Deadpool 2 is not your typical superhero movie. Deadpool 2 is the complete antithesis to the tropes we’re used to in typical superhero films. It goes against the usual formula of setting up the hero or heroes, then giving us a scene setting up the villain or villains, show how bad the villain is, and then place the hero(es) and villain(s) on a collision course that culminates in a massive battle at the end. To quote screenwriter Paul Wernick, “We always say, ‘If you can’t do it in another superhero movie, you’d best be doing it in a Deadpool movie.”
Deadpool 2 manages to succeed in ways where the first film failed since it not only has a bigger budget but it also had a more unpredictable story that mostly didn’t follow the usual tropes of a superhero movie. One reason why the story is good is due to the lack of a proper villain, which no one expected to be honest.
According to Deadpool 2 screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, they felt that not having a standard bad guy would help make the film more challenging. Sure, there are antagonistic forces like Juggernaut and the headmaster but they aren’t major characters. Speaking with the LA Times, Reese and Wernick liked that most of the conflict wasn’t just a basic good vs evil debate. Instead, the film had all of these characters opposing each other because they thought they were doing the right thing, which is poetic. It definitely made for an engaging watch.
We decided we had enough people with differing motives butting heads that we didn’t really need a traditional mustache-twirling villain. We had the evil headmaster, we had Juggernaut, we had Firefist himself as an adult in the future, we had Cable — and sometimes Deadpool is his own worst enemy in some ways. So we thought, ‘Why feel trapped into the trope of a villain who wants to conquer the world? Why not just have the particular goals of these characters come into conflict? As a filmmaker, I loved the challenge of not having a conventional villain. As you start to peel the onion back, you realize the real villain is all of us because we’re not showing [Russell] the compassion that he needs. That’s the big idea in a movie full of crazy action and fart jokes, but it felt right and earnest. The first film was a love story and this movie needed a real genuine emotional hook.
The traditional hero setup/villain setup/showdown formula isn’t going anywhere anytime soon in superhero cinema though, because when done right it still works very, very well. However, Deadpool 2 is a reminder that if you craft your characters in the right way, the conflicting paths they take can be just as compelling as a clear-cut hero vs. villain battle.
Deadpool 2 is now showing in theaters.
Source: L.A. Times
