DC’s Deadpool Is Even More Insane

Marvel and DC have been stealing from each other for as long as they’ve both been in business. Thanos ripped off Darkseid, Scarlet Witch inspired Zatanna, Catwoman inspired Black Cat, who then inspired Catwoman? Eh, sometimes comics can be overly complicated. The point is that the two companies borrow ideas from each other on a regular basis.

But then there are the satires and parodies.

Characters like Thanos and Deadpool may have been ripoffs, but they were always intended to be serious characters—not that Deadpool could ever be called serious, but you get the point. Less common are the times the two companies outright poke fun at each other, like with Marvel’s Squadron Supreme, a twisted version of The Justice League, or the above-mentioned Red Tool. Deadpool isn’t exactly an easy character to parody since he’s already silly as all get out, but that didn’t stop DC from trying their best.

Red Tool first appears in Harley Quinn Vol. 2 #3 as an innocent salesman at the generic hardware store “We B Tools.” Wayne Wilkins just happens to be on duty when a love-sick mob chases Harley Quinn into We B Tools, forcing her to fight her way out using a weed whacker. Wilkins gets caught up in all the ruckus and ends up being beaten and maimed by the feral crowd.

Twenty-three issues later, we catch up to poor Wayne healing from his injuries at a local hospital. Head trauma from the incident has left Wilkins slightly “off,” and extensive nerve damage has left him unable to feel pain. After escaping from the hospital, Wayne returns to his home and immediately throws open his tool shed. “I love tools!” he exclaims, and The mercenary known as Red Tool is born.

Following his superhero origin, Red Tool kidnaps Harley Quinn in the middle of a roller derby match using knockout gas. The deranged Tool then lugs Harley’s unconscious body to the top of a Ferris wheel and attempts to show her a video of his origin story that he animated himself. Upon realising that he had forgotten to charge his phone, he instead settles for just telling her about it.

Harley escapes only to find out that Red Tool tattooed a red hammer and a phone number on her butt while she was unconscious. Things only get weirder from there.

Red Tool’s gimmick, if you will, is that he fights with hammers and screwdrivers as opposed to Deadpool‘s signature katanas. His word bubbles are also yellow like Deadpool, the difference being that Red Tool’s word bubbles are all shaped like tools. As if that weren’t goofy enough, the character was also revealed to be a time traveller sent back in time to stop Harley from murdering Batman in an alternate future.

Red Tool isn’t a particularly deep character with a rich backstory and concrete motivation, but he serves his purpose. Mainly as a way for DC to make fun of a certain Marvel character by not so subtly calling him a tool. Even if you count yourself among the legions of ride-or-die Deadpool fans out there, you have to admit that it’s a gag Deadpool himself would love.