Do I have a problem with Deadpool, or do I have a problem with how he's written? This is something I've struggled with every time he pops up. Being a big fan of the X-men I can't avoid him and although he is annoying - he's sometimes integral to a really great plot thread. So I'm going to gather my thoughts on Wade Wilson and explain why I've never been able to get behind him for more than a single run.
My first interactions with Wade were as a young boy when they changed the compilation comic Wolverine & Gambit to wolverine & Deadpool. This was a bad time for me as I love Gambit. Regardless, I knew nothing about Deadpool at the time so I was willing to give him a chance. For the first few issues I was unsure of him, the whole fourth wall breaking thing was initially a nice change but it got old pretty quick. In the years since this has become a burden on some of the stories he's popped up in as a lot of the time I don't care about what he has to say when breaking the fourth wall and it often reads like an early 2000s Myspace blurb. Another thing about Deadpool that annoys me is that you can clearly tell when he's simply been shoehorned into a story because of his popularity. In Wade's defense - this is true of not only him but Wolverine too. There was a point where Wolverine was in three X-men teams and the Avengers. God I hate that hairy little weeaboo. My hate for Wolverine can be explored at a later date though. Deadpool, to me at least, is the comic book equivalent of that kid in your street who your parents encourage you to include even though he's too loud, doesn't contribute much to activities and hammers jokes til they're dead. Uncle Ben level dead.
This is where things get weird. Contrary to what I've said above: Deadpool can be the highlight of a series when he's written correctly. In Uncanny X-force, Wade was a stand out character and his contributions were surprisingly welcome. He was used as a supporting character who rarely over-stepped his role and his usual loud and obnoxious demeanour was traded off for a more measured but still light-hearted one. This put him in a very unique pocket in the team. X-Force's role is to eliminate threats to the mutant race by any means necessary. In a team like this you'd think Wade would be absolutely wild and able to do whatever, whenever - this is not the case. At several points he is positioned as the moral backbone of the team, his experience in the nature of business the team conducts seems to have weighed on him for too long. He refuses payment from Wovlerine when he believes the team have been party to the murder of a child and temporarily leaves the team. The set up for this is wonderful as the rest of the team think he'd be fine with the murder of a child as long as he gets paid. When Logan reveals he's denied payment for that job and all other jobs as a result - everyone (me included) sees Deadpool in a whole new lens from hereon in.
In addition to this, in the same series, Deadpool becomes an older brother/surrogate father figure to Genesis. Genesis is a clone of the supervillain apocalypse who was spirited away by Fantomex to be raised as a superhero/regular child to help prevent him from possible becoming like Apocalypse. While everyone tip-toes around him apart from Fantomex, the only other person to show Genesis respect and treat him like a regular child is Wade Wilson. There's a sequence where he smuggles adult magazines into the X-mansion for Genesis and although Genesis isn't interested he appreciates Wade trying to treat him like a regular teenager. The interactions between the two are genuinely the highlight of the latter stages of Uncanny X-Force and it shows a real depth and understanding to Wade I'd previously unseen.
However, in the years since I've seen Deadpool regress back into the annoying version of himself that turns me away from wanting to read any of his solo adventures. His appearance in U.S.Avengers was unnecessary, his parts in AXIS were painful to read and his inclusion in the Avengers Unity team during Standoff stopped me from following that team entirely.
I know that his popularity comes from the things that annoy me personally, but it really is a shame that I can never pin down any positive feelings about Deadpool for more than a single run or two. Didn't like the film, either. I appreciate the inclusion of Colossus though!
So that's how I feel about Deadpool. While I don't hate him like I hate Iron Man, Wolverine or Reed Richards - I definitely don't look forward to seeing him when he pops up in crossovers.
- Gary
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