2011's *Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe* certainly lives up to its name. This iconic series showcases what happens when Wade Wilson, also known as Deadpool, loses his grip on reality and begins a rampage against the heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe. The popularity of this series led writer Cullen Bunn and artist Dalibor Talajić to reunite for a sequel, *Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again* in 2017. Now, they're back to wrap up the trilogy with *Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe One Last Time*, where Deadpool's chaos extends beyond a single universe to the entire Marvel multiverse.
IGN had the chance to delve deeper into this thrilling conclusion through an email interview with Cullen Bunn. Before diving into the details, take a look at an exclusive preview of the first issue below, and then continue reading to discover more about the fourth wall-shattering action that lies ahead.
Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe One Last Time - Image Gallery
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Cullen Bunn, a prolific Deadpool writer, has contributed to a range of titles including Deadpool: Killustrated, Night of the Living Deadpool, and Deadpool & the Mercs for Money. When asked if he always envisioned a trilogy when he first penned Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, Bunn shared, "I never knew that series would go anywhere or be anything more than me having a good time writing a comic. I can't help myself, though. I love thinking about where stories could go. I ask myself constantly... what's next? When I was first working on Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, my first pitch after I completed that series was Deadpool Kills the Marvel Multiverse. At least, that was one of three initial pitches, including Deadpool Kills the Marvel Cosmic Universe, Deadpool Kills the Marvel Zombies, Deadpool's Secret Wars, and Deadpool Killustrated. Two of those happened, but the Multiverse book was the closest to what we've got coming up. And, frankly, now is a much better time to do that story!"
The challenge with creating a trilogy like this lies in continually escalating the conflict. Starting with Deadpool taking down the entire rosters of the X-Men, Avengers, and Fantastic Four, the stakes need to be raised with each installment. Bunn's solution was to expand into the multiverse, introducing battles with unique characters like Cap-Wolves and Worldbreaker Hulks, as well as entirely new and distorted versions of Marvel's heroes and villains.
“The multiverse most certainly opens up a lot of new avenues of exploration,” Bunn explains. “We wanted this to be different from what you've seen before in the series. We wanted to show Deadpool battling different versions of Marvel heroes (many readers will have seen before, many who are new). I spent a lot of time researching the 'worst' (meaning 'the best') variants of Marvel heroes and villains. What I didn’t realize when I set out is that we were creating the most epic Deadpool story of all time. How's that for an escalation? How's that for throwing the gauntlet down?”
Bunn is eager for readers to experience the carnage, though he's keeping details under wraps. “I'm not going to spoil anything in the book. If I had my druthers, I wouldn't have even mentioned Cap-Wolf and Worldbreaker Hulk,” he says. “There are some cool, cool characters showing up in this series. Dozens and dozens of them. And Deadpool is battling some of the most powerful heroes and villains in the multiverse. How's he gonna manage to bring them down? There are some characters showing up in this book that from the ‘I've been reading comics a long time and love some obscure characters’ perspective that haven't been seen in over 30 years. Will those be the most epic of the battles? You'll have to see.”
In *Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again*, Talajić brought a new level of visual flair by switching artistic styles, contrasting the bloody chaos with the sanitized visions inside Deadpool's mind. Bunn assures that Talajić will continue to innovate visually in this final chapter. “With *Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again*, we wanted to play with different eras and styles of comics,” Bunn says. “With this new book, we're not changing the overall visual style for each kill. Where Dalibor really gets to shine, though, is in his interpretations of different worlds... different versions of our heroes... and a different version of [REDACTED] than you have ever seen before. Dalibor is a master of his craft always, but he's bringing some real insanity to the page in this!”
While referred to as a trilogy, the first two books aren't directly connected, presenting different scenarios for Deadpool's killing spree. In the first, Deadpool becomes a nihilistic killer upon discovering his comic book existence. In the second, a different Wade is manipulated by villains to assassinate heroes. The question arises: how does the third book fit into this narrative? “It's a fresh start... sort of,” Bunn teases. “The story stands completely on its own. You need not read any of the other series. At the beginning of the story, though, observant readers might pick up on a few interesting tidbits that may connect to what has come before. Most importantly, though--this is its own story.”
Despite the violence, the previous books portrayed Deadpool as a sympathetic figure, whether disillusioned by his comic book reality or fighting against mind control. Bunn hints that this sequel's Deadpool will be even more relatable. “I think the Deadpool we see in this book is much more sympathetic than the killer Deadpool in the other series,” he says. “With this, we thought ‘What if Deadpool killed the Marvel Universe... and we were rooting for him to succeed?’ It is definitely challenging to set the stories apart. With this one, Deadpool's mission... and his headspace... make this book completely different. His headspace. I can't wait for readers to get that joke.”
*Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe One Last Time #1* will be released on April 2, 2025.
For more on what's coming up from Marvel, check out what to expect from Marvel in 2025 and see IGN's most anticipated comics of 2025.
