Deadpool Creator Rob Liefeld On The Mouthy Mercenary’s Enduring Star Power

As you’ve probably read, the hopes of superhero movies, and possibly the whole summer box office, rest on the shoulders of Marvel’s wise-guy anti-hero Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and his feisty costar, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), as Deadpool & Wolverine is set to debut on July 25. Some people may be surprised by the enduring appeal of this particular character out of all the Marvel pantheon, but not artist Rob Liefeld, who created Deadpool in 1990 for the Marvel comic book New Mutants and returned to him periodically over the years to add to the mythos.

Overnight sensation

“Deadpool was a hit with fans from the get-go,” said Liefeld in a phone interview last week. “In comics, we get instant fan response, so even before there was social media, we could see from the sales numbers and the letters that were coming in that fans were saying, ‘hey, he’s like Spider-Man with guns and swords, I dig it!’”

Deadpool dates from a fertile period in the comics industry in the early 1990s where artists like Liefeld, Todd McFarlane (Venom, Spawn) and Jim Lee (X-Men, now DC publisher) sold millions of copies, and the cohort of young creators enjoyed the cultural caché of rock stars and celebrities. Like DC’s Harley Quinn, who first appeared in Batman: The Animated Series in the same timeframe, these characters trigger the nostalgia of 90s kids now in their prime earning and spending years, with kids of their own. It is no surprise that they are the bedrock of superhero media adaptations in the 2020s.

Liefeld says that it helps that Deadpool has constantly been in the spotlight with toys, videogames, merchandise and comics since the time of his first adventures until the unexpected success of the first Deadpool movie in 2016. “Before X-Force #1 [1991] came out, Marvel told me the toy designers had come in and flipped out; they were adding X-Force to the next wave of toys! And then they spun him off into mini-series, and he gets into video games, and gaming consoles. All that contributed to the incredible awareness prior to the 2016 film, when Ryan Reynolds delivered the goods!”

‘I don’t sweat when the tuition bills come in’

Liefeld was upbeat in our interview, and has reason to be. Unlike previous generations of comic book creators who saw publishers exploit characters and stories made under work-for-hire provisions, Liefeld was one of the first to benefit from creator equity deals that companies like DC and Marvel started offering to blunt the appeal of new publishers offering creator ownership.

“I heard [X-Men writer] Chris Claremont talking about creator equity at a convention in the 80s, saying that’s what his deals are with his characters, and I thought, ‘damn, I hope I get that chance one day,’” he said. Sure enough, with the incentive to materially benefit from any publishing and licensing deals for characters he created for Marvel, Liefeld, then in his early 20s, took the opportunity to flood the zone with new ideas from the moment he was hired to take over the faltering New Mutants title. Two issues into his run, he introduced Cable (played by Josh Brolin in Deadpool 2), and, shortly afterwards, Domino, Shatterstar, and Deadpool himself. It was an audacious debut that electrified fans and launched Liefeld’s sometimes controversial career, which eventually took him away from Marvel to cofound Image Comics, the industry’s #3 publisher.

“I often say I should go back and hug young Robbie Liefeld, because that kid did right by my whole family,” said the 2024 version. “I get a royalty check for every Deadpool comic printed. My kids are going to private schools and universities. I don’t sweat when the tuition bills come in. And I just remember thinking, if any of those characters break out, it’s going to be a really good deal, and it turned out that way.”

The mysteries of creation

Liefeld’s conspicuous success as the creator of a corporate-owned character is unusual in a couple of ways. Comics, especially mass-produced comics from the likes of DC and Marvel, are often collaborative efforts. Besides the artist and writer, there are editors, art directors and others with creative input. Earlier this year, former Marvel editor Roy Thomas caused a stir when he was added as an officially credited co-creator of Wolverine, alongside writer Len Wein and character designer John Romita, Sr., over the objections of Wein’s widow Christine Valada.

In the case of Deadpool, Liefeld says he came to the New Mutants book with a bunch of characters and stories in mind, some of which were published as preliminary designs in other comics before they appeared in the storyline. Following some editorial shakeups on the title, writer Fabian Nicieza was brought on to dialogue the issue that introduced Deadpool, drawn and plotted by Liefeld, an arrangement that Nicieza contemporaneously described in British fanzine Speakeasy (April, 1991) as “85% Rob and 10% or 15% me.” Nicieza’s current online bio says he “gave the mouth to the Merc with a Mouth,” while “working from “visual and foundational elements created by Rob Liefeld.” Liefeld has subsequently said he is “proud of the work Fabian and I did together,” and Nicieza receives “special thanks (with tongue)” in the credits of the Deadpool movies alongside Liefeld.

‘He’ll turn on you in a fight if he gets a better offer’

Another question surrounding corporate-owned characters in a serialized medium like comics (or franchise films) is the role of creators who added key elements to the mythos or the characterization after the property was first introduced. Deadpool has undergone considerable evolution since 1990, and though Liefeld has periodically returned to the title over the years, other writers helped sustain his popularity.

On this topic, Liefeld is adamant. “It’s just like George Lucas with Star Wars,” he said, noting how Lucas laid down the key elements of the universe and the characters, which have subsequently taken on new directions under other hands. “Deadpool stuck the landing from his very first appearance. When I pitched him to Marvel, I said I wanted him do have the personality of the wise-cracking Spider-Man I grew up with, because Spider-Man had become pretty dark by the late 80s. I wanted him to be a smart-ass mercenary who would turn on you in the middle of a fight if he gets a better offer.”

He notes that he also laid in a connection to Wolverine through the Weapon X program in some of Deadpool’s very earliest appearances, even though Wolverine’s true origins were still subject to some ambiguity at the time. Liefeld also created the Deadpool Corps, including Lady Deadpool, who appear in Deadpool & Wolverine.

Liefeld, who will not confirm that he has seen the final version of the movie (but probably has!), insisted he does not have an on-camera cameo, although he is the topic of several Easter Eggs and dialogue jokes in the franchise.

Life after Deadpool

Though Liefield is enjoying a victory lap in anticipation of the movie’s success, he said he is happy to leave Deadpool behind, announcing that the upcoming Deadpool Team-Up comics that he is working on will be his last hurrah with the character. “I got nothing more to say,” he said. “There’s a time and a place to let go.”

Next up for Liefeld is an adaptation of his mid-90s creation Avengelyne, with Margot Robbie, Olivia Wilde, Simon Kinberg and Poor Things’ Tony McNamara attached, announced in April. Liefeld, who has introduced entire new casts of characters in creator-owned, corporate, and licensed books for nearly four decades, is banking on Deadpool not being his only winning ticket in the media adaptation lottery.