Bachelor Thesis about Deadpool - I need help

[a_waiq]

Hello,

I am looking for some help with recources concerning my bachelors thesis.

I will be writing my BA about the hero's journey and pursue the question whether an anti-hero like Deadpool undergoes a journey like this.

For those who don't know exactly what a hero's journey is, it is the common template of a broad category of tales that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, and in a decisive crisis wins a victory, and then comes home changed or transformed.

My focus will be on the 2016 film but I also need the comics to fully understand the character.

Could someone tell me in which issues we learn more about him as a character and about his background.
Where does he act like a hero? Does he wants to be a superhero?

I am thankful for any form of response.

[Matternativ]

The issue here is that in Comics there is no real end to such a journey. Deadpool especially seems to cycle from Hero to antihero and back.
I'm not a huge Deadpool fan and I don't follow his books all that much but I know that between Secret Wars and Secret Empire he was very much on the hero trip while also playing father. Hell he was even an Avenger on the Unity Squad.
With said Secret Empire he became an antihero again. Mostly.
I don't know much prior to that except for his role in X Force which was pretty much an Antihero team as a whole.

Just some very vague feedback but maybe it helps you.

[Rosebunse]

I consider Deadpool's modern journey to start in Rememnder's Uncanny X-Force. Of course, it actually started far earlier in Joe Kelley's masterpiece of a run, but Remender was the one who really brought him up as a sad clown and into the larger Marvel universe. This also led to the rather unhappy place Deadpool is now.

[JKtheMac]

Hmmm, no real knowledge of these comics, but given hollywood is obsessed with Campbell and The Hero’s Journey isn’t this potentially a self referential thesis? In other words I would propose that the answer may be yes, but primarily because the writers are heavily influenced by the culture they are creating in.

Both comics and cinema contain a culture of ‘belief’ in the idea of The Hero’s Journey, which itself is IMO a poorly constructed and misapplied extension of Vladimir Propp’s far less grandiose research and less self-important conclusion. Who simply stated that Russian Folktales (and importantly NOT by extension anything else) conform to a linear structure of elements that always stay relative in their position within the narrative. This was a cultural phenomenon identified within a product of cultural expression.

To turn this into a roadmap for world mythology was stretching things quite a lot, Campbell is nowhere near as methodical or as convincing as Propp. But then, to simplify it and turn it into a formula for successful movies is in my humble opinion a purely cultural phenomenon that says nothing about that structure or its effectiveness. It just means that cultures with common aims can artificially reverse engineer a cultural outlook towards cultural output. One would be hard pushed to find a screenwriter that hasn’t at least had a conversation about Vogler’s ‘The Writer's Journey’ if not read it and used in an analysis of Star Wars.

Of course all of my opinions on this are purely gut instinct and although based on some research are primarily just my opinion and unlikely to gain any credit in an undergraduate thesis without supporting evidence.

[cc008]

As far as comics go, you can reference Joe Kelly's run. There are a lot of moments where Deadpool is pretty dark and certainly not a hero, but he is essentially recruited to become one.

Gerry Duggan's long run on the character, which is ending soon, does a nice job building Wade up.

The problem is.. at some point.. Wade will always be broken down again. So he'll experience something that'll change him for the better (Ushering in a new golden age for earth as Mithras, protecting Evan and being a part of a family in Uncanny X-Force, saving his daughter Ellie and learning to care about someone other than himself). But it'll almost always be taken away from him BECAUSE of his own doing. (Starting a mercs business, killing Phil Coulson, letting Stryfe work him like a puppet).

[Cthulhudrew]

I'd tend to agree with Matternativ in that it is difficult to try and do this sort of thing in most serialized comics, due to the turnover in creative staff that happens with such frequency and in many cases involves very different approaches and even redefinition of certain characters. I think you really have to look at particular sequences or time frames around any given character in order to arrive at a useful hypothesis.

That said, I'd say your best bet is to base it around Joe Kelly's Deadpool run (DP vol 1 #1 to about 30 or so; whenever Kelly left the book). He follows something resembling a hero's journey over the course of that series.

[JKtheMac]

Those suggesting this is not an easy thing to do with comics are perhaps missing the point of the OP’s request. Primarily interested in which comics help define the character of Deadpool from which the movie drew for inspiration, not classic runs that conform to a particular structure.

[pinoypanzer]

Depending on how much depth you are willing to go:

His original appearances in X-Force, he was undoubtedly a villain. The Circle Chase and Sins of the Past mini then began to show that there is something good under that sack of trash.

Joe Kelly's run (issues -1, 0, 1-33 plus two annuals) really delved into his psyche and showed that he wanted to change but his selfishness and the call of evil just kept getting in the way.

In Cable & Deadpool he slowly became friends with a bitter enemy which adds another layer to him.

Others have already commented on his Remender's Uncanny X-Force so I'll move into all of Duggan's runs. The Marvel NOW/All-New Marvel NOW run he co-wrote with Brian Posehn put him back on a more heroic path along with a wife & child and he slowly begins to question if he really wants it all and makes a decision. This leads to the All-New All-Different by just Duggan where you really see his heroic side (especially if you also check out Duggan's Uncanny Avengers run along side it) and then it all comes crashing down due to stupid decisions which leads to the Despicable Deadpool where rather than try to fix the situation he just makes it worse and turns everyone against him even further.

Deadpool is a scumbag but in the hands of a good writer we the audience can see that he is capable of something more which is why we follow his story. Of course, feel free to check out the runs yourself. Good luck.

[Matternativ]

Those suggesting this is not an easy thing to do with comics are perhaps missing the point of the OP’s request. Primarily interested in which comics help define the character of Deadpool from which the movie drew for inspiration, not classic runs that conform to a particular structure.

Hence my statement that it was just a vague feedback because I hadn't followed the series written in that timeframe and just watched on from afar.
The part were it's hard to do this with Comic Book Characters who's stories have no end, was just an additional point I wanted to make.

[ENTRYS]

I don't think that Deadpool is the best character for that. There were just too many different takes on Deadpool and different Deadpool stories to really narrow all of that down. I also don't think that the standalone Deadpool movie is really a hero story. It's really more of a revenge story with a masked character. It's obviously in the superhero genre, but mostly, because Deadpool is a superhero comic book character.

I mean, if you really, really want to write about Deadpool, you'll have to hand out some more information, so that we can narrow it down for you exactly.

But out of the top of my head the characters I would recommend for such a task like yours... are probably the Punisher, John Dusk and the Plutonian. The Punisher should probably be self-explanatory, while John Dusk is from a comic called 'Absolution' and the Plutonian is from 'Irredemable'.
John Dusk is a superhero cop, who one day realizes, that simply putting villains into prisons doesn't stop evil. So he starts killing them and becomes a vigilante in process. His cop buddies and the government in total start hunting him, because he is breaking the law... while the population is totally behind him and has his back. They agree with what he does. So for John Dusk it becomes this struggle of trying to put bad guys down, while trying to avoid conflict with the police, who want to take him down, since he is effectively killing people.
The Plutonian is first seen as a crazed superhero, who kills his former teammate and his family. Before killing the daughter of the other superhero, he asks her if she wants to know what he is - and then he tells her, that he is a f$%&ing superhero. In flashbacks we learn more about the Plutonian and how he was your regular Superman character, but also how he went crazy over the years with all of the realistic stuff a Superman character would have to deal with. SO he spends a lot of his time as a psychopath, but in secret he still only wishes to be accepted as a hero and that's how the story then also kinda ends for him.

[JKtheMac]

If you want to break it down into a hero story you probably could. I don’t think that would be the challenge. On a very basic level Deadpool is a journey to the underworld and back. A quest for resurrection motivated by love. it even has underworld tests to prove the worthiness of his soul. It probably matches the HJ better than a lot of movies that supposedly match it more traditionally.

But all the OP really wants to know is which comics do you think of when you watch the movie. When you see him striking his bargain do you think of an issue or a run? When you see him arming up ready for the showdown does it remind you of any comics? When you see him confronting his diagnosis are you reminded of other DP stories that address cancer? Etc. etc.

[a_waiq]

First of all: Thanks to everyone who gave me information and opinion. I can really use that a lot.

I chose to use Deadpool because I feel a deeper connection to him then any other comic or movie protagonist. I remember reading The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and he made me laugh and he made me cry. Plus he came up while talking to my advisor. I came to her wanting to write about the hero's journey and we talked about Star Wars, then Superheros and in the end the question arose: Does a anti-hero like Deadpool undergo such a journey?

In my opinion I think he probably doesn't. But that is not really a problem to find out at the end of such a dissertation.
(I don't want to find a charakter that matches the standarts of a hero's journey). It seems like in the movie he is done trying to be a hero (when he says that he tried the hero business and it left a mark) but still there is a wish to be one.

My mentor told me to have a look at the comics because otherwise there would be not enough material about the protagonist. Plus we have aspects of the missing mentor in the film. In the comics it seems like his voices take over the mentor task. But I also have to limit myself because I just only have 40 pages. This is why I cannot analyse the comic material as a whole. I only read a bit of Duggan's and there it seems like he stands in his own way in becoming a hero.

I probably need to dig through a lot of material now. I am still a broke student so is there any way to rent comics or read them online? I would love to invest into the growth of my collection, but right now I just can't.

[JKtheMac]

I find it interesting you and your supervisor don’t see a mentor figure. One of the key elements of this kind of irreverent comedy is the subversive approach to story. Most clearly this can be seen in the structure and the fourth wall breaking.

I think a case could be made that Blind Al is built up to feel like she will fulfill this role. For me part of the comedy of her character is how this expected element of her character is continually withheld and replaced with bathos.

I also think Deadpool is less clearly defined as an anti-hero but instead is a dark and inverted reflection of a classic hero. This is partly demonstrated by the way the relatively standard origin story is subverted through dialogue and approach, to attempt an undercutting of any such notions of heroism. Pains are taken to make the hero appear selfish or driven by less than admirable motives, but they are mostly bravado. The tests he undergoes while being experimented on appear to rip these layers from him, and leave him exposed as a hero, but he reclothes himself in that bravado and attempts to conceal any epiphany.

[Rosebunse]

In recent years, one could argue that Captain America and Wolverine were his mentors, not that either did any good for him in the end. Wolverine died and Cap was replaced by a Nazi. Wade wanted to be so like Wolverine that he agreed to do horrible and awful things for Hydra Cap, thing he perhaps might not have done if he didn't look uo to Cap the way he did. In fact, even Blind AL was tortured and hurt by Deadpool, so she's not a normal mentor either.

If you are broke, one thing I would recommend is checking out your local library for back issues and collected editions. Also, if you look at the wikis for Deadpool, many of them have specific issues cited and referenced.

[CentralPower]

Ultimately, Deadpool is a parody. Strip away the "rich tapestry" of a comic-book "universe" and the mandated cross-overs, and Deadpool is a parody, not unlike Lobo or Ambush Bug were in the 80s and 90s.

As stated in several posts above, Deadpool's story is not going to end until the character becomes unprofitable, so a proper arc (with an ending) is not going to happen. But, if you address Deadpool as a parody of various cliches, then you could focus your paper on "Deadpool as a parody of hero or anti-hero".