Deadpool is My Hero (He should be yours too)
I love the Merc with a Mouth. Wade Wilson is the gorgeous wiseass turned butt ugly super healing wiseass known as Deadpool. Deadpool may be clinically insane, painfully self-aware (he knows he’s in a comic) and for all intents and purposes, immortal (thanks to a combination of the weapon X program and a curse From Thanos) but to me beneath the ultra-violent wise cracking exterior Deadpool has always been relatable. Now, I don’t have superpowers, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to live forever and nine out of 10 mental health professionals agree I’m sane. You’d think I’d struggle to relate to someone so audacious as Deadpool, right?
Wrong. Deadpool helped me find myself. Finding myself as a young, not so fabulously gay, man with Spastic Cerebral Palsy was quite the challenge. I didn’t find much relatable with other comic book characters. I’m covered with scars. Just like Deadpool. I fall on to the LGBT+ spectrum. Just like Deadpool. Before finding my place in life I was shunned and neglected by all sides. Just like Deadpool. I suffer chronic and unending pain. Just like Deadpool. Notice the pattern yet?
Deadpool is the icon for all the broken people, all the damaged goods that both heroes and villains can’t stand. Deadpool is the comic protagonist for the downtrodden, the different, and the people who just plain don’t fit in. He’s not the squeaky clean hero or perfectly evil villain. He’s just a guy trying to find his place in the world. Does he make mistakes? Of course he does! Remember that time he nuked the Hulk in a suicide attempt, starting a rampage that nearly killed a group of school children? However he always tries to stand up for what he believes in! Remember that time he saved all those children from a rampaging Hulk?
Deadpool may be completely messed up. So what? I’m not perfect, no one is, everyone has their own demons, their own fights, failures wins and losses, just like Deadpool. No one is perfect so why should we be expected to idolize the characters that are?
