Marvel Has Finally Remembered How Deadpool Should Be Done (And It’s About Time)

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As a huge Marvel fan, I’ve always thought Deadpool was in a unique spot. He blew up in popularity – seriously, you couldn’t walk into a Hot Topic in the 2010s without seeing him everywhere! – and his movies have been massive hits, especially with Deadpool & Wolverine already looking like a billion-dollar smash. He was always a fun character, but I think it was writers Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn who really figured him out. They, along with a lot of other writers at the time, didn’t forget that underneath all the jokes, Deadpool is a pretty tragic and broken guy. They managed to consistently bring that out, making him way more than just a screwball comic relief.

Lately, Deadpool comics haven’t been resonating with readers as much as they used to. The character has become somewhat predictable, with many writers prioritizing jokes and over-the-top antics over exploring Wade Wilson’s deeper personality and struggles. Recent series haven’t lasted long, but Marvel seems determined to change that. They’ve put writer Benjamin Percy and artist Geoff Shaw on a new comic, Wade Wilson: Deadpool, which is already generating a lot of excitement for 2026. The first issue is out, and it appears Percy and Shaw might be able to revitalize the character and bring him back to his former popularity.

Wade Wilson: Deadpool #1 Brings the Complexity of the Character Back to the Fore

As a longtime Deadpool fan, I always had a clear picture of what made those stories work – the humor, the over-the-top action, and a certain kind of controlled chaos. But lately, it feels like all that chaos is all there is. When I first started reading Deadpool back in the ’90s, what really drew me in was Wade Wilson’s development as a character. Yes, there was always the violence and the jokes, but underneath it all was genuine pain. It was the tragedy of a man who destroys everything good in his life, yet is cursed with immortality. That emotional core is what I miss.

Since Brian Posehn and Joe Duggan stopped writing Deadpool, something important has been lost. They had a knack for building on the darker themes introduced by earlier writers like Joe Kelly and Fabian Nicieza, crafting stories that were both funny and deeply emotional. They showed the pain beneath the humor, exploring Deadpool’s fractured psyche and the inner turmoil that fueled his actions, which made both the comedy and the violence more impactful. Great Deadpool stories should be a little painful, but recent writers have focused too much on the jokes, resulting in stories that feel empty and lack substance.

Looking ahead to 2024, even though Cody Ziglar’s work on Deadpool didn’t get much attention, two comics really highlighted Marvel’s fresh take on the character: Deadpool/Wolverine: WWIII by Joe Kelly and Adam Kubert, and Deadpool/Wolverine by Benjamin Percy, Joshua Cassara, and Robert Gill. These stories balanced humor with a deeper look at the person beneath the mask. Deadpool/Wolverine felt like a classic ’90s X-Men adventure, while Deadpool/Wolverine: WWIII offered a surprisingly emotional look at Wade Wilson, revealing his desire to simply be a hero and find peace. Benjamin Percy had already proven his skill with darker, more intense stories like Ghost Rider, Wolverine, Hellverine, and Red Hulk, and he’d been writing some of the best Deadpool comics since the Krakoa era began, making him the ideal choice to take over the character’s main series.

Percy truly understands Marvel’s toughest characters, revealing their inner humanity, and he does this brilliantly in Wade Wilson: Deadpool. The comic delivers the expected action and humor, but also explores the character’s underlying pain and sadness. The return of an all-knowing narrator adds a unique layer to the storytelling – a narrator who is both within the story and telling it, and whose purpose remains a mystery. A tragic event involving Deadpool’s daughter is hinted at, but the details are unknown. These elements combine to make this series stand out. It captures everything fans love about Deadpool, while also adding a special quality that made the best classic Deadpool stories so memorable. This is the depth Deadpool has been lacking.

Marvel Is Finally Giving Us the Deadpool We’ve Wanted for Years

Percy and Shaw have consistently delivered excellent comics, and their latest, Wade Wilson: Deadpool #1, is a perfect example of their teamwork. This issue is full of exciting action and classic Deadpool humor, keeping readers hooked from beginning to end. You can feel the creative vision Percy and Shaw have for this series in every panel. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a Deadpool story with this much depth, and it’s exactly what the character needed.

It’s easy to dislike Deadpool if you only focus on his violent tendencies, love of chimichangas, and tendency to break the fourth wall for shock value. But beneath all that, he’s a deeply broken person, and that’s what the current creative team is exploring. This focus on Wade Wilson, the man behind the mask, has been missing from some recent Deadpool stories. The writers are aiming to usher in a new era for the character, and it’s a welcome change.

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2026-02-22 17:13