Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld announces he will retire from the character

Co-creator of Deadpool Rob Liefeld has announced that he will be leaving the Merc with a Mouth and retiring from the character. He’s revisited the character over the years in a few projects, but after more than 30 years Liefeld is ready to move on. Liefeld believes he said everything he wanted to say with the character. The artist shared on social media:

“I’m retiring from Deadpool. It’s official. Yes, after 33 years of not only introducing Deadpool but chronicling many of his most popular adventures, it’s time for Deadpool’s dad to say goodbye. One of the fun parts of getting older is that you can retreat from things, so here I am. So I cooked up one last crazy Deadpool story for the good folks at Marvel and they responded with electric glee and I started producing it last month for release in the summer of 2024.

“I often wonder what my life would be like if I hadn’t created and sold not only Deadpool, but Cable, Domino, Stryfe and many others to Marvel. And if young Rob hadn’t taken on the challenge of transforming a title that was destined for cancellation, it’s one of the best tales of alternate universes. He definitely transformed my young career, creating opportunities and record sales for New Mutants and X-Force. Creating and presenting Deadpool Corps., featuring Lady Deadpool and Dogpool, was a big part of my midlife crisis in 2009.

“In 2015, I started Deadpool: Bad Blood, earning Deadpool its first original graphic novel, and its only #1 chart-topper to date, an achievement that earned me a round of congratulations from the Marvel brass who gave me they puffed out their chests more than Captain America! No other author has come together to write and illustrate more work than Deadpool, I will complete this journey with over 1000 pages along with my Mercenary Misfit. So, I’m going to finish this last Deadpool story and believe me, it’s crazy and I’m going to call it a collaboration for the ages. It will be funny!

“In case you’re wondering, why now? It’s easy, I’ll eventually be 57 and my eyes still work, work is still going strong, I want to go out as hard as I can. Hand-eye coordination won’t be there forever. I’ll delve deeper into this in my next Robservations podcast, and I can’t wait to embark on this journey with you, the biggest fans in the world, who have always provided the best support a cartoonist could ever imagine. And that means something!”

Liefeld had a blast with Deadpool! I still remember going to my local comic book store in the 90s and picking up The new mutants #98 and the introduction to Deadpool! I still have that comic!

Fan response to that character exploded, and Marvel Comics wanted more. The character’s popularity has continued to grow and now we are waiting for a third Deadpool movie, which fans are extremely excited about.

Liefeld will continue to create and draw great comics, but he has said goodbye to Deadpool.