Yahoo Lifestyle Deadpool Creator Rob Liefeld Vows to ‘Cut Ties’ With Marvel After ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Premiere Issues
Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld has declared he has “cut ties in all ways” with Marvel after he and his family weren’t invited to Disney’s afterparty for last July’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” premiere.
Liefeld has other gripes with Marvel, involving the placement of creator credits in the film and what he perceives as a lack of respect from the film and television studio’s chief, Kevin Feige. Liefeld attended the screening at Manhattan’s Lincoln Center and says he posed on the red carpet with the “Deadpool & Wolverine” creative team but alleges the photos were deleted before they were posted anywhere.
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“It was meant to embarrass, diminish, defeat [me],” he said of his experience at the New York City premiere on the latest episode of his “Robservations” podcast. He added that his reps tried to get the Liefeld family into the party but they were ultimately turned away by the studio’s publicity team. “Disney is the deciding factor here. To have them say, ‘You and your family are not welcome here. We tolerated you for the screening.’ At that point, I knew in my heart I couldn’t go forward.”
He continued, “At some point, you go, ‘I’ve received the message, and the message is clear.'”
He also emphasized that he never felt slighted by 20th Century Fox during the first two “Deadpool” movies, before the studio — including the film rights to the Deadpool character — was acquired by Disney.
“I forgive you, whoever made that decision to say, ‘Hey, you can come to the movie. [But] we’re not going to talk to you,'” Liefeld said. “‘We’re going to treat you much worse than 20th Century Fox could ever imagine.’ Maybe you should work on doing better for the next guy.”
Liefeld claims his final collaboration with the publisher will be the Marvel comic book “Deadpool Team Up,” which releases on Feb. 12.
Marvel owns Deadpool, though Liefeld has “authorship and creative rights and monetization,” according to a source familiar with the situation. Liefeld didn’t take a buyout for the character or his work, so while he won’t have creative control moving forward, the author has retained his financial stake and will get a cut of any future projects with the foul-mouthed mercenary, the source adds. Fabian Nicieza co-created the Deadpool character.
This is not the first (or second) time that Liefeld has announced he’s moving on from his work at Marvel. In February 2024 and again in October 2024, he shared his intentions to say goodbye to the comic book character on his own terms.
“I am retiring from Deadpool. It’s official. Yup, after 33 years of not only introducing Deadpool but chronicling many of his most popular adventures it’s time for the Deadpool Daddy to say farewell,” he wrote on Instagram a year ago. “One of the fun parts about getting older is you can retire from things, so here I am.”
A few months later, he told ScreenRant: “It’s a perfect pivot from saying goodbye to Marvel. It’s the perfect way of saying goodbye. Marvel was great. I had a great time. Couldn’t have had a better experience. But if I have what I believe is five years left doing the work that I’m doing the work at a level I’m satisfied with, then I need to pour it into my Extreme catalog.”
“Deadpool & Wolverine,” starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman as their comic book alter egos, was the Merc With a Mouth’s third cinematic feature — and by far the biggest of the trilogy. The blockbuster opened in July 2024 with $211 million in North America and tapped out with a mammoth $1.33 billion globally, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film in box office history. Beyond the end credits, “Deadpool & Wolverine” acknowledged Liefeld in a key scene in which the titular characters battle dozens of Deadpool variants in front of a store called Liefeld’s Just Feet. It’s a nod to a long-running joke about the author’s perceived inability to draw feet.
Liefeld posted on X that he approved the joke, writing a year ago: “Being poked at by the premiere funny man/mega-star of his age is an absolute honor! Make no doubt that this is a thrill and an honor.”
Katcy Stephan contributed to this story.
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