Moments of "breaking the fourth wall"

[kainedamo]

What characters in Marvel have broken the fourth wall and how have they done it?

I think breaking the fourth wall can not only be comical, but occasionally it can be quite an interesting little twist, make things more intriguing, actually makes you think "what if... what if this universe actually exists and a couple of these characters are... aware that they're fictional".

Right now the only things I can think of are... Spidey and Tony Stark. They're talking about when MJ broke her arm. Someone ****ed up, writer or artist who knows, and the issue after MJ broke her arm, it was all better again with no explanation. JMS tackled this with an amusing explanation, it was pretty funny, and there is a moment where they both look at the reader. As if to say "well, there's your explanation".

She-Hulk of course has classically broken the fourth wall a few times. Talking to the writer or drawer, and even climbing over the panels.

 

[MaskedManJRK]

Deadpool ALWAYS does it.

 

[kainedamo]

I've never read much Deadpool. I've always meant to.

 

[The Question]

Deadpool is talking to the audience constantly. Most other characters think he's just talking to himself when he does. In a recent story where he was fighting the Great Lakes Avengers, he was going through his inner monologue, and was then informed by the GLA that he was actually talking out loud.

 

[Sabretooth]

Recently, Sentry broke it I guess. Spidey broke it in TAS...

 

[kainedamo]

What specifically does Deadpool say to the audience?

 

[Harlekin]

Lots of stuff.

 

[The Question]

All kinds of stuff. Usually at the begining of a comic during a big story arc, he'll explain what's happened in the story so far. He'll also often reference previous encounters with characters by issue numbers. Say, for example, he's fighting Taskmaster, He'd probably say something along the lines of "TASKY! Haven't seen you since issue # 26."

 

[MyPokerShirt]

he refers to issue numbers rather than dates and he referred to Toby Maguire when fighting Spider-Man. Some cool, funny stuff really.

 

[kainedamo]

That's hilarious! He must be the easiest character in the world to write! Why have I never bought Deadpool??

Hey guys, can you recommend some Deadpool books? I saw an image where he did a "shroyoken" while yelling it, what issue is that?

 

[Harlekin]

Actually, Deadpool is one of the hardest characters to write. Funny is something that has to come naturally. Not many can write Deadpool funny.

 

[The Question]

That's hilarious! He must be the easiest character in the world to write! Why have I never bought Deadpool??

Because you touch yourself at night.

Anyway, here are some examples of Wade breaking the fourth wall:

Hey guys, can you recommend some Deadpool books? I saw an image where he did a "shroyoken" while yelling it, what issue is that?

Not sure. Really, you should just go with Joe Kelly's series. That stuff's gold.

 

[Ben Urich]

Random Lackey: "How do you do that?"
Dr. Doom: "WHAT?"
Random Lackey: "Talk in all caps like that."

 

[Zoken]

That, by the way, was no random lackey. that was Captain America.

 

[Ben Urich]

That, by the way, was no random lackey. that was Captain America.

Seriously?

 

[Zoken]

yes, That was in a JMS ASM right? I remember that (I have the TPB: Life and Death of Spiders). That was the blonde guard. Cap was assigned incase something happened. something like excatly what happened. luckily Spidey was also there because cap got knocked out when someone self bombed Doom.

 

[Ben Urich]

http://www.popcultureshock.com/reviews.php?id=1934

according to that, it was a security guard, not Cap.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

Technically Cap "broke the forth wall" in the 1980s when Marvel hired him to draw his own comic.

 

[Franklin Richards]

 

[MaskedManJRK]

Want to give us your password so we can see it?

EDIT: NEVERMIND.

 

[SuperFerret]

Later in that issue, it's revealed that it's Steve Rogers.

ASM #50, I believe.

 

[Dr.Doom]

Yes, it was Cap. He was is diguise

 

[The Question]

Of course, since Steve is (or at least was) a comic book artist, it does make some sense that he'd make comic related jokes. So, I wouldn't necessairily call that breaking the fourth wall.

 

[Harlekin]

Yes, it is breaking the fourth wall, since only the reader is actually capable of seeing the all-caps speech.

 

[kainedamo]

I've heard that Purple Man broke the fourth wall quite alot in Alias but I've never read Alias.