Rob Liefeld Clears Up the Deadpool and Deathstroke Debate

Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld has made his case against comparisons to DC Comics’ Deathstroke once and for all.

There’s a perception that Deadpool is actually a proxy for Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke the Terminator from the DC Comics Universe. This narrative is so well known among comic books fans that the Teen Titans Go! movie actually included a reference to it, teasing Deathstroke for being overshadowed by a supposed ripoff.

Liefeld was a guest at Los Angeles Comic Con and during a fan question and answer session he was asked if he ever used Deathstroke as a starting point or model for Deadpool. Liefeld said absolutely not, clarified that he inspired by a desire to bring a Spider-Man-like character into New Mutants, and stated that he didn’t even hear about these comparisons until years later.

“I did not. I can do this,” Liefeld began. “If we had Deathstroke here: buccaneer boots, buccaneer gloves, half an effin’ mask, chainmail. Where is the chainmail?

“Let me tell you guys how it went: ‘Hey guys, Todd McFarlane, he’s kind of blowing up on Spider-Man. I need a Spider-Man in my book. Oh, wow, so, I also like Wolverine. He’s my favorite character. Black and red, black and red. Can I tie him into Wolverine’s origin? So, can I do Spider-Man with guns and knives?’”

He continued with an imitation of Marvel’s response: “‘Liefeld, Cable’s blowing up for us. We’re selling a million copies of New Mutants. Whatever you want to do Liefeld’…I didn’t even hear about this until 10 years ago.”

This rumor came full circle in 2011 when Liefeld worked on a Deathstroke comic book for DC Comics as part of the company’s New 52 relaunch. Liefeld has since returned to Marvel with a new Deadpool graphic novel, Deadpool: Bad Blood. There’s a sequel in the works titled Deadpool: Badder Blood. Liefeld is also working on a major X-Men project.

“I have a new project, 2019, it’s a huge X-Men crossover,” Liefeld revealed during a panel at a previous convention. “t’s awesome…Marvel called me up last Thanksgiving and said, ‘We want you to do a big story.’ I said well, let’s see if they’ll go for this, and I tried to do something no one has done before. “So I gave them this pretty aggressive proposal for an event and I can’t say what it is, I can’t say what it involves, got a lot of new stuff.”

What do you think of these Deadpool and Deathstroke comparisons? Let us know in the comments!