Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe is interesting, but not as much fun as I like my Deadpool. Spoilers abound in this review.
The first issue opens on Sue Storm grieving with Reed Richards as he dies a rather gruesome death in the shattered remains of The Thing. Soon we find out that Deadpool has killed them, and he promptly kills the Storm siblings. But why?
Flashback to Charles Xavier and some X-Men forcibly checking Deadpool into a mental hospital. It’s pretty clear that something sketchy is going on, and sure enough, the chief head doctor is actually a robot run by a tiny psychopath. He breakers Wade, but not the way he intends. Instead, Wade connects with the one voice that knows the truth about the Marvel Universe.
That voice is the one that allows Deadpool to break the fourth wall. Now Deadpool, and the voice, have seen what we, the reader, already know – the Marvel Universe is a creation and it’s denizens are characters. Writers, artists and colorists put haracters through the wringer, make them fight, fall in love, be betrayed, and never let them die all for the amusement of the readers – us.
Deadpool does the only humane thing he can in the only way he can, he murders the heroes, the villains, and the anti-heroes. His killing spree is violent and graphic. It’s so over the top, minor characters begin killing themselves.
Some of the deaths you see, some you only see the result. Finally Wade comes after the true villains, the Marvel writers and artists. Next, he’s coming after us.
It’s interesting to take Wade Wilson’s awareness that he’s a character in a fictional universe to it’s logical conclusion. I think I would have enjoyed more characters talking about what it would mean to them if they really were fictional characters. There was something cathartic about the other characters being so certain of themselves and dying as a result.