Dumb Things In Deadpool Everyone Just Ignored

Deadpool came completely out of nowhere to become one of the biggest films of 2016, and there are a few great reasons why. It was clever, funny, hyper-focused, action-packed, and didn't take itself too seriously. In a box office landscape littered with overwrought heroes punching one another over geopolitical issues, it was a startlingly fresh change of pace. Deadpool set the stakes at a personal level and cranked the jokes up to 11, something no superhero movie had really attempted in years.

Seriously, it's an amazing movie. Ryan Reynolds, T.J. Miller, and Morena Baccarin working together might be as close as we'll ever get to seeing a down-and-dirty divine trinity pictured onscreen. However, the film isn't perfect (as close as it might come at times). These are just a few of the dumb things that left us scratching our heads by the end of this otherwise-awesome comic book movie.

Here's a dumb thing! Yes, Deadpool keeps calling Ajax by his real name, Francis, to get under his skin. It makes total sense, and is true to the snarky attitude that makes Wade Wilson such a fun character. That's great. But pretty much everyone who works with the bad guy knows him as Ajax. If he worked so hard to keep his real name secret, then why does Deadpool think all these guys he keeps questioning and beating up will know who "Francis" is? They're either confused or playing dumb, and that could be why. When he's asking around to find Ajax, why not actually call him Ajax? You'd think it could have really sped up his search.

One of the film's many running gags revolves around Deadpool's personal taxi driver Dopinder, who foregoes cash for crisp high fives and sage advice, but the poor guy is really left in a bind by the end of the film and it never really circles back. Dopinder is having some trouble in his love life, so he loosely follows Deadpool's advice and kidnaps his cousin (and romantic rival) Bantu, locking him in his trunk during his last fare with Deadpool. But as Deadpool heads into the big battle, he forgets his big ol' bag of weapons in Dopinder's cab—so the dude has a hostage in his trunk and a huge bag full of guns. Then we see him get into a fender bender, banging around his trunk-riding cousin in the process. You'd imagine the cops will be coming to take a report—and finding poor Dopinder holding an arsenal and a kidnapping victim. Maybe Deadpool 2 will focus on his prison break?

Deadpool's origin is a little wonky in the film version, as he volunteers for the Weapon X program (or some similar variant of it) in an effort to get mutant powers and heal his cancer. It's never fully explained, but the program's method is basically to inject the patients with something designed to unlock their potential mutant powers, then torture them mercilessly in the hopes it will manifest under extreme duress.

Once you think about it, this is kind of weird. They're torturing these folks, then hoping they manifest powers that could showcase in a variety of random and unexpected ways. They also can't have any real clue Wade will develop a healing factor (lucky break, though!), so he always could've become a psychic then still died of cancer. Looking to the comics, they maybe should've mined a bit more from the canon. For one, Deadpool gets his healing factor after being infused with a McGuffin manufactured from Wolverine's original healing factor. It would've provided more X-Men connective tissue, and just made more sense. If anything, it seems pretty random that Deadpool would develop an ability strangely similar to Wolverine's (while also cracking Wolverine jokes nonstop throughout the film).

The design team behind Deadpool pulled a fast one by setting the final battle in a derelict helicarrier, an unofficial nod to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (which Deadpool cannot actually join, obviously, because the rights to the X-Men are still over at 20th Century Fox). With Ajax holding Vanessa hostage on the top of the helicarrier, Wade is looking for a way to get her down safely when the entire structure starts to collapse. His plan? Put her in a coffin-sized torture chamber and basically ride her to the ground. It's, shall we say, flawed. But instead of getting a concussion or being crushed to death when all hell breaks loose, Vanessa comes out with nary a scratch at the end. Sure, it made for a wild action scene, but it's still a dumb thing.

This obviously isn't a flaw or anything with the actual story, but it's crazy to think the entire film basically leans on an offhand comment from Ajax. When Deadpool is breaking out of the Weapon X (or whatever it's not called here) facility, he gets into an epic throwdown with Ajax. It ends with Deadpool skewered to a pole, but along the way, Ajax tells him he's the only one who can fix his messed-up face and skin in the wake of his mutation. We learn in the end that Ajax was obviously lying (because he's kind of a douche), so Deadpool basically spends the entire movie trying to track down Ajax for no reason. Sure, he wants revenge (which he gets, hilariously), but his real motivation is to get his face fixed so he can reconnect with Vanessa. Turns out that was never even on the table.

Ajax's powers are pretty vague and ill-defined for pretty much the entire movie. Plus, based on what we're at least told about his powers, they're also inconsistent. All we know about Ajax's mutation is that he doesn't feel pain, though he obviously seems to have enhanced speed, agility and strength. It's somewhat hinted he doesn't feel emotionally (as well as physically), though Deadpool certainly gets under his skin a few times. We can let that one slide. But we see him pick a man up with one hand, ride away after being stabbed through the shoulder with a sword, and survive more than a few brutal fights (he's also hit by a shipping container and thrown off the helicarrier). For a guy who apparently only has the ability to not feel pain, he can sure do a whole lot of other cool stuff.

Deadpool obviously sprinkles in some zingers about the convoluted timelines and mansion explosions from the X-Men film franchise, but it does beg the question of how Colossus and the rest of the team are apparently so chummy with Deadpool. Judging by the film's timeline, he's only been around for around a year (or less?) since receiving his abilities. He's obviously made some noise since then, but apparently he's had enough time to be recruited by the X-Men and get on pretty good terms with Colossus and the gang?

Instead of feeling like a new character joining the universe, there's a familiarity there (much like in the comics). It's great, and works well in this format, but it still feels a bit odd that Deadpool could've made such an impact with the X-Men in such a short time (since all he's really been doing is beating up gangsters and bad guys, which is not an uncommon thing in the X-Men universe).

As the helicarrier starts to collapse, we see Colossus carry Angel Dust and Negasonic Teenage Warhead to safety, which was a handy scene to tie up what they were doing on the ground and give some breathing room for Deadpool's fight with Ajax. But later, we see Colossus come back for the closing scene where he tries (and fails) to talk Deadpool into not killing Ajax and being a good guy. So what happened to Angel Dust? She's still a villain, right? Did he just leave her alone a few yards away and hope she didn't wake up? Did she run off? Is she still unconscious in the woods?

Breaking the fourth wall is a key ingredient in what makes Deadpool so fun, and in the comics they've used him to call out real-world dumb things, covering everything from unneeded melodrama to massive, angst-ridden event crossovers. The comics play a bit faster and looser with the rules, so Deadpool's snarky attitude and fourth wall-breaking is a good fit and shows off his attitude.

Moving over to live action, the script does a fantastic job of staying true to that element and playing it for a few of the film's biggest laughs. It was a tough tightrope to walk, and they handled it perfectly. But the logic of having a character with the ability to mug for the camera and offer up asides to the audience also makes it tough to pull off high-stakes situations. If Deadpool can pause things to make a joke, why can't he pause things to rescue Vanessa? A silly comparison, sure, but it opens the door for those types of questions. Still, as long as Deadpool doesn't lose his trademark wit, we can definitely continue to let this slide for the sequel.