Skip to main content

Does Deadpool know he is breaking the 4th wall?


I've heard some conflicting information as to why Deadpool breaks the 4th wall, especially regarding whether it's deliberate or not.


One side I've heard:


Deadpool knows that he's in a Marvel comic book and that he doesn't exist in real life, so he breaks the 4th wall constantly because of this.


He knows he's part of a comic written by writers from Marvel, and so he deliberately breaks the 4th wall due to this. The key thing is that he knows that he's completely fictional.


The other side I've heard:


Deadpool doesn't know he's in a comic book. He thinks he's a "comic book hero" due to his insanity, so the "Merc with a Mouth" breaks the 4th wall thinking that's what he should be doing (ironically being that he actually does break the 4th wall)


Thus, everytime he breaks the 4th wall it is only his persona causing him to do so, as opposed to something the writer added in. Thus, it's somewhat paradoxical in that, while he does break the 4th wall, he only does so because he thinks he's actually in a comic book so because of that he attempts to break the 4th wall anyways much to the chagrin of his fellow superheroes.



Basically, my question boils down to, does Deadpool THINK he's breaking the 4th wall, or does Deadpool KNOW he's breaking the 4th wall?



Answer



Deadpool intentionally breaks the fourth wall because he's aware that he's fictional. He just doesn't realize what that means until the events of Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe.


In that story, Deadpool is sent to an asylum where Psycho-Man attempts to brainwash him. This fails rather spectacularly as it instead silences his old voices and awakens a new one which starts him on a killing spree.


start


[Major story spoilers follow]


While murdering his way through the entire Marvel cast of heroes and villains it's gradually revealed that he's become fully aware of his fictional nature and believes these to be mercy killings. It's mentioned that he's always seen the reality of his fictional world but never understood it until his run-in with Psycho-Man.


reveal


Xavier attempts to stop Deadpool by accessing his mind whereupon he realises the truth as well, going mad in the process.


mindbreak



It's implied that Deadpool has always seen through the fourth wall but was powerless to do more than the writers let him, until the events of this story where he broke free of their control.


free


Eventually, he makes his way to the Nexus of All Realities where he crosses dimensions/planes/realities to the "real world", where the story comes full circle in the final panel:



Finale of DKTMU



Note: I'm unaware of what is and isn't considered canon when it comes to Marvel. The claims made by The Watcher indicate that this is what happened in one of the many coexisting realities, implying that the revelations made about Deadpools insight into the fourth wall are true in most of them.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

According to TVTropes ( usual warning, don't follow the link or you'll waste half your life in a twisty maze of content ): In Ghostbusters, it's strongly implied that Dana Barret, while possessed by Zuul the Gatekeeper, had sex with Louis Tully, who was possessed by Vinz Clortho the Keymaster (key, gate, get it?), in order to free Big Bad Gozer. In fact, a deleted scene from the movie has Venkman explicitly asking Dana if she and Louis "did it". I turned the quote into a spoiler since it contains really poor-taste joke, but the gist of it is that it's implied that as part of freeing Gozer , the two characters possessed by the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper had sex. Is there any canon confirmation or denial of this theory (canon meaning something from creators' interviews, DVD commentary, script, delete scenes etc...)? Answer The Richard Mueller novelisation and both versions of the script strongly suggest that they didn't have sex (or at the very l...
1 comment
Read more

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir...
Post a Comment
Read more

story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...
Post a Comment
Read more

warhammer40k - What evidence supposedly supports Tau as related to the Necrontyr?

I've heard of rumours saying that the Tau from Warhammer 40K are in fact the Necrontyr. Is there anything that supports this statement, in WH40K canon? I just found this, on 1d4 chan 1 : Helping Necrons? Or are they Necrontyr descendants? An often overlooked issue is that Tau have no warp signatures, just like Necrons, hate Warpspawns and Warp in general, just like Necrons, have the exact same skull shape,stature and short lives, and the overwhelming need for Technology and beam weapons, JUST LIKE NECRONS. GW may have planned a race that simply prepares a pacified, multiracial galaxy for Necrons to feast upon, supported by Ethereals that have a C'tan phase blade. Then there is a reference of "dark seed in east" by the Deceiver, so the tricky C'tan might give Tzeentch the finger in the JUST AS PLANNED competition. Or maybe GW just has so little creativity that they simply made a new civ conforming to an Old One's standards without knowing it. Is this the connec...
Post a Comment
Read more