Gearing up for the release of Deadpool - which is less than two months away - 20th Century Fox rolled out a number of teases during their 12 Days of Deadpool marketing campaign, which ended with the debut of the second full-length trailer for the feature. In addition to Wade Wilson a.k.a. Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), the trailer featured the movie’s other other stars, including Wade’s friend Weasel (T.J. Miller), his best girl Vanessa Carlysle (Morena Baccarin), Deadpool’s superhero team of Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) as well as his antagonists Ajax (Ed Skrein) and Angel Dust (Gina Carano).
The Deadpool film was in development limbo for many years before receiving the green light late in 2014 - after test footage leaked on the heels of Comic-Con International in San Diego. The feature was directed by Tim Miller from a script by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland). Now Miller, along with producer and X-Men universe architect Simon Kinberg, break down the second Deadpool trailer.
Speaking to Empire, Miller said the trailer, as well as previous promotional materials presumably, is meant to ease viewers into a character that is “shockingly different from most Marvel” heroes. Additionally, Miller expounded upon Carano’s powers as Angel Dust, which include her strength increasing as she gets angrier - similar to the Hulk, the director says. Miller and Kinberg reiterate T.J. Miller’s ability to improvise lines, especially in the scene when Weasel first sees Wade following his transformation; and Kinberg says there will eventually be a gag reel on the DVD that will include the takes that didn’t make it into the film.
This second trailer also shows Blind Al (Leslie Uggams), who Miller explains will have a role similar to her character’s in the comics, and Uggams perfectly presents the humor described in the original casting call. In the comics, Blind Al is a friend to Wade Wilson, though their relationship is atypical, and according to Miller, Wade has “very human scenes” with her as he’s going through his transformation into the sort-of-hero Deadpool.
As for other aspects of the trailer, Miller and Kinberg talked more in depth about bringing the origin/love story of Deadpool to life, how Negasonic Teenage Warhead fits into the film, and the movie’s X-Men connections (or disconnections).
X-Men Connections/Disconnections
The second trailer very obviously stated Deadpool’s connection to the rest of the X-Men universe by including Colossus, a member of the superhero team - though Wade doesn’t have time for any of Colossus’ X-Men nonsense. Miller explains that the character of Colossus “really connects us to the X-Men universe too which is a good thing in small doses.” It seems whatever X-Men connections appear in Deadpool will be few and far between, which is probably the way the Merc with a Mouth would want it.
Within the conversation with Empire, Miller went on to reveal that the city in which Deadpool is set was simply described as “a pre-post apocalyptic Detroit” in the script and further sets the film apart from the rest of the X-Men universe by dealing with crime on a much smaller, city level:
The Daredevil reference will likely encourage fans, since Marvel and Netflix’s series received plenty of critical acclaim for telling a well-developed, street-level superhero story. Of course, Deadpool will have a much shorter runtime and larger action set pieces by virtue of being a film - not to mention many other differences including the titular hero’s humor. But if the feature manages to capture the smaller scale of Daredevil, it may prove to enhance the origin story of Deadpool.
“The idea was that it should look like a shitty place because you want to set Deadpool and his world apart as something different: grittier, nastier, you know, more like Daredevil where it’s down in the streets where he’s dealing with small-time shit that the X-Men and their shiny hi-tech world don’t deal with.”
Negasonic Teenage Warhead
Although Negasonic Teenage Warhead is a more obscure character from Marvel’s mutant universe, she has so far been portrayed as a character in Deadpool with a lot of attitude. In the film, Negasonic joins Deadpool’s team and, as Hildebrand previously described, the two will have a sort of brother/sister relationship, which can be seen in the second trailer for the film. Hildebrand additionally described her character’s powers when Screen Rant visited the set of Deadpool as mind reading and exploding: “She’s like a warhead. So she detonates.”
While talking to Empire, Miller further expanded on Negasonic’s powers, explaining that “she can transfer the force of the explosion down so she can move upwards - she can put it into a punch if she wanted to.” We see an example of Negasonic’s powers in the trailer as she goes up against Angel Dust, but we don’t see much of her interactions with Deadpool or Colossus, which is uncharacteristic of her according to Miller:
So, while Miller chose Negasonic Teenage Warhead for her name and powers, it seems her personality will add to the humor of the film because of her relationship with Deadpool. Though much of that isn’t seen in the second trailer, her making Deadpool wait while she finishes typing something on her phone certainly offers a hint of what to expect from her character when the film debuts next year.
“I think Deadpool wishes she’d keep her mouth shut more than she does in the film! Because she’s quite snarky. But, you know, her whole attitude is this disaffected teen who thinks Deadpool’s just a douchebag. And so that’s her whole attitude. She’s really not that silent in the film or at least she’s silently surly because she just can’t be bothered to engage with this asshole. That’s the basics of her personality: silently shaming, judgemental personality.”
An Origin/Love Story
Many aspects of Deadpool’s comic book counterpart are incorporated in the film, as we’ve already seen throughout the promotional materials, including breaking the fourth wall, references to chimichangas, and his fidgeting/attention span. However, Miller admits he’s sure he’ll “get skewered” by fans of the character for one aspect or another of the movie character. For instance, the film doesn’t dive into Deadpool’s schizophrenia even though it’s a big part of the comic book character because “it was just too much to load into an origin story.”
That being said, while Deadpool will be an origin story and a revenge story, it has also been described as a love story between Wade Wilson and Vanessa Carlysle. From the beginning, Vanessa was described as a character who isn’t a victim, and Miller went on to say it was important that the film establish her as someone who can keep up with Wade. Additionally, Miller says her character, as well as her love story with Wade, is already receiving a positive response from female viewers:
In the comics, Vanessa becomes the hero known as Copycat, although the screenwriters have already revealed we won’t see that in Deadpool. However, the character certainly seems to keep up with Wade, especially in the second trailer for Deadpool. Additionally, the early positive response may indicate that Vanessa’s character will be well-developed and the love story aspect of film will seamlessly be incorporated to the revenge storyline and actions beats of Deadpool, offering a well-rounded and entertaining superhero origin story.
“She was never meant to be the damsel in distress sort of relationship, it was always meant to be a woman that could keep up with him. Or, in many ways I think you’ll see in the movie, she’s a lot stronger than he is and that was always the goal. I love super-strong female characters. And incidentally, as we’re screening the film, the women love it. The love story is really strong. Real strong.”
Next: Deadpool Red Band Trailer #2
Deadpool will see theatrical release on February 12th, 2016, followed by X-Men: Apocalypse on May 27th, 2016; Gambit sometime in 2017; Wolverine 3 on March 3rd, 2017; and an untitled X-Men film on July 13th, 2018. The New Mutants is also in development.
Source: Empire
