So, Vanessa is dead; Or is she? For anyone who’s watched Deadpool 2, you saw within the first 15-minutes that Wade Wilson’s soulmate was murdered by a group of gangsters. This sparked a huge round of controversy that director David Leitch had to address: “It’s Deadpool’s movie, and you need to take everything away from him to humanize him. He can be grating and he can be sort of offensive and he can be all these things, but you need an emotional hook that grounds the movie that we can go on this journey with this character and experience Deadpool”
However, in a hilarious end credit sequence, Wade uses Cable’s time-travel device and saves Vanessa. This is a murky situation as Reynolds and Leitch have stated that they like to believe that Vanessa is alive and well, though Reynolds says that the situation could also be non-canon. Deadpool also kills himself from the X-Men Origins: Wolverine film so the situation could definitely be played strictly for laughs, nothing more. Going back to Leitch’s statement on the Vanessa controversy, I completely understand his point of view. Deadpool is pretty much invincible. You can shoot him, blow him up, or even cut off his head and he’ll just regenerate a new body. There does need to be stakes or an emotional hook and since taking away his powers is off the table, the most human thing about the merc with the mouth was his girlfriend, Vanessa. However, the main issue isn’t that Vanessa dies, it’s that she doesn’t do much and needed more time to develop. We’re invested in the relationship of Wade and Vanessa. She clearly loves him, and the first film showcased that she’s a strong and outspoken stripper with a heart of gold, but Deadpool doesn’t really dig into the roots of Vanessa. What are her goals? What were her dreams? Why is she a stripper? Is Vanessa Carlysle aka Copycat from the comics?
This is Wade Wilson/Deadpool’s film, so I understand that we weren’t going to get a deep exploration of who she is, but the film wasted a missed opportunity by not having fun with the Vanessa character. On the surface, she’s not a terrible supporting character. Her role is to aid Wade Wilson/Deadpool in his journey and she’s given some solid development. But she was taken way too soon. With Vanessa dying in the first 15 minutes, she feels more like a plot device to set up a big moment. There are plenty of ways to humanize Deadpool without killing Vanessa. Or, maybe Vanessa joins Wade on his adventures and she ends up dying during the mission? In retrospect, she just feels like Deadpool’s girlfriend. Nothing more really. The Vanessa showcased in the live-action films so far couldn’t headline her own movie because there’s just nothing special about her nor is there a deep connection outside the Wade Wilson relationship. I’m not here stating that she needed to be Vanessa Carlysle or that creative needed to go in-depth with her character. If Reynolds and crew only saw Vanessa as his first girlfriend and nothing more, then this is their world and they’re allowed to take her in whatever direction that they please.
However, as a person in a larger superhero universe, she doesn’t stick out and is quite forgettable. We like Vanessa, but no one will ever put her in the category for best character. There are plenty of ways of adding layers to a side character without overshadowing the protagonist. In fact, Domino is a fun side character that could helm her own movie. She’s charismatic and there’s intrigue in regard to her backstory over how she became a mutant. Even Blind Al is interesting. She’s an old black lady who’s into drugs and wasn’t disturbed over Deadpool’s blood-soaked clothing. Why does that not bother her? Is Blind Al a psychopath herself? Did she grow up in a world with other vigilantes? Why is she blind? A strong supporting character always has something about that them that makes you curious about their past or worldview. Vanessa does in a way, but the stripper angle isn’t all that interesting to explore. She doesn’t particularly have a quirk that stands out other than she’s hot. So, Vanessa checks off all of the basic boxes for a solid character, but she isn’t someone who will be remembered in the X-Men universe. The anger of her sudden murder was more so over the fact that creators axed her character without doing something interesting beforehand. Vanessa may be hot, but in a larger scope in terms of movies, she is a missed opportunity.X-Men
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