Film / Deadpool: No Good Deed

Deadpool. Coming... not soon enough.

"Zip it, Stan Lee!"

— The Merc with a Mouth

Deadpool: No Good Deed is a 4-minute short film directed by David Leitch (of John Wick fame). It was first released in 2017 as a companion piece to Logan in U.S. and Canadian theaters to promote Deadpool 2. It stars Ryan Reynolds as the Merc with a Mouth. It can be viewed here.

Deadpool sees a perfect opportunity to save the day... but it doesn't go as planned.

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No Good Deed provides examples of:

• The Bad Guy Wins: The irony in it was that the mugger could have been easily intercepted.
• Black Comedy: Two instances:
  • It turns out that the man getting mugged has been shot and killed by the time Deadpool finally changes into his costume.
  • When he finds the man's corpse, Deadpool admits that maybe he should've called 911, before lying down with his head on the man's stomach and eating the ice cream the man was carrying.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • When Stan Lee cameos to say "Wow, nice suit!" during Deadpool's charge, Deadpool stops and shouts "Zip it, Stan Lee!" before continuing to run towards the scene of the crime he was trying to stop.
  • Wade tries to call a member of the real life wardrobe department who helps his actor Ryan Reynolds get into the Deadpool costume.
  • When Deadpool starts talking about Wolverine, he once again breaks into an Australian accent, in reference to Wolverine's actor Hugh Jackman.
• The Cameo: A particularly gratuitous one by Stan Lee.
• Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: The short is basically one big parody of this concept, showing how it would not apply and cause significant problems for superheroes in the real world who lack the super speed to pull it off.
• Comically Missing the Point: Deadpool assumes that Superman simply changes his clothes inside a telephone booth; actually, Superman has super speed and/or wears his uniform under his Clark Kent disguise.
• Comfort Food: Deadpool commiserates over his failure to save a man from being shot and killed in a mugging by taking a quart of ice cream from the grocery bag the dead man was carrying and eating it while laying on the man's corpse.
• Covers Always Lie: This is the official synopsis for the short film.
  Wade and the other girls from the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants plan a trip to Cabot Cove.
• Deconstructed Trope: Wade tries to change into his costume in a phone booth to stop a mugging. Unlike Superman, he doesn't have super-speed, and by the time he finishes, the man's been shot dead.
• Defiant to the End: The old guy boldly refused to give that mugger anything just for holding him at gunpoint. Though that probably wasn't a good idea...
• Downer Ending: Played for Laughs. Deadpool takes so long changing into his costume that the old man he was trying to save is shot to death, and the mugger who killed him is long gone. Wade can only lament his failure as he eats the man's ice cream.
• Fan Disservice: Ryan Reynolds' backside? That's fanservice. Ryan Reynolds' backside, made up as Deadpool and smashed against the window of a phone booth? Eh... not so much.
• Failure Hero: Deadpool takes so long to change into his costume that by the time he's done the man he's trying to save has already been shot and killed.
• Fake-Out Opening: To some who've seen it before Logan. It seems the movie opens with how a typical mutant now lives in the post-virus world. Until we see him pull down his hood, revealing to be Deadpool.^note "Wait, Deadpool is in this movie too?", a surprised viewer might think.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • While Deadpool is changing into his costume, the theatre display behind him reads "Logan".
    • Then an actual poster for that movie shows up in the alley.
  • As Deadpool, in all of his spandex-ed glory, rushes to save the old man, multiple Firefly posters are visible behind him. Morena Baccarin plays the love interest of the main character in both Deadpool (Vanessa to Wade) and Firefly (Inara to Mal).
• Funny Background Event: One can still hear the man's screams of terror as Deadpool changes in the phone booth.
• Heartbreak and Ice Cream: Deadpool eats ice cream while lamenting his failure to save the old man.
• Instant Costume Change: Deliberately spoofed. Deadpool tries to pull the Superman instant costume change in a phone booth, only for it to take over one minute. By the time Deadpool is suited up, the victim he was trying to save has been shot dead, and the mugger who killed him is long gone.
• Musicalis Interruptus: "St Elmo's Fire", which is playing as Deadpool runs towards the scene of the crime, abruptly cuts out when he happens upon the man's corpse.
• Overly Long Gag: Deadpool takes over one minute, in real time, to change into his costume in the phone booth.
• Parody: The short is one for Spider-Man's origin story. Both involve an old man being murdered. While Peter had no clue that his actions could have far-reaching consequences, Wade is a few yards away from the scene and still taking his own sweet time. While that story was the Trope Namer for (With Great Power) Comes Great Responsibility, this teaser is officially named "No Good Deed" (Goes Unpunished).
• Product Placement: Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia.
• Record Needle Scratch: When Wade sees he's too late.
• Redundant Parody: Given the music playing, Deadpool's mocking the oft-parodied "Superman in the Phone Booth" scene that only gets brought up nowadays to be mocked. Ironic, given that the film the music comes from also spoofed the phone booth trope.
• Rule of Funny:
  • The central joke is how long it would take a relatively normal person to change in a phone booth, realistically. But Wade still manages to fit two large swords in a small backpack.
  • Invoked when Wade also lampshades the fact that a phone booth even exists in 2017.
• Shout-Out:
  • While Deadpool dons his costume in the phone booth, the John Williams Superman theme plays.
  • Deadpool is listening to "St Elmo's Fire" by John Parr and/or "Angel of the Morning" by Juice Newton, depending on the version.
  • "You're So Cool" by Hans Zimmer from True Romance plays at the end of the teaser.
  • At the end, Deadpool steals a quart of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia Ice Cream from the dead mugging victim he inadvertently failed to save.
  • The Freeze-Frame Bonus at the conclusion of the short is a book report by Wade on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.
• The Snack Is More Interesting: Deadpool is more interested in a dead man's ice-cream and the fact that a phone booth exists in 2017 than the fact that the man was killed.
• Soundtrack Dissonance:
  • The heroic "St Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" by John Parr plays over Deadpool desperately running over to try to save the mugging victim. This is a downplayed case, as the lyrics themselves indicate that it's too late to save the victim.
  • "You're So Cool" by Hans Zimmer from True Romance plays as Deadpool admits that he probably should have called the police, until the teaser ends.
• Unreadably Fast Text: No Good Deed ends with a long book report on The Old Man and the Sea scrolling by.
• You Are Too Late: Deadpool would've been able to save the old man if he hadn't taken such a long time to get in his suit. Or better yet, skip the costume changing.

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