Deadpool's Beloved Pet, Dogpool, Is Played By Britain's Ugliest Dog
Shawn Levy's upcoming satirical superhero flick "Deadpool & Wolverine" will star Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman as the title characters, two bickering vigilantes who have very different approaches to their vigilantism. Wolverine, while impulsive, makes sure he is in the moral right before he activates his switchblade knuckles and begins stabbing bad guys. Deadpool is more of a "shoot first, never ask questions" antihero, painfully aware of his own place in a massive media franchise; Deadpool regularly breaks the fourth wall and lambastes the company that made the film he's in.
Deadpool is also weirdly compassionate when it comes to the people and animals he loves. He will happily decapitate a bad guy and joke about his victim's misery, but then return home to his beloved Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) where they will cuddle, make goo-goo eyes at one another, and engage in sexual acts not usually seen in films produced by the Disney Corporation.
In this new film, Deadpool will also accumulate a pet dog whom he will name, naturally, Dogpool. In Marvel comics, Dogpool originated as a villain in the Spider-Ham universe, then later became a regular dog possessed of the same ultra-healing powers as Deadpool. In "Deadpool & Wolverine," Dogpool will be played by an animal named Peggy who was recently voted Britain's Ugliest Dog. Reynolds talked about Peggy in a recent interview with Empire Magazine, and the actor claimed that, while casting canine performers, he fell in love at first sight when he saw Peggy.
Meet Peggy
Back in November 2023, Reynolds tweeted a picture of Peggy wearing a little Deadpool outfit, accompanied by the caption "Did Dogpool save the day? Not a chance in gremlin hell. But she IS currently causing the Disney plushy merch department nightmares. Coming with the movie, Summer 2024." Reynolds, it seems was skeptical that even Disney would have trouble making Peggy look adorable. Peggy is a mixed-breed animal, part pug, part Chinese crested dog. She rose to fame in 2023 when she won a contest hosted by a printing company called ParrotPrint which declared her Britain's Ugliest Dog.
Reynolds described the dog thus:
"That dog was a stroke of luck. Her real name is Peggy, and she won the award for Britain's Ugliest Dog. The reason why I was a huge proponent for her was because she feels like the animal manifestation of Wade Wilson. [...] It's love at first sight. He loves Dogpool. It was, just like many things during the writing process, a tiny little afterthought, and it grew. It was one of those things where you just keep listening to the movie, and Dogpool became a staple."
"Deadpool & Wolverine" isn't due in theaters until July 28, so the size of Dogpool's role is currently unknown. Reynolds, meanwhile, continued being effusive:
"Those trainers were miracle-workers. They got Peggy in fighting shape for the movie. She was treated like a queen, as she should be. And my kids loved Peggy, which I was shocked by because kids can sometimes see the world in ways that are not necessarily as kind as you'd maybe hope. But they instantly fell in love with Peggy. They still wish I was able to come home with her."
Peggy went home with her current owner, Holly Middleton.
Yes, Ugly Dog competitons are a thing
And, no the title of Britain's Ugliest Dog is not a mere one-off moniker, invented for snarky reasons. It seems that Ugly Dog competitions are a regular occurrence. In July 2023, the Guardian reported that an animal named Scooter — also part Chinese crested — was the World's Ugliest Dog at a dog show in Petaluma, California. Chinese crested dogs are mostly hairless, and their scant stringy head hair, it seems, makes them good candidates for ugliness competitions. Both dogs also have long, uncontrolled tongues that dangle freely from their little doggy mouths. Naturally, the "ugly" epithet is tongue-in-cheek. Both Peggy and Scooter are deeply beloved by their owners.
"Deadpool & Wolverine" is merely the most recent stop on the fame train for Peggy, who has been featured in several news articles in the last 15 months. The BBC reported lightly in February 2023 that Peggy's prize for winning Ugliest Dog was a special grooming session, including a cute lil' doggy sweater and a bath. Reportedly, her stringy hair was a lot softer after a wash.
Given how grim the "Deadpool" movies can be, one might want to brace themselves for any comedic animal violence; in the original comics, Dogpool is killed at the start of the 2013 "Deadpool Kills Deadpool" miniseries. Whether or not the filmmakers will have the gloriously tasteless sensibilities to kill a dog remains to be seen. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, is notoriously kind to animals, and even released "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3," a film specifically against animal testing. It also featured a talking dog that was miffed to be called a "bad dog."
Peggy is a good dog.