The History of and Story Behind the Deadpool Logo
Deadpool is one of the more famous Marvel Comics characters in the present time. After all, he is set to have a third movie set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which isn't even counting his appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
On top of this, Deadpool has shown up in a very wide range of merchandise that has served to make him even better-known to interested individuals. Of course, comic books being comic books, it should come as no surprise to learn that the familiar version of Deadpool was created bit by bit rather than in a single instant.
The Story
Nowadays, Deadpool is a comedic antihero with a penchant for breaking the fourth wall as well as a regeneration superpower that makes him exactly as immortal as he needs to be for the purpose of the story. However, while some of those elements were included from the start, others were introduced over time.
For instance, the character wasn't always an antihero. Instead, Deadpool was created by a team-up between Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza as a supervillain meant to fight Cable and the New Mutants. Something that changed when his recurring appearances as well as a couple of miniseries proved to be popular enough for him to get an ongoing series of his own.
Said series was what turned him into a parody of the 90s anti-hero while also providing him with a supporting cast, thus enabling him to make a transition from his initial role into someone much more ambiguous in nature. Speaking of which, this was around the same time that Deadpool picked up his gimmick of breaking the fourth wall, though that wasn't incorporated into his core character until some time later.
A Consistent Appearance
Having said that, Deadpool's appearance has been much more consistent. Supposedly, he winded up with weapons because Liefeld liked a couple of things, with one being G.I. Joe and the other being the various weapons wielded by the various Avengers.
Amusingly, when he presented the design to Nicieza, the latter pointed out that the character was literally just Deathstoke from DC Comics's Teen Titans, which is how Deadpool winded up being named Wade Wilson in reference to Deathstroke's name of Slade Wilson.
Besides this, it is also worth mentioning that Deadpool and Cable were always meant to be Liefeld's versions of Spider-Man and Wolverine, though their stories are much more connected with the latter than the former. Over time, Deadpool has picked up a lot of characteristics as well as a lot of stories.
Unsurprisingly, this has resulted in some incompatibilities, which are the inevitable result of long-running characters being involved in story after story. However, where comic book creators make an effort to turn the stories of other comic book characters into something semi-coherent, they had chosen to embrace the incompatibilities for Deadpool instead. Something that makes perfect sense considering the character as well as his narrative role.
What Should People Know about the Deadpool Logo?
Superman wasn't the first superhero. However, he established a number of conventions that have become so widespread that they are now fundamental to the very concept of the superhero. One excellent example would be Superman's famous S in the diamond-shaped shield, which has caused countless other superheroes to wear countless other superhero logos.
As for how that came into existence, well, one could speculate about the influence of heraldry in medieval Europe. In short, warriors weren't standardized enough to wear uniforms in most pre-modern societies, which could make it difficult for them to figure out who was who.
Sometimes, this wasn't much of an issue. For example, if warriors of one culture were fighting warriors of a very different culture, that was bound to be reflected in their arms, their armor, and often-times, even the way that they fought.
Likewise, if warriors managed to maintain their lines like they were supposed to, they could figure out who they were and weren't supposed to fight by just looking at the direction that they were facing. Unfortunately, battles weren't always so convenient, which is why a wide range of cultures came up with a wide range of ways to make warriors more identifiable.
Influend from Europe
In medieval Europe, this eventually brought about the creation of the heraldry system, with the result that elite warriors would start wearing unique designs on their shields as well as other pieces of equipment to make themselves easier to recognize. Superman's logo is very much a callback to this idea, though it piggybacked on police badges to some extent. In any case, the Deadpool logo would be Deadpool's version of this concept.
Fittingly, the Deadpool logo came into existence by accident. Initially, the character didn't have a design on his belt buckle. However, that changed when Deadpool got his ongoing series, though the first version was just a smaller version of the character's mask.
Mark Brooks Taking Over
It wasn't until Mark Brooks took over artist duties that the logo turned into its more stylized and more recognizable form, which happened because he didn't quite remember the preceding design in perfect detail but decided to draw it using his memory anyways.
As a result, comic book fans got the buckler divided into two by a red line running down the middle with a white eye in each half. Something that can be recognized as Deadpool's mask in a single glance but remains distinctive enough from his actual mask for it to serve as a brand outside of the comic books.
Besides this, Deadpool isn't strongly associated with other symbols. Certainly, there were the titles for the Deadpool movies. However, they aren't distinctive enough to be memorable in their own right.
On top of that, both of them are clearly based on the colors chosen for Deadpool's costume as well as Deadpool's logo. Amusingly, it is interesting to note that the sheer simplicity of Deadpool's logo has made it very easy to repurpose for other characters.
For instance, there is a neat fan-made depiction of a Spawn symbol in the Deadpool style, which is immediately recognizable as that in spite of its changed color scheme, its very different looking divider running down the middle, and even the different shaped eyes on each half of the mask.
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Written by Lily Wordsmith
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