At the recent ComiCon expo in Toronto, comic book creator Rob Liefeld (whose brought us revered characters such as Cable and Deadpool) talked about his first experience working with Marvel, revitalizing its New Mutants franchise, and meeting Israeli businessman and former Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad, currently a movie producer at the helm of his own firm, Arad Productions.
Liefeld also, to the delight (or confusion) of the Israeli fans in attendance, tried out his best Israeli accent when impersonating Arad – mind you, it sounds more like he’s doing a spoof of Colossus’ Russian accent if anything.
“I was a commando in the Israeli mercenary army,” Liefeld (as Arad) says. “You know why I like you, Liefeld? I like you because you understand hardware….and software.”
“And I sat there, thinking what the heck does that mean?” Liefeld (as himself) says. “I said, Avi, I think you like that I give everybody weapons.”
“Yes,” Arad replied. “I like Cable,” before listing all the potential weapons the character could use.
Of course, if you stuck around for Deadpool‘s after-credits scene, you’ll know that the upcoming sequel will feature Cable (Deadpool’s time-travelling companion). You may have also noticed a mezuzah hanging on Deadpool’s door, though the jury’s still out on whether Deadpool (like Magneto, Harley Quinn and the Thing) is Jewish.
Meanwhile, Jewish Marvel producer Simon Kinberg recently opened up about adapting the New Mutants franchise made popular by Liefeld into a film.
“Deadpool was so different from the mainline X-Men movies, New Mutants… It’s maybe not as different as Deadpool, but it has its own unique, original voice to it…. That’s the fun for me, working in the X-Men universe, creating these sort of standalone movies that have a different vibe to them,” Kinberg told IGN.
While Deadpool 2 isn’t slated for (at least) a 2017 release, we do have ample comic book films to keep us company this year, including Suicide Squad and Captain America: Civil War.
