Ep74 - Rob Liefeld / "Deadpool 2"

So sit tight, this is playback. That's why. Okay, Henry Winkler sat here. Henry Winkler said, here man, just a moment and go home. Yeah, I told Deborah said till Henry. I said, hey, hey, sure he's never heard that. Yeah, exactly, and hit the jukebox. Come on, wholewis why I didn't into this morning? And he opened his mouth and the Foxes already into years. He's just telling me that you guys are like drilled into it. But I do not

I do not, I do not break. I'm good. Fox loves me because I've never screwed up, did I say never? Today's my day, Today's my day. Isn't that crazy? Though? You're gonna they protect these franchises, you know, I mean they Yeah, but from what you know, people find out something who cares? Spoiler culture is a little crazy, isn't it. This one is really like yeah, that's pretty They've done a really good job. I mean people have U had a guy call me and tell me, not tell me

on social media like I'm incensed. The Cable is a bad guy in this movie and he's a villain. And I said, you got all that from a minute and forty seconds and trailers because I said, you know, most of those trailers are skits. Actual footage you've seen is a minute and forty I said, so you've figured out a two hour movie on a minute. And like I told Paul, he was actually really resonably goes it's a really good point, man. Okay, I'll wait and see the movie. Awesome,

that's what That's what I think. The studios, these people take a bit and they run a narrative. Al Right, well we are recording my friend. Alright, everyone, we're here today with Rob Liffeld, the creator of characters like Deadpool, Cable, Domino, all of whom will be in Deadpool to releasing this weekend, so we're changing enough a bit. We've got a comic book guy in here. This love it. Thank you, Thanks

for I wanted to have you in here. Obviously, uh focus on talk about Deadpool, but I also wanted to get your perspective just on where we're at. Like the comic book movie landscape, you know, I mean, it's a fascinating landscape to me because it's actually not new. I mean, certainly it's dominant now, but you go back, you look like Superman too. Three Batman movies throughout the nineties. These movies in their time, one the opening weekend box office records.

So it's like these There's been popularity with the genre for quite a long time. Lately it's super dominant. And I'm just curious what you think about that landscape, especially because things are so dominant at a time where it seems like comic book sales are trending downward. So why do you think there's such a mean, this is such a great question. Let me tell you something. I'll go

straight to the heart of what you asked about. What you said about the Batman franchise, The comic book movies had to move beyond him to get any any belief from from the town, the studios of filmmakers because the Adam West TV show and the cartoons, and they just said, oh, that's Batman. Batman always does one. Certainly the movie the

first movie with Keaton and Nicholson extremely well. But in the early nineties, when I was called to every executive suite, everybody wanted to get into the comic business, the comic movie business. And they would sit there and I appreciate the honesty on behalf of a couple of them. I was on the board of Marvel Comics. I know comics are big. I don't know about anything you're doing, but I know Batman does well, and we should do a movie. And I was like, I don't want to be in

business with this guy. This, this is this is the road to nowhere. And then these are the guys that do the Jack Ryan movies, Patriot games whatever. They think it's a good idea to have comic book movies. And then I meet with him and I'm telling you, man,

they didn't know anything about comics. They just knew that on the Ledger Batman had made some money, but nobody went forward the Marvel movies certainly weren't getting any traction in the nineties early nineties, and uh, I was sitting with the President of Paramount, John Goldwin is his name. He went on to be producer on like that serial killer show Dexter. He was a president of Paramount. He

had sought me out in the early two thousands. He liked young Blood because of the genetic manipulation of the characters, because he had transformed his own body through working out and all the this is all the stuff it told me, and I was like, wow, this this is interesting. His his perspective, well, Olevan, Orange County, which is an hour and a half from here. So when I get called up to a meeting by the president of Paramount, I

assume it was pretty good news. But drew me all the way up to inform me, and he whipped out a chart. I could not believe it. I had a chart. Rob We've done some internal examining of this superhero trend that's going on right now. By that time, you'd had one Spider Man movie and maybe two x mens And he said, we believe this is a bell curve, and we believe this bell curve is going to end, and we would be in, by our estimates, in the middle

of making our movie at the best case scenario. Best case the development goes great and the bell curve would be over and we would be whold left hold in the bag. And that's just not a situation we could be in. And I said, hey, man, I could not disagree with you more. You have guys who have clause coming out of their hands. You have people who are literally flaming on you have Spider Man swinging across the

sky in Manhattan. You can't go back to Bruce Willis with his bare feet on glass and a gun in a building. It's just we've moved beyond that. We are now and next. This is what special effects were made for. And these are rich characters. But Superpowers is going to become the game of the day. It's it's it's it's where we're gonna be enticed, and not just the visual of the superpowers, the responsibility and all the conflict that

comes with it. And I said, next time, just call me, Just call me and tell me you're not doing it. I don't need to drive all the way up here for you to tell me that you have a chart and and and and that is such a rich memory for me because I remember going, he is one percent wrong, and to find out that I was right and paramount if you examine their history other than distributing the Marvel films briefly before Disney bought them, just in distribution distribution deals,

they never made it compliment. The other thing that you think is you're walking to get in your car. They've they're gonna make another Common movie. They just haven't announced it yet. That's why Mind got dealt out of the deal didn't happen. They did not make a Common movie. They got into the Transformers business. But the the fact that and and you just go, that's when I'm up against. That's what That's what Kevin Kevin Figy broke through that first on the X Men movies, then with Iron Man

and look Man. I remember in two thousand six Wall Street Journal downgrading Marvel as a stock because all they had and and I've got it at home, D list characters. That's all that's left. Spider Man, the X Men, and the Fantasy before are spoken for. All they've got is Iron Man or Captain American. I's laughed. And now where we're at is these are giant dramas, spectacles. It's soap opera. The way Marvel rolls it out, you can't miss the next chapter. You can't. They just make it impossible for

you to skip it. The interesting take is how anybody else gets in the door because Marvel has ocked it up. I don't ever believe. I believe because, as I've told you before when we've spoken, I have a fourteen year old, a sixteen year old, and an eighteen year old as of today, and they have adopted these films as their mythology. And I my son, so I his name is Luke.

He might have been influenced by Star Wars because he's dead, is obsessed with it, but I handed I made sure he Luke's my oldest first movie was Revenge of the Sif, and I took him to the theater. He's five years old, and I saw his mind get blown away by Star Wars, and I knew I had a convert right there. He's gonna do that with his kid. Whatever moral movies coming out, and that kid is gonna completely because we'd have to jump to the it suddenly jumped to the conclusion, and

suddenly the movies are going to be poorly made. And I think as long as fagg he's there, Hey, Kevin, it's five year FAGGI I always mistaken, but there you go. Uh, as long as he's there guiding it, obviously the quality level is going to maintain. I mean, he's that franchise is Kathleen Kennedy? You know? I mean so? But did the long, long answer is I've encountered it. Batman was seen as just Batman's success. Well there's Batman. Well, Batman

has always been part of the culture. It was I'm telling you, man, they just believed Batman was his own thing and that's why they couldn't break through with anything else. Um, d C will keep getting the shot because people want to see good versions of those characters. They are also beloved. But Marvel, I believe the future is ten years from now, we're still talking about their dominant franchise. And it's crazy because DC Warner Brothers they had a huge head start here.

I mean that stuff was under their purview for a very long time. Uh. And you know it takes vision I guess, uh, somebody with passion for the characters to see. I mean, this is stuff that us geeks were talking about for years was how cool would it be if we could just see all these characters share universe on screen. It's like people have been talking about it, wanting it for so long. It's amazing. It took some some and

so long to pull the trigger. And they only took so long because Marvel, because they're waiting for all these properties to come back under there their scope. So and I believe, like I mean, I said this to my kid the other day, a GUALI looked, do you remember two years ago when the biggest cinematic event of our time was going to be the Justice League? They're coming together on screen. They're coming to either Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Acquaman,

They're coming together. Um. The thing is if you look back, because I love that social media always tells us what's happening fifteen years ago, this day or you know this day. It always has the styles of factor. And I think it was like last week was fifteen years since the first Spider Man and Ego, So fifteen years we've had three Spider Man and the new one seems like the favorite. I mean, Todd, I don't I don't want to refer

to him as a product. Tom Holland. You know, but you go, we've already done McGuire, and forgive me, I'm blanking on brilliant Andrew Garfield, who kind of got the sword in because I thought he was great, but character was so and he was great. The second movie really let him down. That's my opinion. The second movie looked like a nineteen Batman movie. It felt like we've gone with we've just gone backwards. Uh. And again the fans are too savvy for that there too. They've they've now

sampled so many nineteen Marvel Disney films. I mean, that's that's a lot, right, And uh, you know, like I said, my my I think my kids. You know, my my son's birthday fell on two years ago and he turned sixteen when Civil War came out, and his mother and I drove all twelve kids to the theater and they that was I mean, that's their birthday parties. Many I got.

I was searching through his birthday pictures today and there it was him and his buddies, all standard from the Civil War banner and he I mean, these are our event films. And I'm telling you, man, I've been in comics thirty two years professionally thirty two years, so it is since you were like four years old. That's right,

that's right. It has blown. It is it is. I remember NBC put on a whole movie that had Thor on it, the Trial of the Incredible Hulk, and fandom was so excited and the Thor portrayal at the time didn't suck, and they kind of played up the rousing Viking and I remember all of us watching it and being so thrilled and uh and the Dartable one was decent. They did too, and You're like, it was like, this is the best we get. This is the best we get.

And now you look back in those days and go, oh, we moved away beyond this, Like you know, so, what did you think of Infinity War? Uh? It was as big as I expected. It had great pairings, great uh uh fights like like and I you understand, I think I've expressed this TOI me. Up until that point, they all seem like they have the same power and Captain America, Iron Man, Spider Man, and the Hulk are not the

same power levels in the comics. When I was a kid, they in one of the Spider Man annuals in the back they had groupings power level A power level B and like the ultimate was like Silver Surfer and Doctor Strange. And so to see in this movie that finally, because in the films it seems like Cap can take a punch for a Hulk and and Iron Man and Cap can have a fisticuffs and you're like, in the comics,

iron Man is way more powerful. But I don't know what the deal is, but they all seem like the same, the same power level, and probably Luke Cage could walk in and have the same power level from from the TV show. But seeing Doctor Strange at a different power level was befitting the story. And uh, not surprisingly my favorite Thor and Doctor Strange were my most compelling characters in the film. I thought they had the most fun

or most to do. And then obviously I gotta tell you, I mean last year, Andy Serkis got all that run deservedly so for Caesar. Every time he plays that that the plane of the eighth role. I believe Josh should be up for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Panos. The mo cap alone deserves awards. We had the root was in here and I told him I was like I didn't know if I expected him to phone it in, but I just didn't expect such a full performance and it was so compelling. Josh had warned me ahead of

time that it was his film. This is really my phone, you know. I mean, I was like, I'm like, okay, and uh, you hear that, and you know it's there's thirty superheroes in there, Josh, it's not and then you

oh it really it really is analys film. And when Mantis is on his shoulders, uh, and they're fighting him and she's trying to calm him down, and there's are really tight shots of his face going through all the spectrum of emotions as he tries to regain his anger and she's trying to pull him back and calm him.

The expressions and the work, it was flawless. I'm like, I like they genetically created fan ofs and you go, no, no, I love that Marvel put out that photo of Josh with the stick behind him, with the high fanos picture and all the green dots and the black The appreciation for I mean, what he had to do is in um. And I would also say this if he was not cable. UM. I was that impressed. I was, so I think Infinity War. Look again, I also see it through my kid's eyes.

I told you, my son told me that it was the biggest cinematic event of his generation. And I saw Iron Man when he was eight Infinity War when he's eighteen. This is a culmination of everything they promised, and he freaking he loved it. I mean, I don't know how if you're you know, plugged in with any of those guys over there, have any idea where they're going with it. So maybe not, but you know it's gonna speculate with me.

I mean spoilers if you haven't Infinity War somehow and listening to this, but where do you think they're gonna go? I literally spent weeks. Now it's two weeks later. I've kind of been distracted by Deadpool and I'm not thinking about it as much. But I literally I'm likeike, is there a time jump? Is there? Are the only spoilers to me, there's one giant thing that's been looming in the press, and the fact that they're making another Spider Man movie like this summer that makes it difficult to

take on face value. Some of the stuff that happened in the film, So I'm just not certain, and I am as anxious as anybody. I think they probably know they have the most anticipated trailer of all time, because we'll all see what they're doing when that comes together. I mean, I gotta be honest, I was. I left a little confused. Um, I didn't. I knew I'd be devastated.

I didn't expect to be confused, and I was a little confused as to what I just wantrobably expected other characters to perish, right A couple of them I thought were queued up for momentous deaths, and when it didn't happen. I gotta be honest, I was like, oh, wait, that is it gonna is there gonna be a better opportunity than that. I mean, I felt the whole spectrum of emotions. It was, You're you're shock and awe, You're impressed by

the performances, You're excited by the pairings. I mean, dude, Hemsworth calling raccoon rabbit never got old to me, never. I mean, must have done it ten time. And then and here's my friend Tree. That maybe my funny. I mean, I think that stuff is just the gold of the movie that's Golden and and and racks. This is a pirate married to an angel or whatever however you describe a certain invisible Yes, that's great. You can't see me. I mean, so they had great bits, there's really good stuff.

You know. Well, it's interesting is I AMDB released the screen time and it was great. I did a quiz with my kids the other because I got it. And you can see, like who had the most screen time in the film, and you go, Christopher Ovans is on screen for four minutes and twenty two seconds. That's it. That's it, And they've got everyone. It's great. You'll get consumed when you get it. You'll be consumed by it. Um. Obviously Josh is twenty nine and a half minutes on screen,

uh in a two hour movie. Twenty But I mean it literally gives you how much everyone is in the movie. And it's that's the great thing about it is the balance of all it. Uh. Yeah. And to your point about you know, being skeptical of of those who appear to die in the movie, I mean also like Black Panther just is about to tap out of seven million dollars. It's kind of hard. That's it. That's and that's you know. My kids, my my my youngest son fifteen years old,

was like, give me a break, he said, Dad. They didn't know how how big Black Panther was gonna be. That's what That's what it turns out to me, the first thing he said to me. And I'm like, Okay, don't say that too loud or the premiere. Don't say that like we have to act like that's we totally didn't see that coming either. Um. Yeah, so no, I mean, look, it's gonna be great to see how In my mind, okay, in my mind, I wonder if they're all in a different Are they all in a realm that they have

to fight their way back? That's my first thought is they're all joined in a realm where they're going to see each other in some weird lavender filter and they're all gonna I know nothing, I'm making this up, and they're all going to have to find their way back. On the meantime, clearly Tony starts going to take point and try and rally everyone, and then we don't know how clearly Captain Marvel's gonna factor into it. So and we have the clues of of Strange making the decision

he makes exactly which which makes Tony so important. But I'm I'm telling you that, but then then Strange disappear. So like I said, doctor Strange is my co star of the film. He's you canna understand the doctor Strange comments while we're growing up Frank Brunner, Marshall Rogers, Paul Smith, Michael Golden. Some of the best art and stories ever

produced with that character. And uh, I'm such I adore that character and seeing how he was portrayed and how powerful and how just I love when we said, actually, can I say that I like combabout with the American accent better. I'm sorry. He I love when he talks. When he talks smack to Tony, starkins like, well, yeah, I'm maybe the one person who doesn't work for you, douche bag. I was like, wow, hearing that was great, that was great. I was get to the Deadpool, get Pool.

I want to start, you know, like, yeah, I know the history. I know, I know Ryan's history of trying to make it happen. I know the history of the various companies that tried to put something together. But all of that being said, you're the guy to ask why did it take so long to get a faithful rendition of this character on the screen, And even whenever that written version was greenlit, there was trepidation. There was I'll do it, I'll jump on the sword, I'll do it.

I you know, I don't really work in the movie business. I don't or this is not I'm a comic book creator. I derive of my income from comic books and the comic book world, so I kind of have always been able to navigate and speak freely. And the answer is towards Tom Rothman. Tom Rothman, ladies and gentlemen, he is now the president of Sony. I wish him well, good for you. Uh. He's a canny uh operator in the business,

obviously very smart, produced a lot of movies. I had a one on one meeting with him when I had a project Will Smith, and um, when he CONTs in his mind to dismiss something, he was very dismissive towards us. I am sitting with Will Smith, the biggest star of two summers. Will Smith has give granted me his favor, said, I'm gonna attach myself to your screenplay. The project was called The Mark. We went and saw all of the different studio heads over a two day period. Very exciting,

great memory. Will was as charismatic, as devoted as uh, just compassionate about the project. But we probably didn't make it through ten minutes and Rothman dismissed it. I didn't see it. Organ not gonna happen, not with him, not with anybody. And we were gone. And uh, uh you know the funny thing is, over the years, Rhett and Paul recent Paul Wernick and Tim Miller, if I can show you some of the crazy pants ideas that were being tossed around about how to get this movie attention

enough to get it made. Uh, this is post the footage. You understand it when Tim Tim came on and uh, I read the script in twenty and was blown away. I love the nonlinear aspects, all the stuff that stayed in the movie, the R rate, the R rated nature of all of it, how the raunch, the violence. I just said, people will eat this up. They've never seen anything like this. And when you read it, it was

a small movie. It seemed like a small, right out of film school Tarantino movie because there was not a lot of big in it. But it was relentless. It was funny, it was paste wonderfully, and so I read it. I had started campaigning for it online. It got a lot of juice. I got some websites to carry it. I thought, I'm trying to be a good soldier here, I'm trying to help. Uh. Right after the script came in, Rothman just was not committal. But I didn't allow it

to die. I can tell you I'm not. It's not my story to tell you all the directors that passed on it, but I got some juicy ones um and I would always contact Rhet. What what did he say? I didn't get good because Raett was my point guy. Uh. But when I saw the movie other day, I I I talked to Ryan and then immediately called Rhet because he always was really kind to me and was always keeping me in the know. And I said in the email,

You've always been my point guy. You've always told me so, I just want to tell you how great Deadpool two came out from being in an end. But Rhett would always on me, oh, this guy wasn't in. This guy And I was like, you know, some of these directors should have directly dead Pool. But I'm glad they didn't because Tim did and it was great. So Tim comes on board. I get a phone call. I'm coaching my kids flag football team and I get a phone call and I don't know the number, and I picked it

up and he said, Hey, Rob, I'm Tim Miller. This is uh when introduced myself, I got your number. I hoping to mind I'm doing Deadpool. I want to, you know, just make contact with you and and and get you in into the process. So I was there the day that they shot the um the two Minute Teezer and uh, I'm like, look at this all green screen and guys you know with with with broom sticks. I mean, it was just crazy. And they showed me what was doing and I'm gonna tell you, I'm like, this is it.

When I saw the finished I'm like, this is it's getting green light. It's getting a green light. That's that's I'm like, we're gonna drink, We're getting the green light.

It's happening, and uh, yeah, that didn't happen. And he he was kind enough to let me come up to Bluer Studios, which at that point was it's in Culver City now, but for where it was then Uh, maybe Manhattan Beach and uh come up to and he had the great theater room, and I would just I'd bring friends all the time, and we lived off of the two and a half minute footage. Uh. So nothing seemed

to push Rothman over the edge. I thought for sure when he saw how great Deadpool looked and moved and and and now the jokes you know, came off and just the combination. I thought it was because of the movie never had a big budget, but for whatever reason, we had an opponent to the film. And when he left Fox, uh is I can tell you I was standing behind uh and entering into an after party, fortunate enough to be at one of these after parties, and I Jim Gianopolis, who was the president of Fox and

green Light. Deadpools now at Paramount, and I have a movie called Vangeline about a fallen angel at Paramount. So I'm just trying to make all these connections. I said, Jim, Hey, it's Rob, because I had seen him to end of the Deadpool process, certainly on the promotional tour and everything. And he goes Rob Hey, and I said, I just want to thank you again for pulling the trigger and making dead Pool, and he goes Rob and James Gunn

if you're listening here, I'm gonna go on record. Jim goes Rob, you know what really what really convinced us was Guardians. When Guardians of the Galaxies he opened, it was so big. And that Monday at our meeting, Emma put the Deadpool script on the table and said, you know, we've got that right here. We've got that right here. Emma is the president production and she goes, ours is a little runch here, we can do this with an

R rated tinge to it, and Jim goes, uh. I just Guardians really showed us what what we could do and what was we were capable of. It's funny because I've had a lot of my agent, my manager, They've always said Guardians. Guardians kicked that door wide opening. So I'm gonna tell you, man, that's end of. That's end of. And still didn't get a green light for a year, dude, So like it's this was crazy. So there's your long But man, I just sewed together about six years in

about fifteen minutes. But I'm telling you, man, I literally I'll tell you how completely uh numb and disassociated with it. I had become was so. The footage leaks after San Diego perfectly. Everyone gets home from San Diego. It's about ten thirty at night Pacific. That means every sandeens at five o'clock. If you're on the West coast, takes three hours to get them. Anyway, if you're on the East coast, you're you're settled down and you're the show is over.

You have access to your computer, you're gonna get hit by a tweet boom. The foot the most brilliant leak ever constructed. In my opinion, everyone suddenly did. People comes to talk of the convention circuit, and I thought, give us seventy two hours. We're gonna we're gonna get a green light. Right. Still nothing. About six weeks later, I'm upstairs in my artists loft where I work, and my kid runs up to me. My teeth so he's fifteen. Dad, Dad,

they're making Deadpool, Dad, Dad, they're making tad Pool. I said, son, No, no, no, that's just a bad rumor. I saw that the other day too, Son, that's not true. No, Dad, Dad, it's Deadline dot com. They're making Deadpool. And I'm telling you, I get I get a little emotional because I did. I cried, I think like a baby. I was like and it wasn't just for me, man, it was for Tim and Rhett and Paul and everybody who had been along this process. That script, the script you saw is

written in like that's that's six years. Most of the most stuff like that, scripts that sit in language for five six years. Even if they're champion, they don't make it. They don't. They fall by the wayside. We are so lucky that no one ever came into the rewrite. Did two rewrites did well, I've got a new direction on dead Fool. They stuck with the source material. And uh so that was I mean, and I send like literally,

I was still dismissing him, and he ran up. He literally shoved his iPad in front of my face to show me deadline dot Com. And that's when in Tim's like, we're making it happen, dude, And I mean, so then that's I think that's October, late September, October, and then I mean they're they're shooting in February. So it suddenly went from never happening. What's interesting, too, is just predating all of that. The glimpses we got of them in visual media, I mean morph turning into him on the

animated series. Everybody's like, well that was Deadpool for a second. That was awesome. You know, little things like that, Oh look I get all that. I'll get all the receipts, all the toys. Deadpool was in plastic from all the way through you know present, I mean all the statues, all the action figures. And then I'm gonna tell you that the great thing. And this was so funny because I would never be douchey and tell my kids, oh,

your dad made this and that. No that's not They didn't even process their five and they're three or their seven and their five. Um where they got to know Deadpool was there was a run from two thousand eight toleven. Marvel put him in Ultimate Alliance. He was an unlockable character. He was hysterical, action packed everybody who have to plan and then he was a level on I think Spiderman Dark Something Dark Universe. He was like level four the

Deadpool level. Then U what broke him through? Because it was a Saturday afternoon. I had gone out to lunch. I came back. Every kid in the neighborhood is piled on our couches and their playing the uh the Xbox, and it's Deadpool battling Deadpool on the Marvel versus Capcom because I went out and bought that game. My kids obviously they love they love Marvel video games. So you

got Ultimate Alliance. Also Cable was in that too, but you got Deadpool and Marvel Ltimate Alliance, the Spider Man game. And then I'm telling you, man, Marvel versus Capcom, I don't know cap Comma, I don't know a single kid who didn't love playing a dead He was monster in that game. And uh breaks out the giant gun. Yes, the same thing, and and and so as you said, thank you for like, Deadpool lived in all media except film,

except film. He was statues, t shirts, clothes, apparel. And I'll tell you, man, I give a shout out to the cause players. I really I felt like they were um keeping around two thousand six, man, they started showing up, and then it really built to a crest in the late two thousand's. Uh. And now you can't go to a show and see I'll see thirty dead Pools every

show I go to. And there are characters who maybe had tracks and two three years ago, they're not out there anymore because caused players like to move on and do a new character. Deadpool is that army is strong. That army is strong. Let's talk about the new movie a little bit. Like I said, three of your enduring creations in this dead Pool Cable Domino shatter Star. She had started in the commercial you can't you can't hide him right, I mean, I thought it was a secret.

And then I woke up eight o'clock one morning and there's the commercial I'm shotters. I'm like, Okay, I guess we're not hiding that anymore. Um. Also, we're in a backround Vanessa that that that she she is. And and right after Wolverene origins, I was invited up to the Daughter production officers because they wanted to get dea pol right. They realized right afterwards day, so they called my agent. My agent put me in the room, very exciting afternoon

kind of breaking story ideas and telling them. I mean, I couldn't believe the words came out of my mouth. Don't po cable in the first dead Point movie. If you can do deer movie, don't weigh him down. That's too much information. Stand and what they said, Rob, do we have his um romance against just be Vanessa or Siren? And I said, Vanessa, it's got to be the NSA, don't you again? Sirens? Complicated? She has she has obvious superhours a lineas to one of like basic, just keep

it basic. And then Marianna Bocker and is just that chemistry between Ryan and her, Wade and Vanessa is gold. So I mean, look, I love seeing them all. It throws me, but this, it does seem like a a smaller sport of life, felt it must question Christic. I could not be more excited now. It did not come out. It didn't come about gray hairs along the way. The

casting of Cable and Domino stressed me out. Stressed me out like a few things have ever stressed me out because you don't want to get it wrong like I and I would practice. How am I going to conduct myself if someone I can't stand is cast as Cable? Because I'm gonna get you haven't lived until nine, Yeah, for about six years year I go to conventions. I'm in the public. Hey, what's up with Wolfrine Orangins? Sicker Wood? That becomes your calling card and you have to and

you know, I see I rehearsed it. I rehearsed it. Even that summer two said, well, you know, it's a start. It's just a start. It's not the end of the journey. It's just a start. We're gonna get there. We're gonna get And even I was like, oh, if I say it's a start one more time, I'm gonna pass out because I don't know that it's a start. But I'm spinning. I'm spinning it. So I'm like, how am I gonna

spin if somebody I can't stand gets to be cable? Um, And so I I feel like we hit the lot, the lotto with Josh Brolin is doing some interesting stuff to make it. You know, it looks like he looks

a little different, you know than your condition obviously. Uh. You know it's he's got that sweet haircut, he's got the hips, but there's that scarred there's that going on, and there's that awesome cybernetic arm which looks it's great to finally see him, and he's really um, he's I I can't imagine anybody along the way, And trust me, there weren't there weren't a whole lot of them that I thought were the right because I mean we're talking

forty plus actors and guys you never heard of. Guys you heard of that, you never heard how deep they petitioned because because the wrestlers put it out there on the front street that they wanted to be cable. So who were serving? Who were some of those? Um? Who was it? Well? Um blank, And I'm blanking, but certainly, um, I love him. He's not a restaurant obviously a good actor. Is that. The avatar guy Stephen lank Ron Chroman petitioned

that I'm missing the sports personalities. I'm just blanking right now, But there were there were guys who were out there banging the drums and I should be considered look at me, And I'm like, let's not look at you, and that's not gonna happen. Let please, please, let's all go the build. Yeah, Josh is great. He's so great in his chemistry with Ryan,

with with with Wade is It's terrific. But I gotta tell you, Um, I do not think audiences are ready for how much they are gonna walk out and be in love with zazzy beats as Domino she is, She's phenomenal. She's it's not how she looks, it's how it's how she plays. She's I I really, um just I'm like, people don't know that they have. They've they've they've hinted at her, but they haven't given you the full breadth.

And I gotta tell you, man, that's like the Wizards in the Fox, you know, marketing and Ryan and the fact that they keep showing you, like two minutes of the movie, just some different angles and making you think you're seeing all of it. It's great because they're not showing you, like Law, most of the movie has remain hidden, which for me, I think it matters. They worked, they want they wanted to keep it under wraps, and so

it's good. It's good stuff. You're gonna have fun. I just want to get into two more things before I let you go. Your Extreme Universe. You know, you get to deal with Netflix developing it with Kiva Gold. Yes, he's winning screenwriter, producer. You know, I'm not sure what you can talk about, what you want to talk about? What what? What there is to talk about? What I'm curious about is you know this is gonna be your characters like Blood Strike brigade y cybrid kabooms, Yes, those guys. Uh,

it's a set family of characters. Are you interested in writing new characters into this universe? Like? What kind of writing would you do on this project? You know what? I have a the for about three years. My manager, he Let Batrick, my manager has represented writers for the last decade. He's really good with breaking stories scripts. He's for about four years. I just tutored under him and

I and I and I read. I wrote probably four or five screenplays and uh and he would you know, really come at me, reapproach, re approach the stuff that the last thing I wrote was a reject screenplay because I figured, I know this, I know exactly the voice I wanted to have in this. I want I know that angle and uh, that is is going to be something that I you know, I've told the key, but this is the one I'm in a champion from my perspective. Buddy Kiba also said to me, Rob, I'm very difficult

on writers. And as he's saying that, you're looking at the oscar over his shoulder on the mantel, um, Yeah, you kind of want an Academy Award for being a brilliant writer. I get it. Uh so you know, I mean there's there's a writer's room that's being uh selected right now. When it gets announced, it'll you know when everyone is signed, because again you call and your solicit people, but they have to see if they have the openings

and then make the deals. Uh you know, as as your guys, as your listeners, no doubt are aware any deal that you here took a year to make. I mean this Netflix. Uh. First of all, Kiva is very passionate. I don't feel like I'm in any hurry going back to being a compona person to sell any of my stuff. Short, I don't need to cash out on my characters. I feel I feel like I've protected them for twenty five years.

I'll continue to protect them. There were a couple opportunities that I really wasn't thrilled about, but I was told to consider, and I kind of went down that path and I didn't like where it led. And but Akiva was still there, and uh, when I met with him, he sold me on his passion. He came at me with a pitch for Eventeline that sold me in the room,

and I'm like, it's just enough. It's just different enough but completely retains the original, but it's got a fresh approach that uh we He and I made that deal like forty eight hours later, and Paramount bought it like seventy two hours later. So I believe in Akiva and I also a huge fan of uh the stuff he's done with Star Trek Discovery and the reason I'm bringing this up. He was like telling me how how much pressure it was to launch a genre show for the

streaming platform. I mean, there was the Good Fight and then there was Star Trek Discovery, and Star Trek Discovery obviously had a giant priority because of what it is, and uh, that was a huge success for CBS and the Star Trek franchise. And then the funny thing is I am the co creator of the female Dove, Don Granger, and he had a Dove statue when I walked in and told me I'm doing the Titans show, and uh,

I would be on the set with him. Uh. Today we're not for all the Deadpool press I'm doing because they're doing another very heavy Hawk and Dove episode. And uh, you know Akiva is he speaks fluent comic book. Uh. In between Star Trek and between Titans and watching him work and watching his passion and Titans is now going to launch the DC streaming network. So it's like he speaks streaming extremely well. He's become like the top showrunner

in that field. And so when when he said, Rob, I want you to consider Netflix, I said, no, no, no no, I don't need to consider it. It's done. Let's do Let's do Netflix, because I believe there's two I'm gonna go back and you're gonna go. Rob really obsessed with kids. They're teenagers. They are trend setters. You watch what they do. They are always on their devices. It kills me that they watch movies on iPhones, but I've given over, like

that's their generation and iPads. I mean, they're always in their consuming in the and it's Netflix. Netflix is everything in them, the Marvel Shows, Stranger Things. So I could not. I was like, once Netflix enter the picture, I'm gonna tell you right now, there was no way I was not landing on network. Absolutely. I mean, and you know everyone's eager for a shared universes. Netflix is right to have something like this on there. I believe that the Disney Fox deal helped m help them go. Maybe we

should have more. I mean, it was a really right time, right place, right people together. Um, the film division over there, because again these aren't TV series, these are each we have five five movie deal to escalate our universe and build it over Netflix, and I'm gonna take man. I love what they're doing in film was going to be the first one out of the gate. There. You think

when that's decided, we may be wrestling over that. And again i've i've I I have a good amount of say, but I defer to akivas Um wisdom in his thirty years in this business, people forget also accupated Fringe. Um also directed a lot of those Fringe episodes. Um, he's he's a genre guy. That's what he does. And I couldn't be thrilled to be more thrilled to be in

business with him. And also, like I said, Netflix, and it may have been your magazine Variety that I just laughed because I stay at my house all the time. But it's better when Variety says it and I can show my kids. I said, Uh, why Marvel and Netflix are the future? Uh or the two biggest brands entertainment.

I'm like and I'm in both. Yes, Like families. That might have been something I wrote because something of the Russo's was saying, Joe Russo was talking about Marvel and story you guy, and I'm like, I'm living this and it's exciting and uh Netflix was that? Was that that? Because again, it's the future to me. They've only just started to find their way and I'm thrilled to be a part of it. Well, let me just wrap up by uh, you know last year anniversary of Image was

the last year it was. Yeah, and I was I was telling you earlier. I was a big Image guy. I collected every first issue that first year and a half two years. I've got trench Er, I've got tribe, I've got loving and I've got profit, I've got I love, I've got all of it. Uh, just any brief thoughts on I mean, I'm sure you were asked about this plenty last year, but just in the limelight, the wake of the Image Comics kind of lightning bolt that it was.

It could not be prouder of Image Comics, should not be prouder of what we accomplished. I can't tell you how many people uh stopped me in the last six months and tell me they saw the episode on AMC that Robert Kirkman produced about the formation of Image Comics, I think it was. You know, you're talking about seven guys who decided they were going to rest on their laurels. You understand, I had just sold five million copies of X Force. Jim Lee had sold eight million copies of

X Men. That came. We were living on the top of the charts. We were getting the biggest paychecks in the business. And back then that's a lot of royalties. Royalties on five million issues is a lot of money. And to say I'm gonna go over here, I'm gonna become uncomfortable. I'm gonna go against uh, the two big publishers because we're gonna be seen as hostile, which we were. And shaking up the industry was the funnest, most fun

I ever had in my life. We we were dumb, stupid, but we had talent and we had a voice, and we knew exactly like we knew our audience, your audience really well, and our audience carried us. And we had to find you know, suddenly I'm running a company and Jim's running a company, and to run a company and you know, at the at the peak of extreme studios, I had sixty six employees, three shifts for the color department. But and and the great thing is nobody ever wanted

to go home because it was a giant clubhouse. And uh, but we made some really great stories. Again the content, uh, the cane enable that are in Blood Strike and Brigade with the two Stone brothers, Cabot Stone and John Stone. Uh, that's explored. That's that's a big piece of the of of the movies, that that you have a cane enable

in comics. That it's it's something that you don't find that no other universe has this, this dynamic two brothers with these giant you know, weapons at their disposal, these two different departments that can go to war and wage war with each other. And why do they hate each other? And why aren't there friends and all that stuff. But image comics, you got Saga, you got Walking Dead. You don't, you don't, you don't know what's coming out next? Five Girls,

Paper Girls, which I got Brian Vaughn. I love you. I prefer Paper Girls. I love Saga. That's how good Paper Girls is. I think it's so good. But I think it's what all these other I won't name names, but some of these nostalgia plays I think want to

be Yeah, okay, I don't say so. Anyway, The thing is it's a great place still for creators to uh expand And whether it's Rick Reminder who's doing this thing with with the Russo's Deadly Class, or you got Donny Kates who blown up at Marvel right now, but he blew up an image first with with God Country and uh, I forget his Vampire book, but it's great. Uh. Stuff like that I've heard is in that some people are interested in making. You know, whatever image property makes it

to the screen first is going to be significant. IM see Walking dead beat everybody. But you know, maybe it's spawned, maybe maybe it's maybe it's your in the new world again that that's that's that's different it is it is,

it's a different world. Um I really count like I count X Men Singers, x Men first movie as the beginning of the new eighth than than Iron Man two eight is the beginning of the current age, and maybe Infinity Wars closing it up, or maybe Deadpool two is opening up the new chapter, you know, I mean, and

there's an opportunity there with the image stuff. To have a shared I mean obviously you guys had your five terms, but like you know, to have a shared thing with those those O g s. Yeah, well, we'll see how the entertainment attorneys. They don't always hey me and no, that's not how it works. I mean, we can't do the crossover because we took a handshake deal. No, um no. I just think Image image comics. You know. The thing is, I look at the market share came out the other day.

Image Comics is as strong as it's been in the last year. It's got ten percent of the market. Uh, number three, behind behind Marvel and d C, which they've had a lot of competition over the last fifteen years. You Boom, everybody's throwing everything they can to try and get that. And and I think image in the independence if you put Boom and this is not a slight to these guys. They're all doing hard work and they're doing good books. But I U W. Boom, dark Horse

and maybe Dynamite combined aren't of image. So it's just easy to overlook. Thank you for bringing it up. Uh, the image of the nineties. I meet those kids, those kids who are now adults, with their with their their children who are passing their love on. And trust me, I get tons of questions about young Blood and Profit because they also because it's now the culture. If it's not on screen, I can't know. Being on screen is the ultimate trophy. They want to see what they loved.

I hate to say validated, but I think that's how they look at it. Um And uh, look, man, the great thing is I both young Wood and Profit are heavily pursued at this moment um. And I'm taking my time sorting that out. I've learned from Marvel. Go slow, Uh, don't don't rush into something. Uh just same thing. Netflix almost a two year you know, deal to the idea, to to deal. You gotta have patience as the world changes. But and we live in this Marvel dominated film world,

you know, so so other outlets are important. Netflix is like the image comics. That's just hit me, Like the image comics of entertainment doing their own thing. Well, on that note, I'm gonna have Rob sign my copy of Young Blood number one. Everyone should check out Deadpool two. It opens me eighteen and there's all of it. Just want to thank you again man for coming on my show. This is really cool. This is great. Thanks for having Man. Thank you