Opinion: Breaking the fourth wall and how the fourth estate would cover Deadpool

Yes. The headline of this article about Deadpool contains a pun about the media. Peak Marvel media nerdom has been reached.Being a media junkie with a critical eye for the field of journalism, exploring the idea of how Deadpool would be covered by the media is a fun thought.So, to merge a somewhat juvenile sense of humor and an interested in how the “fourth estate” (the media) operates, I decided to bring the two together and ask, “How would the media cover someone like Deadpool?” The first thing the media are going to want to know is to whom Deadpool is talking. The anti-hero seems largely convinced they are speaking to someone who isn’t there. Deadpool is not necessarily speaking in a conversational way either; he is talking at them.“Fourth wall break inside of a fourth wall break? That’s like…16 walls.” — DeadpoolThe media would also have fun covering the aftermath of his antics. If Deadpool allowed anyone to actually live through a fight, they’d have stories to tell their children. That is, if they have any of the requisite anatomy left to do so after the trusted swords are used.“WAIT! You may be wondering why the red suit. Well, that's so bad guys don't see me bleed. *points at criminal* This guy's got the right idea... He wore the brown pants!” — DeadpoolFurthermore, if Spiderman taught us anything, it’s that the paparazzi yearn for pictures of vigilantes in whatever form they come. People are going to want to know who this guy is who jumps off highway overpasses and seems to recover from broken bones as if they were paper cuts.Another thing: some guy would likely swear that he saw Deadpool chop his own hand off. On purpose. But another citizen would later claim she saw him after that and that all his appendages seemed to be intact.Deadpool would have so much mystery surrounding him that no one would know quite what to think. He’s not going out of his own way to be heroic or anything. Deadpool just seems to do things for his own satisfaction. We as the media wouldn’t be able to label him.Well, that’s not quite true. We’d call him obscene. We’d call him looney. We’d write think pieces about what his value is to society. We’d write listicles about the 10 best lines we’ve heard him utter.The media would have a hoot with Deadpool, maybe even more so than with any other character in the Marvel comic book universe.In the end, we should all aspire to tell meaningful stories and that should obviously apply to heroes in a fictional or non-fictional universe. Something tells me that Deadpool would find a way to provide the best quotes for any article.“You're probably thinking ‘This is a superhero movie, but that guy in the suit just turned that other guy into a f---ing kebab.’ Surprise, this is a different kind of superhero story.” — DeadpoolBut don’t be surprised when the media goes bananas if/when an anti-hero like Deadpool emerges in the real world. I’d gladly take on the Deadpool beat. Someone make this happen. Hey, creepy sketchy people in a lab somewhere: get on it.