REGINA – After Regina mayor Michael Fougere said he was open to the idea of a Deadpool statue if it’s funded privately, two petitions for the project are continuing to gain steam.
Luke Oliver, a 21-year-old Marvel fan, came up with the idea of the petition after he heard Deadpool say in Marvel’s latest movie: “I’m Wade Wilson from Regina, Saskatchewan. Regina, the town that rhymes with fun.”
The line was a departure from the comics, where Deadpool’s place of origin is known to be Canada, but his hometown is never revealed.
“It’s a Marvel character from Regina,” Oliver said.
“I mean Spiderman’s all over New York, Vulcan, Alberta has the Star Trek ship. I just think it’s an important part of pop culture at this point,” Oliver said.
Following the release of Deadpool this past weekend, Oliver started two petitions on Saturday night: one on Change.org and one on Care2 petitions.
At the time of writing, the two petitions had a total of 3,497 signatures.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” Oliver said.
“It’s been phenomenal, though. We’ve had signatures, one from Germany, all over the world at this point.”
Right now, Oliver is working on getting a cost estimate for a potential statue before he starts a crowdfunding campaign. He has researched the cost of other pop culture statues.
While the Rocky Balboa statue in Philadelphia was donated by Sylvester Stallone, there have been similar campaigns to the one underway in Regina.
In 2011, a Kickstarter campaign raised around $67,000 for a Robocop statue to be built in Detroit. The project is still in progress.
This year a crowdfunding campaign raised over $20,000 for “Lemmy” Kilmister Motörhead statue at the Rainbow Bar and Grill in West Hollywood, California.
The town of Vulcan, Alta. has a sculpture of the Starship Enterprise outside of its Tourism and Trek Station and launched an Indiegogo campaign in 2014.
The petitions’ creator is also getting help from Emersen Ziffle, a local makeup artist known for the movie WolfCop.
Ziffle reached out to Oliver on social media once he saw the petition on Facebook.
“I am a fan of Deadpool,” said Ziffle. “I’m a fan of comics in general. I think he’s a great character and I was totally excited when I heard him shout out Regina, Saskatchewan in the film.”
Ziffle said the funds have to be raised first before he settles on a design, but would draw on his experience from a workshop in New Zealand, held by a Lord of the Rings special effects artist, where Ziffle build life-size soldiers.
If it came together, Ziffle said he would start with a concept sculpture, before sculpting the entire statue. A mold would then be made, then cast and bronzed locally.
“It would be safe and last for years to come,” Ziffle said.
While Deadpool fans are banding together online right now, Shane Hnetka, the manager of Comic Reader’s south location, said the character has been a popular character in the comics for quite a few years after making his debut in 1991.
“He was popular back in the back in the ’90s for a bit there, kind of faded during the early 2000s,” Hnetka said.
“Mid-2000s, he started getting really popular and then they made his comics more adult and sillier at the same time and then it started to really start to grow.”
Oliver hopes to get an online fundraising campaign going in a few days. He plans to post the link on both petitions, as well as social media.
Once the money is raised, Oliver said he would then try to arrange a meeting with the city and will discuss if he would still need to get written signatures. Signatures deemed valid under the legislation are the only one accepted by the Saskatchewan’s Cities Act.
“However it happens, I’m sure it will happen eventually,” Oliver said, adding as he continues to think about the statue’s development, he would like Wascana Park as a location.
To sign Oliver’s petition, visit https://www.change.org/p/regina-city-council-deadpool-statue-in-regina-saskatchewan or http://www.thepetitionsite.com/183/437/803/demand-a-deadpool-statue-in-regina-saskatchewan/.
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