Rob Liefeld, the creator of both Deadpool and Cable, is done with Marvel. The comic book writer and artist announced he’d no longer be working with the company he’s been a part of for more than 30 years on the latest episode of his recent podcast.
The reason? He says that Marvel, under Disney ownership, has basically been ignoring him, culminating in multiple snubs at the premiere of Deadpool and Wolverine. It was there that Liefeld found out that he wasn’t invited to the premiere’s after party and he says that Marvel’s Kevin Feige, the man behind the MCU, entirely ignored him on the red carpet. He also claims that photos of him with top brass at the premiere were deleted so as to remove him, though photos of just him at the premiere are readily available and were used in promotion.
“It was meant to embarrass, diminish, defeat me,” Liefeld said of being kept out of the after party, something he had attended on the previous two Deadpool films, which were produced by Fox.
The creator told THR and revealed on his podcast that this possibly all stemmed from Liefeld’s emailed request for better billing on Deadpool and Wolverine, in which he claimed that Marvel does not treat creatives well. He requested that instead of his name being in the end credits he get billing in the opening like comic legends Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster did on Superman as the co-creators of the character. Marvel reportedly did not respond to the email, but Liefeld’s agents, he claims, were yelled at about it.
“Marvel’s treatment of creators has never been their strength,” Liefeld’s email said. “Without the worlds, the characters, and the concepts that we create — and in this specific case, the world of Deadpool — there are no films to shoot. No blockbusters to distribute. … I am not the easy button at Staples. I am the human imagination behind it all.”
Liefeld has long been outspoken and brash, often leading to conflicts about his work and the credit he gives to other artists. Marvel did fly him to London to be on set during shooting and, of course, there was the joking nod to him in the film’s big action scene with the store Liefeld’s Just Feet. However, Liefeld claims that he also felt shunned on his set visit to London.
On the whole, this seems like a singular talent feeling left out more than a systemic problem of Marvel ignoring creatives on the whole. Liefeld has been consistently out of the loop since Disney took over, even claiming that Deadpool 3 was never going to happen. This seems to have set him off and, at some point, he felt the need to end his admittedly successful partnership with Marvel.
Published: Feb 6, 2025 04:35 pm