedly believe what they are saying is the truth.
Even though they contradict each other. But do they? I mean are these two stories from
Liefeld and Nicieza truly mutually exclusive? Giving each side the benefit of the doubt,
we could piece together a combined story that might make sense. (that guy) talks about how
both he and Liefeld were both big fans of Teen Titans at the time so maybe when McFarlane
was teasing him about Spider-Man, Liefeld started crafting Deadpool and subconsciously
was drawing inspiration from Deathstroke. When Nicieza heard about and saw Deadpool
for the first time, it was obvious to him that he seemed a lot like Deathstroke and
so he probably would have brought it up to Liefeld who then could have immediately recognized
that, “Oh yeah, I guess he is. Hmm, you caught me”. What do you guys think? Is Deadpool
and intentional rip-off of Deathstroke? Was it accidental and subconscious or was it completely
and totally an unrelated coincidence? Let me know you thoughts in the comments. And
if this is your first time hanging out with us here at Nerdsync, we do weekly comic book
videos that expand your understanding and enrich your comic book reading experience
so hit that big sexy subscribe button, so you don’t miss out on anything. Once again,
I’m Scott, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram. I will see you right here on Friday
for a Tie-in video and more things you thought you knew about comics. See ya!
Ricky: Hello? Gosh it is hard to find a good Deadpool nowadays.