Is there a distinction between 90's Deadpool and modern Deadpool?

[Spiderfang]

I see & hear a lot of people commenting that current Deadpool is like a flanderized "Peter Griffin" or clown version of the original Deadpool. I confess I did not get into Deadpool back in the 90's (was busy reading 2099 & Clone Saga), but was curious if there actually was any significant differences between the two incarnations.

[Alan2099]

I'm going to call 90s Deadpool "classic" Deadpool.

Classic Deadpool was a lot more sadistic. He's was even more mentally unstable (and not in a funny way) and would think nothing about brutally torturing people he considered "friends" if they got him mad.

He did joke around a lot and wouldn't shut up, but it was far less meta-commentary and breaking the fourthwall was something only done on real rare occasions.

Deadpool sometimes tended to have aspirations of being a hero, but never really got there, as he found being nasty was much easier and more fun. Plus he has some serious impulse control problems.

When it came down to fighting, he would usually actually fight, not just use bloody slapstick humor.

There was a lot more angst, self doubt, and loathing in his personality and far fewer humorous supporting characters to cheer him up.

Classic Deadpool also called his mask as his "face" and went out of his way to never let anybody see him without it.

His healing factor was always really good, but it wasn't to the level where in minutes he would completely normal after being reduced to hunky salsa.

[Kusanagi]

I'm going to call 90s Deadpool "classic" Deadpool.

Classic Deadpool was a lot more sadistic. He's was even more mentally unstable (and not in a funny way) and would think nothing about brutally torturing people he considered "friends" if they got him mad.

He did joke around a lot and wouldn't shut up, but it was far less meta-commentary and breaking the fourthwall was something only done on real rare occasions.

Deadpool sometimes tended to have aspirations of being a hero, but never really got there, as he found being nasty was much easier and more fun. Plus he has some serious impulse control problems.

When it came down to fighting, he would usually actually fight, not just use bloody slapstick humor.

There was a lot more angst, self doubt, and loathing in his personality and far fewer humorous supporting characters to cheer him up.

Classic Deadpool also called his mask as his "face" and went out of his way to never let anybody see him without it.

His healing factor was always really good, but it wasn't to the level where in minutes he would completely normal after being reduced to hunky salsa.

To balance that, Modern Deadpool while playing the hero was prone to making gross misjudgements, at one point taking the lives of friends, and taking the lives of innocents, while hating himself the entire time

He's had to be the cause of the death of the mother of his child, the breaking apart of the child's family, including the 'death' of her surrogate mother.

Though unrevealed to him he's the cause of his parents death, failed at being a hero, and became suicidal.

In terms of fighting ability he's able to go to toe with Black Panther, Captain America, and out think the Red Skull in the most desperate of situations.

Too many people look at the crossovers, and cameos and never look at what's going on in his actual books.

The difference between modern Deadpool in classic Deadpool, is he came closer to achieving his heroic aspirations....then failed horrifically.

Really I'd say Kelly, Fabian and Duggan's Deadpools play up the same factors, just at different points at his life.

[MichaelC]

He was originally a Deathstroke rip-off, and showed it in a lot of ways. He was already more jokey than Deathstroke, but it was on the level of the more serious, angsty takes on Spider-Man. He was Deathstroke with a dash of Spider-Man, basically.

[Kusanagi]

Actually I should say the biggest difference between classic and current is Deadpool has faaaaaar more exposure than he did in the 90s. So characterization can vary wildly from book to book.

[XPac]

Once you become a more mainstream hero, I think you pretty much become at least a bit more kid friendly, and more sympathetic in general.

[Alan2099]

Once you become a more mainstream hero, I think you pretty much become at least a bit more kid friendly, and more sympathetic in general.

Basically, yeah. More kid friendly, more sympathetic, more heroic, and breaks the fourth wall a heck of a lot more.

[Mike_Murdock]

Just to add to that, even 90s Deadpool has at least two distinct stages. There's the original Rob Liefeld version with dialogue by Fabian Nicieza who is basically a "badass" gun toting mercenary villain who happens to quip a bit more. Then there's the more fourth wall breaking, quippy character we see later. The modern version of the character has little to do with the original version, but draws inspiration from that later version.

[CentralPower]

Murdoch nailed it.

The original (Liefeld/Nicieza) Deadpool was more or less the type of character that the current Deadpool is a parody of. (Ironically, DC's Lobo was a parody of that type of character in the 90s, and has since become that type of character.) The Joe Kelly Deadpool was part of a push in the 90s to ignore/over-write the work of Liefeld and the other Image founders.

At this point, Deadpool is a combination of Lobo and Ambush Bug. (I would love to see Keith Giffen write a Deadpool comics.)

[cc008]

Just to add to that, even 90s Deadpool has at least two distinct stages. There's the original Rob Liefeld version with dialogue by Fabian Nicieza who is basically a "badass" gun toting mercenary villain who happens to quip a bit more. Then there's the more fourth wall breaking, quippy character we see later. The modern version of the character has little to do with the original version, but draws inspiration from that later version.

This is basically it, in a nutshell.

Some of us still long for the days of the badass, gun toting merc who quips more than most. And we see glimpses of it every now and then ("The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly). But for the most part, we get a LOT more jokes and "stabby stabby pew pew," and it makes me want to "pew pew" myself in the face.

[krazijoe]

I always thought of Deadpool as a sadistic Peter Parker.

[krazijoe]

was busy reading Clone Saga),

Yeah, you lost me at this point...

[Alan2099]

I always thought of Deadpool as a sadistic Peter Parker.

I think Joe Kelly once described Deadpool as "evil Spider-man" during an interview once.

[Angrel-San]

I'm going to call 90s Deadpool "classic" Deadpool.

Classic Deadpool was a lot more sadistic. He's was even more mentally unstable (and not in a funny way) and would think nothing about brutally torturing people he considered "friends" if they got him mad.

He did joke around a lot and wouldn't shut up, but it was far less meta-commentary and breaking the fourthwall was something only done on real rare occasions.

Deadpool sometimes tended to have aspirations of being a hero, but never really got there, as he found being nasty was much easier and more fun. Plus he has some serious impulse control problems.

When it came down to fighting, he would usually actually fight, not just use bloody slapstick humor.

There was a lot more angst, self doubt, and loathing in his personality and far fewer humorous supporting characters to cheer him up.

Classic Deadpool also called his mask as his "face" and went out of his way to never let anybody see him without it.

His healing factor was always really good, but it wasn't to the level where in minutes he would completely normal after being reduced to hunky salsa.

Basically.

All that emcompasses a great Deadpool like Joe Kelly, unlike what we have today.

[MarkRodriguez09]

Due to his overall design, back then I thought he was another evil Spider-Man.