Everyone loves how laid-back comic book bad boy Deadpool is, with his witty irreverence and cool disregard for social conventions delighting audiences around the world. ClickHole wants to cash in on all that goodwill, which is why we’re now taking preorders for a completely unlicensed Deadpool shirt even though we have no legal right to profit off his image. But surely Deadpool himself would thumb his nose at lame, stuffy copyright law, so if he really is that rebellious and cool, Marvel won’t mind us selling a shirt with his face on it.
Sure, Marvel could nail us on this, but that would be a pretty bad look for the company when it’s trying to market Deadpool as a hip-’n’-casual mofo who sticks it to the man. Deadpool breaks the fourth wall with pithy asides to the audience all the time, so us breaking copyright law with this bootleg merch should be no big deal if Marvel is actually as chill as it pretends to be.
Don’t think you can weasel your way out of this with a cutesy informal cease and desist letter that you’re hoping we’ll publish to show how cool you are while still enforcing your legal interests, Marvel. It’d probably say something stupid like, “Sup, ClickHole! Marvel’s legal team speaking. We enjoy a good knockoff T-shirt as much as any giant faceless corporation, but we need you to stop selling Deadpool products without permission ’cause we’re all about the benjamins, ya dig it, hombre?” Just pathetic. Don’t even try.
Fact is, Marvel, we’ve got your balls in a vise. Either you let us get away with our blatant infringement of Deadpool, or you can go tattling to Uncle Sam like a little bitch. Comic fanboys will think you’re uptight losers if you sic the lawyers on us, because making us pay you crushing penalties that bankrupt our website would be totally against the irreverent spirit of Deadpool. Your best-case scenario is to ignore our little hustle and walk away before you become the bad guys in an ugly David-vs.-Goliath courtroom drama that plays out before the entire goddamn internet.
So, Deadpool fans, go sign up to preorder ClickHole’s unlicensed shirt below for a cool $22 that all goes to ClickHole, and be as badass as your beloved irreverent superhero!
