Over the past decade, “Deadpool” has become an unlikely success story, a raunchy outsider that upended Hollywood norms, shattered box office records and topped this summer’s box office with a total of $1.3 billion. reached new heights. Deadpool and Wolverine. This role also made Ryan Reynolds one of the biggest movie stars in the world.
But more quietly, the man behind Deadpool has parlayed that success into a reward that’s almost unheard of for any comic book creator. Over the past year, writer and artist Rob Liefeld has parlayed the character’s popularity into multiple deals with producers and studios in hopes of finding “the next Deadpool.”
April, in advance dead PoolReleased in July, Warner Bros. acquired avengerinAdapted from the 1990s comic “Fallen Angel” that fell to Earth. The film is directed by Olivia Wilde and produced by Margot Robbie and Simon Kinberg. According to multiple sources, the deal involves a purchase price of $2 million for Liefeld. Although it shows just how much Warner Bros. wants to stay in Robbie’s business after last year’s flop. BarbieLiefeld’s comics bring extra heft to the package.
Then in October, Liefeld did something he hadn’t imagined in decades: acquiring the film and publishing rights to “Youngblood” under one roof. It was a personal victory because it was the first comic published by Image Comics, the company Liefeld co-founded with other superstar artists who defected from Marvel in the early 1990s.
To seal the deal, Liefeld settled with publisher and producer Scott M. Rosenberg, who had made a name for himself with a humble black-and-white indie comic. man in black Become a hit movie for Will Smith. Rosenberg also owns certain rights to Young Blood’s creation, something that has bothered Layfield for years. With the issue resolved, Liefeld and Rosenberg then teamed up with producer Adrian Askarieh to begin building the IP. The trio met in October at CAA, WME, UTA and Range Media to promote the project as the last great superhero comic to remain unfilmed. All three eventually signed with CAA.
Both developments are on top of the royalties Liefeld has reaped from Deadpool’s surge in popularity. Liefeld has a unique deal among the creators of Marvel and DC characters. Some enjoy royalties from certain books or receive discretionary bonuses from the company for film or television use (Marvel, for example, pays some creators $5,000 for a character’s appearance in a film). But Liefeld gets paid every time Deadpool appears on screen, in merchandise, video games and comics. Even the late Spider-Man and Iron Man co-creator Stan Lee didn’t benefit from the deal. Nor Jim Starlin, co-creator of “Thanos,” “Gamora,” and “Shang-Chi,” or Todd McFarlane, co-creator of “Venom.”
“When ‘Deadpool’ hits ‘Fortress’, is that really good for my kids’ private education? Yes. Yes, it is,” he told Gizmodo In a 2020 interview. “My Deadpool revenue stream has been around since 1991.”
In some ways, 2024 is unlikely to be a third act for Liefeld. Liefeld broke into the comics world as a wunderkind creator in his early 20s, when he headed up Marvel Comics new mutants From a game with low sales and on the verge of cancellation to a revitalized relaunch more than a year later X-Forcethe first issue sold a record 4 million copies. Deadpool proved to be durable, especially after Layfield left to launch Image in 1992 along with other Marvel creators.
Although Liefeld’s comics filled comics shelves, his tenure at Image was short-lived. In 1996, he parted ways with the publishing house and its partners. But just as his comedic and artistic fortunes were declining, his Hollywood life was taking off.
new line post deal avengerin In the mid-1990s, many more followed. Very little touches on actual published comics. In 1998, Universal Pictures spent seven figures to produce the action film “The Mark,” starring Will Smith and directed by Steven Spielberg.
shrink! Formed in Colombia in 2002, Jenifer Lopez stars in and produced the film, described as Analyze it with superheroes. The promo involves just five visuals drawn by Liefeld, and the producers hope to eventually lead to a comic. shrink! Eventually languished in development hell, but was re-established in 2019.
In 2003, New Line Cinema acquired the sci-fi action comedy Terry planet The deal is worth six figures versus seven figures. The promotion centers on the Interstellar Witness Protection Program and is accompanied by 10 pages of unpublished comics. It was re-opted twice, resulting in more charges for Liefeld.
While those deals were being made, Liefeld enjoyed the Hollywood life, attending premieres and attending celebrity-studded house parties. But like the whims of the industry, Liefeld saw Hollywood’s fortunes declining and tried to get back into comics. first one dead Pool However, the film reignited interest in the artist, and Liefeld, never one to miss an opportunity, set to work. 2016, avengerin Paramount optioned the film for $300,000 to $600,000, with Akiva Goldsman producing. (That’s a steal compared to recent Warner deals.)
Graham King is reportedly trying to launch a Liefeldverse with characters from the creator’s 2017 Extreme Studios imprint in a seven-figure deal. The Prophet is about to get off the ground with Jake Gyllenhaal and the studio.
Liefeld likely earned between $10 million and $20 million from his creations and reputation as Deadpool co-creator, making him the most financially successful American comic book artist or writer.
“He’s the most successful comic creator who actually makes the least stuff,” one producer noted. “No one else was in his category. He managed to acquire all the titles and build a small empire.
The asterisk here is Mark Millar, author of comics such as wanted, kick ass and KingmanNot only has his work been adapted into hits and influenced the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he also sold his entire comic book publishing empire to Netflix in 2017. (There were rumors that Liefeld tried to sell his creative universe to Netflix in the form of La Millar, but according to insiders, that didn’t go very far.) The Walking Dead Creator Robert Kirkman transcended comics and became a small media mogul with his Skybound Entertainment, the company behind the Invincible and is actively involved in programming and other aspects of running a broad media company.
But Liefeld’s superpower is building an empire without building a giant company.
“Because of the success of Deadpool, there’s a real interest in Rob’s work,” one producer said.
