Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe #3 Review

*EXCLUSIVE FIRST REVIEW*

*CONTAINS SPOILERS* *MATURE READERS*

"What if everything you thought was funny about Deadpool…was actually just disturbing?" That was one of the lines in the promo blurb for this mini-series, and in this third issue, that really locks in.

Due to Psycho Man screwing with Wade Wilson's messed up head, a new voice has emerged in Deadpool's noggin'--cancelling out the old voices and giving him a 'clarity of vision' that he never had before. Deadpool's now either loopier than ever--or the only one that 'gets it;' that what we're reading isn't real, everyone's just a Marvel comic book character getting their strings pulled by Marvel, and he's had enough of having his strings pulled--he's gonna take out the Marvel Universe! Hero or Villain, look out--the Merc with a Mouth is gunning for you!

Deadpool's been busy since last issue. Witness to the bodycount he's been racking up in the days that have passed, we see Venom, Madrox and the Green Goblin are all now among the dead... Taskmaster's been hired by some of Wade's previous hits' bereaved to take him down, and following his trail, he comes across the smoking remains of kid-superheroes Power Pack.

(right-click on images and 'open in new tab' to enlarge)

Tasky (or 'Tony' to his friends) sees this as the point where Deadpool's crossed the line; he would've been happy to find and kill Wade for money before--but now he's going to do it because Deadpool deserves to die...

It's from this point that my earlier quote from the Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe promos started to sink in; for all Deadpool's 'This is just a funnybook' evangelizing, we are following a twisted killer here--the fun and funny side to Deadpool has taken a back seat to psychosis, and any humor now is tainted with sickness.

This is evidenced further as we cut to Wade torturing Professor Xavier--whom he's taken hostage inside a building that he's rigged with inventive, twisted booby traps--as he attempts to educate Charlie X on his beliefs, while the X-Men show up in a vain attempt to rescue him--and fall foul of Deadpool's maniacal machinations.

Deadpool tries to get through to Charles; to get him to see that all Marvel characters are just puppets being played by the Big M for the amusement of the general public, but the Professor is more concerned with the slaughter Deadpool's traps are wreaking, and determines to get inside Wade's mind and shut it down...

...But this backfires. Professor X can't handle what he finds in Deadpool's brain and is rendered a vegetable by connecting with it. Whether this is because of Deadpool's unspeakable insanity, or whether Charles has discovered what Wade's saying to be true and it's blown his mind, is left ambiguous.

Meanwhile, believed dead at Wade's hands last issue, Wolverine's healing factor has restored him and he's arrived at the building--making short work of super-villain Arcade, who's built Wade's traps for him--to take on Deadpool, who's now wearing The Beast's fur as a hunting trophy over his costume; another flash of trademark Deadpool humor, but again one steeped in his new sickness.

Once more breaking the Fourth Wall, Deadpool informs Wolvey that it isn't Logan's healing factor that truly keeps bringing him back, it's his popularity--*Wade slicing Wolverine's head off*--but that all the popularity in the world can't save him from what he has planned.

...At Dr. Strange's place, Taskmaster arrives to find Strange and his man-servant Wong murdered, and that Deadpool's ransacked the place looking for a magik book--and found it--and what's suggested inside the book makes issue #4, the conclusion of Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, for me, unmissable.

Artist Dalibor Talajic once again hits the right feel for the book, and Cullen's Bunn's writing again falls slightly short. As with the first issue, this one has another moment or two where suspension of disbelief is called for; particularly in how Taskmaster finds what he does at the end of the ish. But this book is exceeding my expectations in terms of its (Fourth Wall-breaking) angle; a maguffin that continues to make the book's intrigue exceed its shock 'n' schlock (which ain't bad either) value for me.

...If you didn't catch my reviews of issues #1, #2 and #3 you can find them by clicking on those numbers; you can also find a Preview of issue #4 here--and join me back here on Wednesday for my Review of Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe #4--the climactic conclusion! ;)