Deadpool Creator Rob Liefeld Retiring From the Character

Rob Liefeld, the artist who created Deadpool and has revisited the character often in the intervening decades, announced today that he plans to retire from working on Deadpool-related projects. Liefeld, one of the best-selling comic book artists of the last 40 years, and Deadpool and Cable are the two character he is mostly closely associated with. Now, though, with a third movie on the horizon and about 1,000 pages in his rear view mirror, it seems Liefeld feels he has said everything he has to say with the character. 

This comes as confirmation of something Liefeld has been saying unofficially for years. His Deadpool: Badder Blood, which he started developing in 2019, was released in the second half of 2023 (with a collected edition coming soon. During the production process, he referred to Badder Blood as “the last dance.”

Originally introduced as a villain in New Mutants, response to the character of Deadpool was so huge that he became a fixture in the X-Force launch and in the larger X-Men family of titles beyond. X-Force #1 sold more than 5 million copies upon publication, and has held its resale value much better than most top-selling ’90s hits. 

“I am retiring from Deadpool,” Liefeld wrote on social media today. “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.”

You can see the full post below.

Liefeld’s work on New Mutants and X-Force established him as a 20-something wunderkind in the comic-book industry, and his Deadpool has been an ever-expanding presence in comics and other media for 30 years. The character has been featured in more than a dozen best-selling Marvel video games, as well as in cartoons, comics, toys, and a pair of live-action movies starring Ryan Reynolds, which are some of the highest-grossing R-rated movies ever made, with both films grossing a combined $1.6 billion dollars. Deadpool 3 has been announced and set for release in 2024, and feature Hugh Jackman’s anticipated return as Wolverine.

Liefeld promised fans that he would elaborate more on his decision to retire from the character on the next episode of his comic book podcast Robservations. That’s probably where fans can find out whether they’ll still be able to get a Deadpool commission at Liefeld’s next convention appearance.

Recently, Liefeld sold out his latest creator-owned comic Last Blood via his Whatnot store.