Comic book-based movies didn't seem like they would skyrocket into popularity with some of the bad ideas that made it into production for fans to see. From Toby Maguire putting on the tights to become Spider-Man to Ben Affleck playing the man without fear, Daredevil. Maybe you remember Nicholas Cage playing Ghost Rider, because that actually happened).
Needless to say, comic book fans and moviegoers alike were less than pleased with the results. So what did the studios do to fix this problem? Simple: re-write and edit these characters out of the universe. Sony and Fox tend to take this approach, like how Fox retconned X-Men 3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine with X-Men: Days of Future Past. The same goes for Deadpool, which also retconned those very same movies.
To Fox’s credit, the way it erased the movies could not have been better. Deadpool and the X-Men franchise have really turned things around, and even possibly set up a future X-Men vs The Avengers film. But, of course, the internet never forgets. The faulty versions of our favorite superheroes inevitably become skewered on the internet, where comic book fans flaunt their knowledge and point out what is wrong with the films through the playful use of memes like the ones that make up this list.
Here are 15 Hilarious Deadpool Vs. The X-Men Memes.
A New World
The superhero game was very different when Fox released X-Men, X-2, and The Last Stand. While the first two films were good for their time, they also changed a multitude of key moments and characters.
Wolverine, Cyclops, and Jean Grey all received some unwelcome changes, while the metal titan Colossus barely got scree ntime. That is, until the release of X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Deadpool, and X-Men: Age of Apocalypse.
These films corrected a lot of key points that the original X-Men films had gotten wrong. Deadpool was funny, Cyclops is alive, and Colossus got to show some personality just to name a few examples. One of the most important changes was obviously that Deadpool now wears his iconic red and black jumpsuit.
Wolverine’s Cameo
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it has become commonplace for characters to appear outside of their own movie. Spider-Man made an appearance in Captain America: Civil War to hype up Sony’s loan of the web-slinger by stealing the faithful Captain’s shield, and Hulk smashed his way into Thor: Ragnarok with hilarious results.
Of course, the writers of Deadpool had a different idea for his whiskery, nemesis Wolverine: they would just use his fuzzy face. They may have done this in an attempt to save money - Deadpool did mention that the studio was short on cash and the film production famously suffered from a super tight budget - or this may have been just another fourth wall break for the notorious mercenary.
Either way, for a brief moment he was the best there is at what they do.
Civil War
In Deadpool, while visiting the X-Mansion, Deadpool makes a snarky remark that it seemed like the studio couldn’t afford more heroes. While he is known for his consistent fourth wall breaks, he could not have been more correct about the lackluster parking lot battle scene in Captain America: Civil War.
Like in the Civil War comic books, it was supposed to be a series of epic battles between our favorite heroes. What we got instead was one fight scene with wasted cameos of Ant-Man, Spider-Man, and Black Panther.
With its infamous tight budget, Deadpool did at least acknowledge its lack of super appearances with sarcasm and giving some spotlight to Colossus and even throwing a little shout out his fellow Weapon X survivor Wolverine.
Quicksilver
In the current Marvel Cinematic Universe, there is only one Quicksilver: the deceased one from Avengers: Age of Ultron. With Disney merging with Fox, there is a chance we could see the far more entertaining and charismatic Quicksilver from X-Men: Days of Future Past worked into the flagship franchises.
Like this meme not-so-subtly points out, the Marvel version of a speedster didn’t exactly show off his fast-paced abilities when he wound up getting shot several times while saving Hawkeye.
By contrast, Evan Peters’ punk rock iteration totally stole the show with his Jim Croce-loving, soup-tasting, entire X Mansion-saving turn as Pietro/Peter. Fans love to debate which version of Quicksilver is better. The answer at this point has to be Peters, since he is the only living version of the hero, as this meme playfully points out.
Ryan Reynolds Made Deadpool Better
After portraying the not-so-mouthy, studio executive version of Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds decided that the character needed to stay faithful to his comic book antics and representation. After 11 years of ups and downs, dealing with Fox to get the movie made, he finally got his wish. Reynolds compared the experience to the worst relationship he had ever been in.
With some clever ploys in hand, some test footage was “unintentionally” leaked. Only a select few people had access to the footage including Ryan Reynolds, director Tim Miller, and writers Rhett Reese and Tim Wernick. Reynolds claimed he was not the one who released the footage but did state, “I promise you it was one of us. That much I know.”
The gamble clearly paid off, as fans loved the footage and pressured Fox to give Reynolds the green light (and a small budget) he needed to see the film through.
Ryan Reynolds Gets The Yes
Ryan Reynolds got the green light to make the Deadpool movie after 11 years, but what Fox would not give him was the ability to use most of the characters from the X-Men universe. He asked for permission to be able to use several well-known characters but was shot down on a few crucial heroes. Most notably, Wolverine and Magneto were completely shut down.
This would not stop Ryan Reynolds from using Wolvie’s likeness in the film. Reynolds called his friend Hugh Jackman for permission to use his likeness, in which Jackman promptly agreed as long as it was clean. For Reynolds, this presented a little bit of a problem, due to Deadpool’s raunchy humor, but they eventually got it hashed out and Jackman’s likeness was used in the film.
9. Healing Factor
Wolverine’s claws may be one of the most iconic superpowers of all time, but they would be nothing without his uncanny healing ability. Seriously, loads of science experts have revealed the harsh reality behind Wolvie’s claws and the damage they would cause to his hands without that helpful healing factor.
This adds an extra element of danger and drama to Logan, which explores Old Man Logan and his faulty healing as he faces the ravages of time.
Naturally, Wade Wilson doesn’t care what kind of aging issues the elderly Wolverine is dealing with. Having a stronger healing factor to begin with (he’s the best at that, at least), Deadpool simply flaunts his still-working powers in his nemesis’ hairy face. Of course, Deadpool being Deadpool, he does end up hurting Wolverine in the end.
Magneto Demands Perfection
With different Deadpools come different results. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a highly anticipated release the year of 2009. It remained in theaters for a total of 22 weeks, grossing a whopping $373,062,864. This is quite an achievement for a movie where Ryan Reynolds warned fans of the eye-beam shooting, blades-coming-out-of-nowhere, non-canonical Deadpool.
Reynolds gave Fox a few lessons on what fans want, what the character deserved, and advertising with the release of Deadpool in 2016. The film remained in theaters for 18 weeks, less time than X-Men, but grossing an even more impressive $783,112,979 on a much smaller budget. Deadpool had a middle of the road budget of $58 million while Fox’s X-Men had a budget of $150 million budget.
Writing Matters
Ryan Reynolds has been very open about his feelings toward the first incarnation of Deadpool and his time as Green Lantern. He took the opportunity in the 2016 film to include some jokes and snarky remarks about his own lackluster appearances in previous superhero movies.
When he and Tim Miller got their shot to make Deadpool, they knew they needed to go against the tropes already set in previous films, and compete with a box office full of comic book-based movies while staying true to the character and script.
Reynolds actually blames the failure of Green Lantern and his Wade Wilson appearance in X-Men: Origins on the absence of a full-fledged script for both movies. In an interview, he stated that when he got the X-Men: Origins script it read, “Wade Wilson talks really fast and annoys everybody.”
Step Brothers
Just about everyone knows that Deadpool and Wolverine were both projects of Weapon X, but for different reasons. Wolverine was given an adamantium skeleton, while Deadpool was given a healing factor very similar to Wolverine’s. Unfortunately, the side effects of both would end up having psychological effects on the unlucky pair.
In Wolverine’s case, it made him feral, or at least more feral. While most in the Marvel universe would say that the experiments drove Deadpool to lunacy, a better term might be that he became enlightened. Deadpool, on numerous occasions, has shown he is abundantly self-aware and knows that he is in a comic book. Unlike the movie Step Brothers, you won’t find these two bonding and doing karate in a garage.
Deadpool’s Run-Ins With The X-Men
Deadpool has had several encounters and escapades with the X-Men, so it makes sense that he would try and exploit them for small things like locking his keys in his car. The only part of this that doesn’t make sense is that he has a manly red scooter - or motorbike, as he calls it. Nonetheless, it is a good prelude to Cable, set to appear in Deadpool 2, played by Josh Brolin.
For the uninitiated, Josh Brolin is also set to appear in The Avengers: Infinity War as the Death-infatuated Thanos. This may present future problems for the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Deadpool is also in love with Death.
With his tendency to break the fourth wall, there is no way he wouldn’t recognize Josh Brolin as both Cable and Thanos.
Deadpool Grows Up
This meme perfectly represents the much more adult turn Deadpool took when he finally got a starring role in his own full-length film. Despite all the doom and gloom of X-Men: Origins, the early version of the Merc with the Mouth was much more reined in (largely due to having his mouth sewn shut, but still) compared to Ryan Reynolds’ dirty joke-slinging version in the 2016 film.
Not only did Deadpool bulk up for his solo film, but his personality is put on full-blast. He’s obnoxious, hilarious, and filled to the brim with raunchy humor not suited for the ears of young children. Reynolds’ Deadpool can easily take out an entire gaggle of baddies while quipping about odd pop culture references and sly fourth wall breaks with minimum effort.
Language!
He may have been long overlooked by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Colossus may actually have a stronger moral code than even Steve Rogers himself. Despite Colossus' typically iron will, Wade Wilson demonstrated his ability to easily get on Peter Rasputin’s nerves in 2016’s Deadpool, so we can’t blame the Metal Mutant for calling in some Boy Scout back-up.
This meme pokes at Cap’s prudish nature in Avengers: Age Of Ultron, in which the Super Soldier polices his fellow fighters’ foul language, frequently reminding these superpowered role models to keep it clean, even in the face of certain danger. Cap may be brave enough to immediately rush to Colossus’ aid, but we have a feeling he’s got his work cut out for him where Deadpool is concerned.
Fan Complaints
How does a studio absolutely ruin a super popular anti-hero? Take away the most famous part of that character.
In the case of Deadpool — also known as the “Merc with a Mouth” — Fox simply took away the mouth part. But the genius didn’t stop there, they also took away the “merc” part. Toward the end of X-Men Origins: Wolverine the speechless Deadpool seems all too willing to take out Wolverine and Sabertooth without payment.
After many justified complaining fans, Fox and Ryan Reynolds got the chance to right that wrong in a big way, releasing Deadpool as an R-rated film - thanks in part to Ryan Reynolds knowing what this character deserved. The Deadpool movie received much more praise than his less-than-talkative counterpart in X-Men Origins.
Shia is unhappy
Deadpool and X-Men: Age of Apocalypse had very different reactions from fans. While Deadpool could be seen as wildly inappropriate for younger audiences, it had a very-well received advertising campaign shown by its over $700 million box office gross. Meanwhile, the mostly family-friendly X-Men received backlash from fans after a billboard was posted with the intention to show off Fox’s new Apocalypse and his villainy.
The billboard was ill-received by Rose McGowan, who quickly gained support from her fans on Twitter, claiming that the billboard was advocating violence against women. Fox removed the advertisement and apologized for the billboard stating, “In our enthusiasm to show the villainy of the character Apocalypse we didn’t immediately recognize the upsetting connotation of this image in print form.”
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Do you prefer Deadpool or the X-Men? Let us know in the comments!