Rhett Reese

A superhero comedy that had to be smuggled past a studio for a decade: Rhett Reese co-wrote the version that finally got made.

Reese writes screenplays in a long standing partnership, and their work is built on comic voice. Deadpool, Deadpool 2 and Deadpool and Wolverine share a structure in which a fourth wall breaking narrator comments on the film's own budget, continuity and studio politics while an action plot proceeds underneath.

Background and Influences

He came up through animation and comedy writing before genre features, and the pair's earlier zombie comedy established their register: rules delivered as on screen text, an unreliable narrator, and jokes built from character rather than from reference. Comic book source material is treated as a voice to be matched rather than a plot to be transcribed.

Style and Themes

Recurring subjects: self awareness as both a joke and a defence mechanism, damaged people forming reluctant teams, and sincerity arriving suddenly after an hour of deflection. The dialogue is dense and rewrites itself constantly, with jokes layered over the plot rather than pausing it.

Legacy and Influence

The pair's superhero screenplays proved a mature rated comic adaptation could be an enormous commercial success, which changed studio appetite for the format. Their approach to meta commentary has been widely imitated, though rarely with the same discipline about keeping the plot functional underneath.

Who Should Explore Their Work

For viewers who want comedy writing that works as hard as the action. Not for younger audiences. Suited to anyone who enjoys genre films that mock their own conventions without abandoning them.