Entertainment
The Top 10 Potential Villains for the Next Deadpool Film
With Deadpool 2 opening with over $300 million at the worldwide box office it’s first weekend in theaters, you’d think that a third iteration of the Merc With a Mouth’s film franchise would be a no-brainer. However, because of the sale of Fox to Disney and the in-works X-Force movie that Deadpool 2 serves as sort of a prequel to, it’s not known whether or not we’ll get a full-fledged Deadpool 3 with Deadpool as the solo star (as Deadpool himself Ryan Reynolds has said that X-Force will serve as the defacto third film). Either way, if there is any character that could survive or bridge Disney/Marvel Studios’ Marvel Cinematic Universe and Fox’s X-Men Universe you’d think it’d have to be Deadpool, who is notoriously hard to kill int he comics and could also explain all the crazy universe merging (assuming they go with the new X-Men actors that inhabit the Fox Universe now) or universe re-starting (should they start fresh). Because Ryan Reynold’s has long been thought of as Deadpool even before Ryan Reynold’s was added to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it’s nearly impossible to think of another actor playing the role so it’s safe to say a third Deadpool movie will happen in some way shape or form, so we’re here to list the top 10 potential villains for that film, so strap in!
10. Madcap
Madcap seems like he should be a lot higher on this list because one could argue that at one point basically he WAS Deadpool in the comics. It’s sort of hard to explain but Madcap, who is aptly named as he’s crazy and wears a hat, can also regenerate like Deadpool and had served as a foil for Deadpool for years in the comic books. At one point, a lightening bolt from Thor actually merged Madcap with Deadpool, which basically reduced ‘Cap to a voice in Deadpool’s head, which explains how crazy he was (after starting out as a relatively generic assassin character in the ’90’s). One thing that the movies hasn’t really touched on much is the voices in Deadpool’s head and while that may be hard to make work on film, it appears from the trailers that that’s exactly what Sony is doing with it’s Anti-Hero film in Venom. If Deadpool 3 ends up going dark, ‘Cap could end up playing Deadpool’s conscience or the reason for his dark turn that isn’t explained until later in the film. Either way, it could be an interesting way to bring something new to the franchise and as we’ve seen from the first two films, nothing is too crazy for the Deadpool universe.
9. Taskmaster
Depending on how you consume your Marvel content, Taskmaster is either one of the few villains that can pose a threat to Deadpool (comics) or Deadpool is one of the only heroes that can strike fear in the heart of Taskmaster (Some of the current Marvel television cartoons). Taskmaster’s got an interesting powerset that outside of the end of Captain America: Civil War where Tony’s suit learns Cap’s fight patterns and quickly turns the tide of their one-on-one, we’ve never seen before in that he can basically copy the fighting style of anyone he’s fighting (while referencing the fighting style of everyone he’s ever fought). That makes him extremely hard to take down for any character that isn’t relatively high-powered, and while Deadpool can regenerate like (next-to) no other, he still is basically just peak human in terms of strength. In the cartoons Taskmaster fears Deadpool because Deadpool’s unpredictability means he can’t actually copy (and thus predict) ‘Pool’s fighting style but in comics he’s actually one of the few villains that is able to best Deadpool in a straight up fight. Beyond that Tim Miller, the director of the first Deadpool, mentioned that he wanted to feature Taskmaster in a future Deadpool film but that he thought the rights had reverted back to Marvel. The good news is that Deadpool should be part of the MCU sometime in the next year or two as well, but that Tim Miller wasn’t brought back for the sequel. So, we’ll have to wait and see what role, if any, Taskmaster plays in the future of Deadpool’s exploits on film, if any.
8. Lady Death
In Marvel Comics, death is personified as a woman named Lady Death and she has a major role to play in a lot of storylines with the most famous being the Infinity Gauntlet storyline that you may or may not have heard of. In that story and really since, Thanos is in love with Lady Death, who brought him back from the dead after his Thanos-Copter crashed or something and most of what he does in that storyline is done to impress Lady Death (and also stroke his massive ego). While some thought that the Marvel Cinematic Universe would use Thor: Ragnarok’s Hela (Queen of Death) in that role, they decided to make Thanos’ motivation much more rational (while originally nodding to this dynamic in Thanos’ first post-credit apperance by showing him smile when he was told that attacking Earth would be like “courting death”). It turns out that Lady Death, in the books, has a thing for Deadpool (which has been mutual at times, more complicated at others) and that’s actually where his power to regenerate comes from as Thanos basically “cursed” Deadpool with immortality so he could never actually die and end up rekindling his romance with Lady Death. While the Deadpool movies have been wacky, self-aware and have dabbled with things like time travel, they are still grounded in realism (at least according to those who make them) and bringing in a character that symbolizes death could be a bridge too far even for this franchise (especially as the X-Men Universe has never dealt with even space, let alone other dimensions). It would be great to see, though, especially if they got creative with it and let his girlfriend in the films actually become death as she obviously has some experience with dying after the second film. We warned there were spoilers.
7. ID the Selfish Moon
If there’s anything that the Deadpool films loves to do more than anything else it’s make in-jokes about both the Fox X-universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (as well as the DC Extended Universe… And everything else in existence). One of the largest things that people talked about online after the first Deadpool was the fact that the third act set piece took place on what really, really appeared to be one of the crashed Helicarriers from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. While it’s been said that it was just a normal, crashed air-craft carrier, the reference was intentional and so there’s no reason to think that references like that won’t continue. With Guardians of the Galaxy being the most similar in tone to Deadpool in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it wouldn’t be a huge stretch to think that they might grab their next villain from the cosmic universe, especially after it’s been rumored that the next X-Men film will involve the team (FINALLY) going to space. The most recent Guardians of the Galaxy film, Volume 2, featured a villain that was a literal planet in Ego the Living Planet and so it might make sense to involve another sentient planet in Id, the Selfish Planet. While one has to wonder how Deadpool could kill a Moon, it would be fun watching him figure it out and that’s all we need to know to get in line for this movie!
6. Sauron
Deadpool 2 introduced time travel to the Deadpool Universe in a way that wasn’t nearly as convoluted as the way Wolverine time traveled in X-Men: Days of Future Past and considering how much Deadpool tinkered with time at the end of the movie to right a few wrongs, it might make sense for them to introduce Sauron, the pyterodactyl monster beast from the comics into the third film. Beyond his appearance, which could fill an entire act or two with jokes just by itself, there’s the fact that he shares a name with the big bad from The Lord of the Rings films (and possibly the Hobbit films? Who can get through all three of those?) would open the films to all sorts of jokes about the Tolkien-verse. Outside of that, Sauron has the ability to basically absorb the life esssence from the people he’s fighting which means that he could actually kill Deadpool, something that a lot of people (or planets) on this list can’t do which by itself could bring some much needed drama and consequence to what could very well be the final Deadpool movie. Just throw in a cameo from Elijah Wood and we’d be sold, and a “My Precious!” joke or two for good measure.
5. Hit Monkey
While this character couldn’t carry a full film by himself, at least not as the primary villain, he’s just so fun and makes so much sense that you have to list him relatively high when talking about potential ways to go in the future. Deadpool has battled Hit Monkey, a sentient monkey that wears a black suit and typically two-fists glock pistols while assassinating his enemies. Enough said, next! Kidding, what’s great about when Deadpool and Hit Monkey meet one another is that the story, art and just basically everything takes on a surreal edge (or an even more surreal edge than most Deadpool comics, that typically include multiple voices inside of his head and a shit-ton of chimichangas) and that’s something that could bring a different visual aesthetic to the films and breathe new life into the franchise if it feels it needs any after, you know, destroying the box-office this last weekend. What’s great is that Spider-Man has also fought Hit Monkey from time-to-time and with Deadpool joining the MCU what better story to bring the two together than them trying to track down and kill a hitman who is also a monkey. That’d make Infinity Gauntlet look like The Fantastic Four.
4. Apocalypse
We know what you’re thinking… The X-Men Film Universe already used Apocalypse as a villain and while that’s true, a lot of people felt that X-Men: Apocalypse was a missed opportunity both in terms of how they used the villain but also in terms of who played the villain as well. Oscar Isaac is one of the best young actors in the world and his performance ended up getting lost under pounds of make up, cliched dialogue and a stereotypical plot. Considering he’s both the first and most powerful mutant out there, it wouldn’t be beyond Apocalypse to come back to face Deadpool, or for Deadpool to run into him should he end up in the world of the dead on a date with Lady Death or while he’s time hopping thanks to the technology he’s acquired from Cable (assuming it has enough juice to do so). Either way bringing back the quintessential X-Men villain for a redemptive turn feels a lot like what Deadpool is all about, especially after he spent time to go back to kill his X:Men Origins self in Deadpool 2 to literally bring redemption to the character and even that movie.
3. Puppet Master
One of the problems you get with a hero like Deadpool, Wolverine and/or Super-Man is that because they can’t die there aren’t really that great of stakes. So, typically they involve someone that the invincible character loves and that creates the stakes needed for the audience to become emotionally invested. However, in todays day and age, the ‘Damsel in Distress’ narrative is not only tired but considered sexist because of how often it’s used to instead it’d be interesting to bring in a villain like Puppet Master, who has the ability to control those around him and thus could force Deadpool to fight against those he loves while not overtly killing them. That’s the sort of dynamic that could still be funny but could also become a bit more serious than some of the other entries on this list (except Hit Monkey, because if you couldn’t tell by his suit, he’s all about business) and that’s the perfect dynamic that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been able to hit in most of it’s movies and considering the fact that Puppet Master is technically a Fantastic Four villain, it might make sense when the MCU becomes one big happy family again in 2019 or 2020.
2. Mister Sinister
Mister Sinister was actually teased after X-Men: Apocalypse with the thought that he’d be involved in the plot of Logan, as it was his company that retrieved the Weapon X DNA from the Alkali Lake facility in that post-credit scene and it has been his Motis Operandi to basically tinker with mutant DNA, like the baddies in Logan did, in the comics. However, perhaps because he was too flashy and strange for the grounded, gritty and brutal Logan and so instead we ended up with a regular businessman as the top bad guy in Logan. That leaves Mr. Sinister’s plot-line still open and so it could make sense for him to not only be the villain for Deadpool 3 but also for him to be involved in Deadpool period because Deadpool received his powers in the first film from a shady organization that seemed to be doing experiments on mutants and we never really saw who was in charge of that entire situation outside of Ajax, who let’s face it, didn’t seem like he was the head guy in charge there. If there’s any film, also, that could pull off the awesome aesthetic of Mr. Sinister it’s the Deadpool universe who just had Shatterstar in his full double-bladed sword glory trying out for the X-Force. So, please, someone, make this happen, it makes far too much sense not to.
1. Deadpool
Last but not least the number one villain that Deadpool could face in the third film could/should be Deadpool himself! While this may sound like a mailed in final answer there is actually a lot of precedent in the comics with Deadpool either teaming up with or fighting different versions of himself (that’s really something comic books do a lot, with the Spider-Verse also being something people want to see on film). There has been a Lady Deadpool, Kid Deadpool and even Headpool, which is the zombie floating head version of Deadpool. There’s also the Deadpool kills Deadpool comic arc, which is based on the X Kills the Marvel Universe comics that Deadpool famously also starred in, where he had to go toe-to-toe with himself. There’s also a few ways that they could seriously do this, especially as time travel has been introduced. Should Deadpool run into a villain that is too much for him (but not too much for two, three or four of him), he could hop into the future or the past for help from himself and then simply just kill himself after the fight is done so he doesn’t have to split any chimichangas with them.