The first full trailer for DEADPOOL 2 dropped this week, and you can check it out below. Once again it highlights the self-referential gags in the film. It’s the culmination of a wonderful marketing campaign that has hitherto cared very little about revealing anything from the film itself. After all, Deadpool has long been a fourth-wall breaking character, so it’s only appropriate that his cinematic counterpart is equally self-aware.
Even from within the credit sequence of the first Deadpool film, this irreverent attitude to sequels has been clear. In a scene that parodied the famous credits tag from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, complete with Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) in a bathrobe, questioning why audiences were still there. “Oh you’re expecting a teaser for Deadpool 2,” he quips. “Well we don’t have that kind of money.” It was of course a play on the now ubiquitous Marvel-style teasers, taken to extremes with no less than five in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Yet it was also a sign that the creative team behind Deadpool was hyper-aware of its fanbase. Following the announcement of any film, there is rampant internet speculation on websites like this one about casting, characters, and even plotlines. Deadpool put the dots really close together for us: “I can tell you one thing and it’s a bit of a secret,” Deadpool adds. “In the sequel, we’re going to have Cable. Amazing character. Robotic arm, time travel. We have no idea who we’re going to cast yet, but it could be anybody. Just need a big guy with a flat top. It could be Mel Gibson, Dolph Lundgren, Keira Knightly. She’s got range. Who knows?”
Taking over other movies
Prior to the start of production, a short Deadpool film called “No Good Deed” was released as part of the Logan marketing campaign in March 2017. Although telling us absolutely nothing too overt about the sequel, except for a direct reference to Nathan Summers (aka Cable) on the phone booth in the short, “No Good Deed” is filled with meta references to other Fox films and even a familiar theme song from the Distinguished Competition. It mostly takes place in a phone booth after all. There’s also references to Joss Whedon’s Firefly, several mentions of the word ‘Hope’ and its very own Stan Lee cameo.
When DEADPOOL 2 began production in June 2017, the first photo it released was via Reynolds’ Twitter account. The actor was in full costume lying in front of the X-Men Mansion. Shortly afterwards, filmmaker Taika Waititi got in on the action, commenting on his Hunt For the Wilderpeople star Julian Dennison was joining the Deadpool family. Waititi’s film didn’t escape parody either, with the publicity shot poking fun at both franchises.
Pictures worth a thousand words
Yet we really got a sense of just how batty the marketing was willing to be once actor Zazie Beetz was announced as Domino, a mutant who can manipulate luck. The promotional material was very simple, mimicking the first film’s announcement photo featuring Reynolds, who is now a Deadpool skin rug for the new character.
While news about the film was dominated by the tragic death of stunt woman Joi “SJ” Harris for a short while, a series of more traditional photo announcements were released showcasing Josh Brolin as Cable (a slightly better choice that Keira Knightley) and a few more of Beetz.
As the year drew to a close, the otherwise secretive production continued to give us the illusion of revelations with a series of clever seasonal art that openly mocked the social web’s obsession with memes. Naturally, these were shared absolutely everywhere – and why not? Deadpool at the Thanksgiving table with Cable and co, the Merc with a Mouth dressing the Christmas Tree, and even a mock cover of Good Housekeeping magazine with the anti-hero as the featured holiday guest. Where traditional marketing campaigns cast a wide net by having characters on everything from soda cans to bags of bananas, DEADPOOL 2 is quite happy to pee all over the 4Ps of marketing.
Happy little trees
In the midst of this seasonal fun, the first “trailer” for DEADPOOL 2 dropped in November 2017. We say “trailer” as it was mostly an in-costume and foul-mouthed parody of the clean-cut Bob Ross, known for painting “happy little trees” and clouds into his landscapes. It did actually reveal the first footage from the film, but it also sparked a series of art-based publicity pieces that continued to reference other films. For Brolin’s birthday, a piece of promo art saw Deadpool painting a portrait that referenced a distinctive earlier role for the actor.
Later, Cable took “revenge” with a series of fan-created images that directly nodded to some of Reynold’s less magical moments. The official campaign eventually dropped some more… famous pieces of art.
He’s a maniac: that’s for sure
By February 2018, audiences had come to unexpect the expected when it came to DEADPOOL 2 marketing. So naturally the latest poster for the film was a riff on the 1980s cult favourite Flashdance, featuring Deadpool on a chair being showered with bullets. Just a a steel town boy on a Saturday night, lookin’ for the fight of his life. In the real-time world no one sees him at all, they all say he’s crazy.
Accompanying the poster was a new trailer that introduced us to Brolin’s Cable in action. Half a minute into the trailer, Deadpool stops the footage in its tracks to complain about the special effects on Cable’s arm not being finished. He then proceeds to “recreate” scenes from the film using action figures, although Deadpool’s is using Woody’s costume from Toy Story. When the footage does finally play with “unrealistically fast” effects in place, Deadpool still turns to camera to comment on one of Brolin’s tough guy lines: “Well, that’s just lazy writing.”
Which brings us up to the latest trailer. That was the longest walk-up we’ve ever had to posting a link to a trailer. Don’t you think it was worth it?
A far more traditional trailer than the campaign so far would indicate, although it’s full of Easter Eggs and meta-references. There are tonnes of visual cues to the X-Men films, and a nod to Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants for some reason. “They probably won’t even make a Three,” comments T.J. Miller’s Weasel. “Why would they,” replies Deadpool. “Stop at Two, you killed it.”
Befitting a character who is aware of his own existence, Fox have cleverly built this meta-awareness into every aspect of their campaign. It’s clearly something that won’t work for every character, even if DC could probably stand to invest their world with a little more levity. Nevertheless, here’s an excellent example of a studio knowing the history of a franchise, trusting in the audience, and having a ball with bringing it to the public.
DEADPOOL 2 hits Australian cinemas on 17 May 2018 from 20th Century Fox. It is released in the US on 18 May 2018. We’ll leave you on one final image. Thank you for being a friend.
