Rob Liefeld’s style in the comics is unmistakeable. It is no surprise that his greatest character is just as identifiable. USA Today recently sat down with Liefeld to talk about how Deadpool came about, and the highly-anticipated upcoming 20th Century Fox film Deadpool.
Partnering with Fabian Nicieza, Rob Liefeld created Deadpool out of necessity. At the time, Marvel’s more prominent characters, or as Liefeld puts it, the “cool toys”, were under the care of well established artists. So, to make his name he decided to make his own character, the rest is, well you know.
“I didn’t have access to Wolverine, but I backdoored my way into the Wolverine universe. Wolverine is Weapon X. That X stands for 10, correct? Okay, so Deadpool is Weapon IX,” Liefeld recalls of his pitch to Marvel with a seat-of-your-pants enthusiasm you can imagine ratcheted up to 11 in 1991. “I took inspiration from the Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito movie Twins. In the middle of that movie, a scientist explains how they were created and he points at Arnold and says, ‘you’re the good stuff,’ and he looks at Devito and says, ‘you’re the crap,’ and that’s Wolverine and Deadpool.”
Rob Liefeld introduced the ‘merc with a mouth’ in 1991, and with it left a mark on comic book readers who instantly became Deadpool fans.
“I’m inking and writing The New Mutants #98,” Liefeld says. “I want the book to reflect everything about me. You’ll notice Deadpool is on so many pages and that’s because he is so striking. He was a supporting character, but he got so much oxygen because the fans just loved him. In the era of snail mail, Deadpool was getting more letters than I’d ever seen.”
It’s also not hard to see where Deadpool get’s his personality. Rob Liefeld is Deadpool. Impetuous, passionate, and surprising thoughtful, these qualities play throughout every panel he’s ever inked of Deadpool. So, it’s hard for Liefeld to hide his excitement when he discusses reading the script for the long-developing Deadpool film.
“When I read the script in 2010, my mouth was on the floor, it was the R-rated spectacle you’re going to see in February.” Liefeld says. “And for it to go this long without them screwing with the script is a miracle. It’s a credit to [screen writers] Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick’s genius. The movie is a powerhouse. It’s raw … I don’t know how you come out of the theater as someone between the age of 18-30 without this being your favorite movie.”
Rob Liefeld’s enthusiasm for the Deadpool is obvious and infectious, and he wants nothing more than for the fans to love it.
“Deadpool has always been carried by the fans, they’ve coauthored him for almost 25 years,” Liefeld says. “Every time I see that red and black costume on a convention floor, I’m tickled pink. There’s no cooler feeling.”
Deadpool crashes into theaters February 12, 2016.
Source: USA Today