Deadpool's Most Controversial Moments

Okay, so the "Deadpool" films might have gotten under some people's skin — and one major death in the sequel was one of the biggest sources of controversy. When Vanessa died in "Deadpool 2," many viewers were upset that this beloved character was killed just to advance the story. Some have accused the movie of "fridging" — a trope in superhero stories in which a female character dies a gruesome death for no reason other than to motivate the male hero.

Critics have debated whether Vanessa's death constitutes fridging. Princess Weekes, writing for The Mary Sue, insists that it is fridging, especially because there were other ways to motivate Deadpool that didn't involve Vanessa dying. (In fact, the earliest pitches for the sequel had Vanessa alive and well, a version of "Deadpool 2" that we almost got to see.)

Meanwhile, others say the jury may still be out on Vanessa's death. Vox has pointed out that Vanessa was fleshed out as a three-dimensional character in the first movie, so it can hardly be said that her character exists purely to motivate Deadpool. Even Gail Simone, the comic writer who coined the term "fridging," weighed in on X (formerly called Twitter). For a character to be fridged, @GailSimone wrote, "she no longer really exists in the story [after she dies], her agony is just a motivator, and she's never really a person in that scenario." Since Vanessa is still very much important to the story after her death, talking with Wade from beyond the grave, she may not qualify. In any event, Vanessa doesn't stay dead, and she is set to appear in "Deadpool and Wolverine."

The promotional campaign for "Once Upon a Deadpool" (the special PG-13 cut of "Deadpool 2") featured a heavenly movie poster. This poster depicts an iconic religious painting, except in place of Jesus, Deadpool is wearing angelic robes. Understandably, some Christian viewers were offended by the implicit comparison.

That deeply religious viewers would find the jokes in "Deadpool" offensive is hardly breaking news, and this is far from the only time Deadpool has poked fun at religion. (Let's not forget that he announces he's "Marvel Jesus" in the trailer for "Deadpool and Wolverine.") However, this particular controversy is worth mentioning because the poster's detractors accused it of targeting one Christian denomination in particular.

A petition on Change.org challenged the poster, insisting that it mocked The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka LDS). The poster parodies "The Second Coming of Jesus" by Harry Anderson, an artist who produced dozens of commissioned works for the LDS Church that are now displayed in Mormon churches. The petition alleged that "Once Upon a Deadpool" was taking a shot at Mormons and that the poster was guilty of religious discrimination. However, one attorney wrote in the law publication ABA Journal that while the poster may not be very sensitive toward Mormons, it's not technically discrimination, as most U.S. courts probably wouldn't find the poster unconstitutional.

The X-Force has taken a long journey to get to the big screen. An X-Force movie was once in the works, with Deadpool as the villain, but instead "Deadpool 2" marks their first big-screen appearance. But just when you think "Deadpool 2" is going to kick off a new superhero team-up, the movie kills off the members of X-Force one by one — a bold move that no other superhero movie had attempted before. The filmmakers took this subversive twist so seriously that they went out of their way to film fight scenes with the members of X-Force, knowing that these fight scenes would only appear in the trailer.

Unfortunately, not everybody thought the X-Force fakeout was a riot. Some fans were actually kind of hoping to see X-Force in action. Others appreciated the joke but were upset that the trailer was deliberately misleading. After all, a trailer ought to tell you what a movie is about, not pull a sneaky bait-and-switch on fans. There are even a few viewers who felt this jarring plot twist was actually foreshadowed too heavily, what with the constant warnings of a "wind advisory." For instance, Leopold Knopp with Reel Entropy wrote, "No matter how funny others may have found it, I saw it coming a mile away and kind of just wanted that 10 minutes back."

In particular, many fans were disappointed that Peter (Rob Delaney), the only guy without superpowers, didn't survive. To be fair, the filmmakers were also sad to see him go, so much so that they gave him a second chance at life, thanks to a bit of time travel in the post-credit scene. Delaney and his moustache, thankfully, are returning in "Deadpool and Wolverine."

Yep, you remember that scene. How could you forget it? In one sex-heavy montage from "Deadpool," Wade offers something you rarely see from an action hero: He invites Vanessa to wear a strap-on dildo and penetrate him from the rear. (Although Wade is visibly uncomfortable and ultimately backs out, it's the thought that counts.)

Not only is this "Deadpool" moment delightfully offensive, but it's also a refreshing change in how mainstream movies portray sex (a change that almost went unnoticed). It's rare to see sex scenes that cater to anything other than heteronormative male desire, yet "Deadpool" challenges assumptions about power dynamics in the bedroom.

Of course, not everyone thinks this moment was as revolutionary as the filmmakers hoped. Some have argued that this taboo-breaking moment is less meaningful if Wade treats it as a chore to be undergone only once a year (International Women's Day, to be exact). Although countless movies show women receiving anal sex without even a hint of discomfort, "Deadpool" makes it seem awkward or icky when a man is on the bottom. Critics such as Maddy Myers with The Mary Sue suspect the movie shied away from showing Wade's pleasure here out of fear that audiences would reject it as "too gay" (no matter that straight couples can practice pegging too). Of course, it's worth noting that Wade seems more eager to try pegging with Vanessa again in "Deadpool 2," which is perhaps the filmmakers' answer to this controversy.

"Deadpool 2" is controversial not because it's the first superhero movie to depict an openly queer couple, but because we barely get to see them. Many fans were frustrated that these two lesbians — Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) and Yukio (Shioli Kutsuna) — got barely more than a cameo. "They show up for mere seconds in the movie mainly to hold hands," observed S.E. Fleenor for Them magazine, "as if the movie's creators were just throwing its hungry queer audience a bone." Yukio is nothing more than a supporting character of a supporting character, and she adds almost nothing to the plot. In theory, the filmmakers could have omitted Yukio entirely and nobody would've noticed. But if they had, then "Deadpool 2" would have been a little less groundbreaking, and the superhero genre's history of queer representation would have been even more pitiful.

Still, others were glad to see queer representation, even if it was only for a few minutes. Yukio may only appear for a handful of scenes, but maybe that's not so bad if, in one of those scenes, she saves Colossus from Juggernaut almost effortlessly. Viewers such as Den of Geek have pointed out that, if nothing else, "Deadpool 2" treats this queer couple as perfectly normal, which is a pretty big step forward. It's even more impressive that Deadpool doesn't crack a single joke at Yukio's expense, considering the Merc with a Mouth lampoons pretty much everything and everyone else.

What happens whenever the "Deadpool" movies stumble into a plot hole or start to fall back on clichés? Deadpool simply breaks the fourth wall to lampshade this mistake and then carries on as usual. This is especially true of "Once Upon a Deadpool," because the frame narrative with Deadpool and Fred Savage openly acknowledges some complaints made by fans and critics after the release of "Deadpool 2." For instance, Savage addresses the real-life controversy about fridging Vanessa. And in an extremely meta moment, Savage highlights one of Deadpool's lines from the original cut (after Cable brushes aside a plot hole with a convenient bit of exposition, Deadpool cries, "That's just lazy writing"). In response, Savage declares that joking about your own lazy writing doesn't justify it.

He kind of has a point. While Deadpool's constant lampshading is hilarious and shows that the filmmakers are at least aware of the franchise's shortcomings, many critics agree that lampshading a story's problems is no substitute for writing a good story to begin with. Sure, it's nice that "Once Upon a Deadpool" acknowledges that Vanessa has been fridged, but it doesn't change the outcome of the story or give her character any more agency. And just because Deadpool announces there will be a "big CGI fight coming up," it doesn't mean that audiences won't get exactly that. Sorry, Deadpool — we're with Savage on this one.