Deadpool is for Everyone

So the upcoming Deadpool film has caused a stir with it's ratings. In the USA it's rated R and in the UK it's rated 15. Petitions were started to have a child friendlier cut of the film. After all if a film like Anchorman 2 had enough re-shoots and multiple jokes for the same scenes to warrant a cinematic re-release of the same film with completely different joke edits, hell, you can even dub over a superhero with his mouth covered, can't you? We've already had both green and redound trailers with different jokes for the same scenes already.

Hey Kids, Comics!

The internet responded immediately by being total assholes to what I thought was a fairly sensible request. The makers of the movie responded quickly too with the fact that if you wanted all the boobs and violence removed, there would be about 5 minutes of family friendly footage left over. My question is, why? Why is Deadpool the character that movie execs finally decide to go all out in creating a darker, adult version of?

Let's face it some characters lend themselves to more grown up or explicit films. Characters like the Punisher, Elektra, Daredevil (who's recent Netflix series also got a 15 certificate upon DVD release) and for certain stories to work Batman would suit a more grown up audience also. 

Now points were made that Deadpool comics are all rated 12 so that's a considerably younger audience than the movie. The only examples of more mature comics featuring Deadpool are his MAX series. MAX being the Marvel imprint designed for mature readers. The problem with those comics is they have awful reviews and there's a reason for that. You force all the nudity and über violence on him and you distract from the core of the character. Boobs, uncensored swearing and one f-bomb (none of which you'll find in the majority of Deadpools comics, is still PG-13 or 12A, not to forget films can get away with a lot of violence simply by cutting away at the right moment or by avoiding using excessive blood. The comics simply aren't as adult as the film they've made.

This sums up Deadpool for me.

So what is the core of Deadpool as a character? When he started out he was closely linked to Cable and the X-men, the epitome of the 90's. Pouches everywhere and that scratchy, awful Leifeld art! 

For me the thing that makes Deadpool is the humour. It's the constant breaking of the 4th wall, a sitcom term referring to the three walled sets, basically, in this instance he's acknowledging he's in a comic and talking to the reader, and writer. There was a long run where he had his speech bubbles talking to his inner narration boxes and the writers narrative boxes. He would literally argue between the three. He is never serious, he never takes himself or any other character, or situation seriously. Nothing is safe from his constant motormouth joke cracking. One of the few things that Wolverine Origins tried and failed to get about the character. It's like if a human was bitten by a radioactive Chandler Bing. It's the kind of jokes too, the references to pop culture. He's on panel shot someone in the head point blanc for defending the Star Wars prequels. He's the everyman nerd. He's what most of his target audience imagines they would be if they had superpowers. (Hence the annoyingly large amount of cosplayers that pop the costume on and use it as a self empowering tool to act like a dick to everyone at conventions.) Don't pretend that you've not seen the GIF's of him slapping female cosplayers on the behind, so we all know we hate those douches, they missed the point as much as Wolverine Origins did!

Deadpool is intelligent to a point, too. He's whatever the story requires to tell itself. He's literally the easiest writers tool. This week he's comic relief, next week he's the best, the winner, then he pulls through and does something really heroic. He has been a work for hire mercenary, but now he's teaming up with X-men, Spider-man and most recently he's now an Avenger! If he had a murderous, gratuitous, violence streak, it was what he used to be, not what he is now. Now it's just the standard comic book cartoon violence.

About as crude a joke as I'd find funny.

I'm not a massive fan of the character myself but I do understand him and the explicit tag isn't necessary to make him entertaining. It's just sad that he's become a bit watered down recently. Spread too thin. We've had Lady Deadpool, Headpool, Dogpool, Deadpool Corps, Gwenpool, Deapool 2099 and he's had far too many mini series to count, some whacky, some serious. There just aren't that many jokes to tell. Don't get me wrong there's plenty of great material out there though, it's just a lot of stuff to dig through to find it!

He's even been featured in the Spider-man and Avengers cartoons and felt spot on as a character. He didn't need to be watered down and still felt on point in a story designed to introduce him to tiny young children. There are toys out of him, like actual toys for children not just stupidly expensive high end action figures or statues. So why would a movie studio not let them see their favourite comedy relief on the big screen? Sure there are all ages books and digests out there, and I'm not saying that everything released should be for every target audience but to me Deadpool is comedy at heart not violence. And when I say comedy I mean your typical sitcom style not Frankie Boyle.

I remember when I was younger and I really wanted to go and see Wild Wild West (not a great film looking back) because I got all these toys of it in my Burger King kids meal, yet the film was rated 12 so I was too young. The marketing for Deadpool is unavoidable, and I imagine a lot of younger fans will echo my experience when I was younger.

I get that reference.

As for violence in films in general, when it works well it can be amazing. I loved how it was treated as a comedy moment in Kingsman, as all the heads explode to the British national anthem. It can be done stylishly like in Kill Bill when we with to black and white for what must have been the bloodiest scene outside of a horror movie. So you know I'm not some prude who is against it for religious reasons.

In direct regards to the Deapool movie, from what we've seen so far, we have had both safe and not safe for work trailers, and an entirely hilarious advertising campaign that didn't require boobs or violence to tell a single one of it's jokes. The advertising department for this film alone should get medals. My worries are that the movie either won't live up to it's hype, or that all of these amazing advertising jokes will be so jarring from the kind of crude, swear filled jokes in the film itself that it just won't feel right. 

Either way you should just go see it for yourself .
I'm sure it'll be a better grasp of the character than we've
already seen in Wolverine Origins.

The comics are simply not as adult as the movie they've made, which baffles me, I'm not saying that everything released should be for every target audience but to me Deadpool is comedy first and foremost, not violence. Will I be seeing the movie, yes, but I am very cautious of it. The more comic movies out there the better. Just make sure to recommend the good books to anyone who wants more of what they've seen on screen!