Marvel’s ‘Merc with the Mouth’ and Manchester United? The crazy campaign behind the ‘R’ rated Deadpool movie continues…
The promotional campaign for the upcoming superhero movie Deadpool has been controversial and unconventional – this profane, pistol-packing, foul-mouthed, latex-clad ‘Merc with a Mouth‘ certainly isn’t your grandpa’s superhero.
Deadpool (whose real name is Wade Wilson) was created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist/writer Rob Liefeld and first appeared in Marvel Comics‘ New Mutants #98, released in February 1991. He was seen as a villain and there was only a hint of the wacky anti-hero he would become in later appearances. We learned he’d been horribly disfigured in the same secret ‘Weapon X’ program that created Wolverine, but the result had been quite different. Wolverine remained (relatively) sane, but Deadpool had clearly had more difficulty in that regard. Readers saw him talking not just to himself during stories, but also to the reader and frequently breaking general comic story-telling conventions. Ryan Reynolds portrayed the character in the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine (though it was Scott Adkins who played Weapon XI, the character’s other name in the comics). It was such a different take on the character (and largely side-lined) that the ‘Merc with the Mouth‘ even had his mouth sewn shut and audiences voted it a big misfire.
The more accurate, source-friendly version of Deadpool draws near (10th February in the UK, two days later in the US), and its campaign has reflected the risky fourth-wall breaking source-material and taken some real ‘left-field’ chances.
One of the latest entries in the teaser campaign in this final week involves some other fellas that are often seen in action wearing red as a primary colour and getting their kicks by shooting first…
