Rob Liefeld predicted Dogpool would be in Deadpool and Wolverine

A few years ago, Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld met with Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige at San Diego Comic-Con, where he got a tantalizing tidbit about the mysterious Deadpool. Deadpool 3.

Feige told Liefeld that his office was currently covered in the writer-artist’s works, particularly the Deadpool Corps—a team of wacky versions of Deadpool in an alternate reality, including the dog Dogpool and the female Ladypool. It was Liefeld’s first inkling that such characters might appear in what is now known as Deadpool and Wolverinewhich features a groundbreaking character played by Peggy, a pug-Chinese Crested mix who once won Britain’s ugliest dog competition.

“You can’t resist the allure of Dogpool,” Liefeld recalled after that conversation with Feige. “I feel like Dogpool is the next level after Groot and Rocket Raccoon. And I even said, ‘The merch alone for this game is worth it.’”

He got another clue a year ago about Deadpool and Wolverinewhen Marvel’s business affairs unit called him to inform him of an Easter egg involving him. In one scene, there’s an orthopedic store called Liefeld’s Just Feet — a nod to an Internet joke that mocks the way Liefeld draws feet.

“I was laughing hysterically when the Marvel sales people called me,” Liefeld says. “They were laughing too.”

The joke follows Domino (Zazie Beetz) referencing Liefeld’s foot-drawing abilities in Deadpool 2 (2018), and the creator himself sitting at a bar in the 2016 film that kicked it off.

He recently traveled to New York to attend the premiere of the new film, tour some sites and stay at the Langham New York Fifth Avenue Hotel. For Liefeld, Deadpool and Wolverine is a strong moment for the character and comes at an important time in his decades-long relationship with Wade Wilson. The film coincides with his retirement from writing and drawing Deadpool with one final book, Deadpool’s Teamwhich will begin rolling out next month.

“I don’t have anything else to say about this character,” Liefeld says. “This latest adventure I’m doing with him is really out of this world. It’s not an attempt to be cool. It’s not an attempt to make him stand out. It’s just a weird story and I feel like it’s the right kind of vibe.”