Deadpool, meet Kryptonite

I just returned from seeing the movie "Red Sparrow" at the Grove. I have no idea what it was about. But that's not the point of this post. Before the movie began there was a preview--a sequel to "Deadpool". I loved Deadpool, and so at first I was elated to see that a sequel was being made. But a few moments later, my enthusiasm subsided.

Like many boys, I grew up loving super-heroes. For my brothers, friends and me pretending to be "super" was a favorite pastime. My brothers even created their own superheroes, and I was the star of our family creation "Underwear Man". (It was our family consigliere Todd Rowen who I credit with authoring Underwear Man.)

I got to be the star while he was the villian. We'd conconct all sorts of crazy stories and then act them out and record them with our video camera. Todd was the evil villain, and each episode ended with my winning the day by beating him sensely or strangling him with a pair of underpants. After defeating him, I would typically go through a ridiculous, self-congradulatory flexing sequence full of youthful, good natured bravado.

So, we all loved superheroes, and to this day, I consider myself a fan of many the Marvel movies.  X-Men--love em. Iron man...enjoyed it. Batman, hit and miss.

In recent years, Deadpool was my favorite, and after seeing the preview tonight, I went from enthusiastic to apathetic in a matter of minutes. And the reason is simple. The reason is that, at least to my knowledge, there is a severe flaw in the Deadpool plot that all fans are subtly aware of after seeing the first movie. The flaw is...

Deadpool's super-power allows him to rejuvenate. He can rejuvenate and heal from ANY injury.

That's kinda similar to Wolverine's power, right?. Wolverine can heal from incredible injuries ALMOST instantly. But, Wolverine has some vulnerability in that despite his healing powers, he is not amortal. If it weren't for the adamantium grafted into his bones, he could lose a limb and it wouldn't grow back. Or would it? I don't know. Fact is he's never been killed either, but he's gotten close. And in the presence of Magneto, he may be immortal, but also helpless. More, if it were not for the adamantium surrounding his skull, presumably his brains could get blown out and not heal. Although again, not sure. But I think true.

But not Deadpool. In the first film, Deadpool loses an arm that grows back like a deer's antlers. He also takes a knife wound TO THE BRAIN, yet survives this without issue. In short, Deadpool is amortal: he cannot be killed. In fact, for all we know, he might not age either; he might be immortal.

And this is a huge problem from a plot perspective. What is the tension of a movie if it's protagonist is amortal?

This same problem plagued the Superman series many years ago. Superman started off just being a super-man. He was super strong. And could fly. But soon he could not be hurt. Soon he could use his eyes to send heat rays and his breath to freeze. He could fly, not just in earth's atmosphere, but in space, and at the speed of light. He became amortal, and thus fans lost interest because...what could really go wrong? If he can bring people back to life by going back in time and getting a do-over, then really, not very much!

The writers figured out that to keep fans interested, and their cash cow alive. Superman needed to have a vulnerability. They modified the story so that his powers were derived from the sun, and that hunks of his old planet, Krytpon, could weaken or even kill him.

I loved Deadpool, so I'm hoping for the best. But one of two things will happen. Either it will fail as a franchise, or Deadpool will meet Kryptonite.