Deadpool and his 10 year secret war.

Dear, people on medium and the general internet at large.Today, I would like to tell you a story.It’s a story about love, redemption, crude sex jokes, red spandex, identity crisis and hyper violent moments of rage book-ended by inappropriately timed pop culture references.I am of course referring to the Deadpool movie launching in theaters today.I’m not alone in saying I’ve been waiting for this movie for an EXTREMELY long time. And, the story behind how it came to be is almost as interesting to me as the movie itself.

Let me start by saying I’ve been a Deadpool fanboy since the early to mid 2000’s. I can clearly remember reading my first Deadpool comic at around the age of 13 or 14. It was the Deadpool and death annual #1 from 1998. I was instantly drawn into the characters backstory, abrasive A.D.H.D. style of humor, and complete absence of fear when saying whatever he wants to who ever he wants. Deadpool captured my imagination and has been a favorite of mine ever since. So, because he was such a favorite, I’ve had the opportunity to observe him rise from an obscure property with a cult following to a true phenomenon of internet culture and grass roots content marketing.

Fans of this imaginary psychopath (myself included)have been fighting a ten year long internet war with FUKS…excuse me…. FOX ….studios to get this movie made. Acting as general on our side was the wealthiest,most famous, and best looking of us. Which isn’t saying much considering what most hardcore Deadpool fans look like. I am of course referring to Deadpool himself, Mr. Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds led the charge by gathering the writers,the director, and rallying the studio to get the movie into production for the better part of a decade. You may have heard about the struggle that he went through to get his green light in his interviews, but that’s not what this story is about. Generals don’t win wars without an army and we are an …interesting army.

It began in 2009 with X-men origins wolverine . Fans will never truly recover from the abomination that was “barakapool” as many fans have come to call the charterer’s first big screen appearance. The chief complaint, although there were many, was that deadpool’s famous mouth was sewn shut. Hearing the outcry on social media and perhaps recognizing the untapped popularity of the character Fox began talking about a stand alone Deadpool movie.However, As is often the case with big studios, things cooled down and the studio lost interest.

One thing that has stood out in my mind from that first set of Deadpool comics I read all those years ago comes from when Deadpool’s powers had not yet awakened. He was in a sort of hospice dying of cancer after a failed attempt at a cure. There was an “attending” known as Ajax who beat, belittled, and intimidated the patients under his care daily. Until, Deadpool learned that the overly masculine Ajax’s real name was Francis and he was extremely sensitive about it. After that the merc with the mouth earned his named. He never shut up. No matter how many times Francis beat him to the brink of death Deadpool never stopped making fun of him. Deadpool earned the respect of the other patients and became a hero. They followed his lead and laughed at Francis just as hard as he beat them. The story is far more complex than that and it doesn’t end there.But, it’s this part that truly struck a chord with me. The power of words and confidence in them; the lack of fear in the face of a more powerful adversary; is something that I’ve held onto throughout my life. If you don’t shut up,if you don’t give up, if you keep being you and force others to deal with it whether they like it or not, then you can never truly lose and others will follow in your path. Also, it helps if you’re funny as hell and feel like you have nothing to lose. And, we the loyal fans of Deadpool and this philosophy did not shut up, we did not give up, we had nothing to lose, and some of us are funny as all hell.

While Reynolds fought his battle in Hollywood we on the internet fought to keep the dream alive. We made YouTube videos, blog posts, and argued for many hours in the comment sections on very many websites about the merits of a full length live action Deadpool movie. But, all of these seemingly inconsequential acts were adding up to something. We were content marketing. We were building interest in something that most people didn’t even care about, we were adding to the movie’s SEO on google, and we were doing it without even knowing it.We were just doing what we loved. Two years after the Barakapool incident Deadpool comic sales were estimated at about $55,384 in North America according to comicchron.com. By 2012 they were estimated at $118,976 by the same source. By 2015 Deadpool was the 5th most bought comic in North America. Not bad for a character who was than favorite of a few outcasted teenagers just two decades before.

The super hero movie trend is a very odd phenomenon. Twenty years ago we were nerds, those of us who truly loved and appreciated this art form. Deadpool fans are very special breed of nerd because we were the minority of the minority.Even the other nerds found us annoying and weird.But, on this day the 12th of february 2016 we have succeeded. After ten long years of being dedicated to something we felt passionate about something you didn’t even know existed we have claimed victory by never shutting up, ever. So, while your cuddling up to your girlfriend in that dark movie theater or attempting to impress your newly comic-book aficionado friends with with your YouTube gathered knowledge of the original Deadpool comics you should keep an eye out for one of us.We’ll be smiling and hoping you truly enjoy what has kept us so smiling and passionate for all these years.You can look for us in the back holding up a chimichanga in praise of Bea Arthur and Ryan Reynolds while kicking a god dammed TV to get it to work again.