The ‘Deadpool’ movie is scheduled to make its first big marketing splash at this year’s Comic-Con. Ahead of that event, a couple of key figures in the film’s production made mention of the movie’s aspirations - referencing another iconic badboy whose anarchic antics have previously graced the silver screen.
“I felt Fight Club and Tyler Durden were good corollaries,” the film’s director Tim Miller said, when drawing comparisons. “We are in strip clubs and dive bars and crappy apartments and far away from the shiny X-Men world.”
Upon closer inspection, Deadpool and Mr. Durden do exhibit a fair amount of similarities. The major overlapping trait? Each has an alter-ego. Deadpool goes by the name Wade Wilson when he’s not suited up and kicking butt, and Tyler regresses back into his ‘Jack’ persona. Both adopt moderated attitudes and change their appearance depending on who’s in charge. And they’re each in possession of a black sense of humor.
This is more than just a checkbox tally, however. Tyler Durden’s disregard for the establishment - for example, he’s fond of blowing up corporate offices - was a defining part of Fight Club. For Deadpool, that same ‘damn the man’ gripe with the world is going to be a large part of his character arc. Thankfully, there won’t be any concerns about the Merc With A Mouth having to restrain himself to the niceties of a PG-13 movie - because the film’s got a solid R-rating.
But will it take more than blood-soaked fight scenes for Deadpool to match Tyler Durden’s poetic deconstruction of man’s current dilemma? Because wasn’t that where the biggest lessons were taught in Fight Club? On the mat. In the dirt. Teeth knocked out.
Sounds right up Wilson’s alley.
