Rob Liefeld is a proud papa. His deranged offspring, Deadpool, recently went out into the big, bad landscape of silver-screen entertainment, and enjoyed unprecedented success for an R-rated action/comedy in a usually safe environment. So Liefeld, who created Deadpool in the pages of Marvel comic books, is puffing his chest a little and swinging at the Big Dog in town: Star Wars. Recognizing that Deadpool 2 will be opening around the same time as Solo: A Star Wars Story next summer, Liefeld dropped this gauntlet, challenging:
Disney is delusional, and is opening Han Solo a week before Deadpool! And they are going to get their asses kicked! Seven days later; mark my word, skeptical man! Mark my words. Han Solo, get the hell out of the summer, Because seven days later, an army of mercenaries is coming to send the Falcon into hyperspace! Disney I apologize in advance, but I'm telling the truth: Deadpool is going to kick your ass.
Fighting words? You could say. But Rob Liefeld -- who will be the first person to tell you that he has nothing to do with the Deadpool movies and simply cheers them on as a vocal fan -- has some weight to back up his argument. Released in February of 2016, the original Deadpool took the industry by storm, introducing a foul-mouthed mercenary (Ryan Reynolds) on a single-focus vengeance mission. Audiences flocked, and Deadpool banked $783 million worldwide for Fox.
The studio expects to up the game significantly for Deadpool 2, which will be directed by John Wick co-creator David Leitch. For starters, they will be rolling in fan-favorite characters like Cable (Josh Brolin) and Domino (Zazie Beetz), while also bringing back Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) and Weasel (T.J. Miller). And then there is that confident shift to the Summer Blockbuster schedule, where superhero movies like Wonder Woman, X-Men: Apocalypse and the Marvel movies tend to shine.
All of that being said, this is Star Wars that Deadpool 2 is going up against, so it's the farthest thing from a slam dunk that David Leitch's sequel is going to kick Han Solo's ass, as Rob Liefeld predicts before a panel at L.A. Comic Con (via ComicBook). In fact, some have wondered why Solo: A Star Wars Story isn't taking the December slot that the Star Wars universe has enjoyed so far with The Force Awakens, Rogue One and this year's Star Wars: The Last Jedi. When Solo experienced its behind-the-scenes turmoil, many expected it would shift back to buy replacement director Ron Howard some time to catch up on what needed to be done. For the time being, the Solo v. Deadpool 2 battle remains on track.
There's usually enough room in the Summer season for numerous blockbusters. Releases are so frontloaded that massive movies make what they can on opening weekend, then shift focus to international rollouts. It's not often that a major movie gets two full weekends free of competition. But we admire Rob Liefeld's moxie in going after Han Solo, and understand where his confidence lies. Now, check out our 2018 Release Date Schedule to see what else is opening in theaters next year. What other movies going head to head can start talking smack in the press?
