The Brief

I once made the mistake of thinking film launches involved red carpets, tasteful lighting, and a canapé you can never quite grip. Then Disney rang and said: “scrap the carpet. we’re throwing Deadpool and Wolverine on stage with fictional rock bands, a TikTok potato legend, and six-hundred superfans who know every claw noise by heart. Can you make it as unhinged as the brief?”

Reader, we could.

Deadpool and Wolverine don’t do traditional. So instead of a red carpet premiere, Disney UK threw a chaotic, claws-out, fan-first music showdown at London’s Hammersmith Apollo.

That meant writing everything from band name contenders for the on-stage musical battle, to pun-heavy food signage, to copy that helped brand the entire night around the red vs. yellow theme—Deadpool vs. Wolverine.

Basically: write the fan fiction of event copy.

The Research & Context

This was a fan event, so every line needed to speak the language of the crowd:

• Marvel-fluent

• Meme-literate

• TikTok-hyper

• Equal parts chaos, violence, and fourth-wall-breaking wink

The whole tone needed to feel like Deadpool himself slapped it on a sign at 3AM while Wolverine quietly judged him from the corner.

So I studied:

• Every Deadpool & Wolverine trailer and tagline ever

• Classic band names, especially duos and rivalries

• Marvel meme culture, Reddit threads, Twitter fights

• Fan language

And, of course: potatoes.

The Copy

Naming the Battle

The pre-spectacle of the night was a head-to-head Deadpool vs. Wolverine band battle. Red team vs. Yellow team. Leather vs. Lycra. Sarcasm vs. Snarling.

I was tasked with ideating fictional band names for both sides, ones that could be printed on the drumsets, shouted from stage, and still make fans feel like they were in on the joke.

The final chosen names were The Bloody Katanas and Clawsome, but we went through dozens. Here are just a few other contenders I pitched that deserved to live:

Wolverine Band Names (think yellow, blue, earthy, raw, rugged, brooding, loyal, tragic, grounded, denim, flannel, forests, Canadian frost, bar fights, claws, bone, regeneration, brute force)

• Hard as Nails

• Shred the Evidence

• Goldblooded

• Steel in My Veins

• Claw & Behold

• Claw & Order

• Canadian Rage

• Northern Howl

• Bleed Easy

• Clawyer Up

• Clawchella

• Keeping Up with the Clawdashians

• The Healing Kind

• Bite Me, Bub

• Claw Enforcement

• Snikt Happens

• Adamantium Afterparty

• Weapon Xylophone

• Bone to Pick

• Deadman's Flannel

• Nailin’ It

• Snikt or Treat

• Yellowbellied Bastards

• SoundClaws

• Bone Tone Revival

• Feral Gold

• The Shredded

• Blood Harmony

• The Mutant Majority

Deadpool Band Names (think red, white, loud, bloody, chaotic, manic, absurd, self-aware, untouchable, leather, neon, explosions, Mexican food, memes, absurdist gore, swords, guns, teleporters, banter, self-sabotage)

• Dead Set on Chaos

• Red on Arrival

• Shredpool

• The Backstabbers

• Wade to Black

• Little Dead Riding Hoods

• Marvel at This!

• Dead Set Go

• Gory Details

• Crimson Mercy

• Sassassin’s Creed

• X-Meh

• The Red Flags

• The Ex-Men

• The Merc With the Music

• Dead Serious

• Slicey Dicey

• The Chimi-Changas

• Maximum Volume

• Wade & the Mayhems

• Run MCU

Tone-wise, every name needed to feel halfway between an actual band, a deep-cut Marvel reference, and something that would make Ryan Reynolds say “Nice” in a tweet.

Spudman’s Van

Tasked to suggest copy and naming ideas for the iconic TikTok-famous Spudman, who brought his jacket potato van to the event, fully Marvel-themed. Sadly, they ended up just using plain old title branding with no copy.

Alas, here are few pun-laced creations that were suggested:

• Heals fast. Serves slow.

• Baked to hell and back.

• Made with rage. Topped with regret.

• Crispy shell. Dead inside.

• Sharp claws. Sharper cheddar.

• Fluffy. Fiery. Fully loaded.

• Powered by sass and saturated fats.

• Warning: Spuds may cause unsolicited flexing.

• Putting the X in extra toppings.

• Hot. Loaded. Dangerous.

• Extra crispy. Just like Wade’s skin.

• Warning: Contains X-tra cheese.

• This vehicle protected by adamantium carbs.

• Cheese so sharp it could cut adamantium.

  Grated by hand. With rage.

• Slice it. Dice it. Fork it.

• Not suitable for mutants... or lactose intolerants.

• Fork yeah, bub.

• So cheesy, we had to get rights clearance.

• Official potato supplier to the X-Men (probably).

• Crispier than Deadpool’s ass.

• Made with real anger and butter.

• Spuds of Mass Destruction.

• For napkin dispensers:

  • You’ll need these. Probably for tears.

  • Clean up. Or don’t. We’re not your mum.

  • For the mess you saw coming.

  • Clean hands. Dirty minds.

  • Napkins? Thought you liked pain.

  • A soft wipe after a hard day.

  • Not your first mess. Won’t be your last.

  • Go ahead. Blame the potato.

  • No, no, seriously. The bean juice looks good on you.

The goal was that even the food felt like part of the Marvel multiverse, and if it made someone laugh mid-mouthful of cheese, mission accomplished.

The Result

A packed-out fan event that felt less like a film promo and more like a cult gig. Fans screamed, bands shredded, spuds were consumed with reverence. And everything, from stage to signage, felt like it could’ve been scripted by Wade Wilson and typeset by Logan’s claws.

The two fictional bands were so popular they trended on social before the event even ended. Marvel reposted clips. Fans showed up in red and yellow.

Worldbuilding doesn’t always look like lore and logos.

Sometimes it looks like

• Band names that sound like X-Men puns

• A spud van with mutant merch energy

• A room full of fans screaming “CLAWSOME!” in unison

And because if your signage makes people laugh, snap a pic, and scream their allegiance from the crowd is copy that doesn’t just speak. It shredssssss.