Deadpool

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For other uses of "Wade Wilson", see Wade Wilson

Deadpool
Deadpool, from the recap page of Cable and Deadpool #26
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	New Mutants #98 (February, 1991)
Created by	Fabian Nicieza Rob Liefeld
In-story information
Alter ego	Jack (Full name unrevealed)[1]
Species	Human (empowered)
Team affiliations	Cable, Agency X, Weapon X, Landau Luckman & Lake, Department K, Maggia, Frightful Four, Secret Defenders, Six Pack
Notable aliases	Jack, Wade Wilson, Mithras, Peter Parker, Hobgoblin stand-in, Johnny Silvini, Thom Cruz, The Crimson Nutcase, Chiyonosake ("the Wolf of the Rice Wine"), Dead Man Wade (AoA)
Abilities	Regenerative healing factor, Superhuman strength, speed, endurance and agility, Expert marksman and swordsman, Teleportation, "Comic awareness", Psychic immunity, Master martial artist and tactician, Instantaneous reflexes

Deadpool is a Marvel Comics anti-hero, although he is sometimes portrayed as a villain. Created by artist Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza, Deadpool first appeared in The New Mutants #98 (February 1991).

Nicknamed the "merc with a mouth", Deadpool is a high-tech mercenary known for his wisecracks and black humor. Like the X-Men's Wolverine, Deadpool is the product of the paramilitary Weapon X program. After Weapon X tries to cure his terminal cancer by implementing a regenerative "healing factor", Deadpool is left disfigured and mentally unstable.

Deadpool was originally an adversary of The New Mutants and later X-Force, despite his infatuation with X-Force member Siryn. Deadpool received his own series in 1997, which was known for its slapstick tone and willingness to break the fourth wall. It was renamed Agent X in 2002 and cancelled in 2003. Currently, Deadpool is paired with another X-Force character in Cable & Deadpool.

It has been noted that Deadpool shares many similarities with the DC Comics villain Deathstroke particularly in regards to the characters' real names (Deathstroke's being Slade Wilson while Deadpool's is Wade Wilson). However, since Deadpool's introduction, Deadpool and Deathstroke have developed in vastly different directions. The 2006 Superman/Batman annual introduced Deathstroke's counterpart from the anti-matter universe, who is similar to Deadpool.

Publication history

Deadpool originally appeared in the pages of the New Mutants and later X-Force. The character became quite popular, and eventually received a limited series (The Circle Chase) in 1993, written by Fabian Nicieza with art by Joe Madureira. It was a relative success, and a second limited series (Sins of the Past) was created in 1994 by Mark Waid and Ian Churchill. At this point he began making guest appearances across the Marvel Universe in titles such as Wolverine, Nomad, Silver Sable, and Heroes For Hire.

File:Deadpool11.jpg

The cover of the Harvey Award-nominated Deadpool #11, by Pete Woods.

The Deadpool series often homaged "classic" comic covers, as here with the homage to the first appearance of Spider-Man.

In 1997, Deadpool was given his own ongoing title, initially written by Joe Kelly, with then newcomer Ed McGuinness as the artist. It firmly establishes his nickname "the Merc with a Mouth," and creates a supporting cast including Blind Al and his best friend, Weasel. Deadpool became a high-octane, lowbrow comedy parody of the cosmic drama, anti-hero-heavy comics of the time. The ongoing series gained cult popularity for its unorthodox main character and its balance of angst and pop culture slapstick.

Deadpool lasted until issue #69, at which point it was relaunched as a new title by Gail Simone with a similar character called Agent X in 2002. Thus, Deadpool became Agent X, Cable became Soldier X and X-Force became X-Statix. The title character of Agent X was eventually revealed to not really be Deadpool, and the climax of that series saw the original character restored.

Deadpool's next appearance came in 2004 with the launch of Cable & Deadpool written by Fabian Nicieza. This title is still ongoing.

Breaking the fourth wall

Deadpool is one of few Marvel comic book characters, another being She-Hulk, that have broken the "fourth wall" and called attention to his nature as a comic book character. In fact, early on in the series, some ads for the book came with the tag-line "Deadpool: Breaking down the fourth wall, brick by brick!"

File:DeadpoolYellowBoxes.jpg

Deadpool, unlike most characters, is aware that he's in a comic book.

At the end of Agent X #15, upon coming back from the dead, he wonders if he "still thinks in those little yellow boxes". In the current Cable & Deadpool ongoing series, Deadpool occasionally narrates previous events for the reader, on one occasion mentioning that the book's editor told him that the current reader is the only person who has actually bought the book. The character also makes frequent in-jokes about the comic book industry. After the events that took place in Agent X, Deadpool was thought to be cured of his knowledge of the fourth wall, but in Cable & Deadpool #23 while summarizing the previous issue, he makes blatant mention of the recap page. He then says "Hmm, I thought I was cured of that 'fourth wall' thing..." And, in Deadpool #4, when Deadpool is informed that he will have to fight the Hulk in order to obtain his DNA, he protests, and begins to sing the theme song from the 60's Hulk cartoon: "I'm scared! This is the INCREDIBLE HULK here! ♫Doc Bruce Banner, pelted by Gamma Rays, turned into the Hulk-- -- Ain't he unglamourus?!?♪ The FREAKIN' HULK!". Also, recapping the events of the ongoing Marvel Civil War in Cable & Deadpool #31, he says, "And the Boy Scout branch made a big show of cooperating, by having Spider-Man reveal his identity on national TV... as if we hadn't seen the movies already and didn't know it was dreamy doe-eyed Tobey Maguire under the mask!" In Cable & Deadpool #30, while fighting the Great Lakes Avengers, Deadpool wonders how they know what he is saying in his little yellow thought boxes. They reveal that he's actually been saying everything out loud. Deadpool then ponders how this is happening, as he was fairly certain he was thinking in the first person narrative. This continues throughout the rest of the issue. The "faulty first person narrative" is also referenced in Cable & Deadpool #31. Currently, he can be found making brief statements explicitly refering to existing in comic book panels. For example, in issue # 36, he makes the statement to the reader after knocking out Taskmaster that "that was probably cheap, even by my standards, probably, but now we can just move on to this..." and jumps to the next panel. Additionally, Deadpool answers his own letter column. Interestingly, although Deadpool frequently makes remarks to other Marvel Universe characters that reference their presence in a comic book, the other characters never seem to make any attempt to figure out what he's talking about. This is probably because nobody takes anything Deadpool says seriously anyway, due to his insanity (his knowledge of the fourth wall may indeed be a result of his insanity, or, at least, that's how it would be perceived by other characters).

Fictional character biography

Deadpool was formerly a government special operative who had developed terminal cancer. He volunteered for the clandestine Weapon X program, where he was mutagenically altered. This process was supposed to grant him a superhuman regenerative healing factor allegedly based on the DNA of the mutant Wolverine, stopping the progression of his cancer and greatly enhancing his physique. However, the cancer interacted with the mutagenic process in unanticipated ways; the process (initially) failed, disfigured him horribly and made him mentally unstable.

File:NEWMUTANTSDEADPOOL.JPG

Cover of New Mutants (vol. 1) #98, Deadpool's first appearance. Art by Rob Liefeld.

Deadpool was quickly washed out of Weapon X and was sent to the "Workshop", a place for failed experiments, where he was tortured and experimented upon. In the Workshop, a game was played called "the Dead Pool", where inmates bet on which of them would die next. As Deadpool was chosen as a special project by Doctor Killebrew, his odds of dying were very low, making him the leader of the Dead Pool with thousand-to-one odds. Deadpool started to see Death and fell in love with her. He decided to break the Dead Pool by doing anything to get himself killed so he could be with Death. His rebellious behavior inspired the other inmates of the Workshop; he was seen as a threat to the order in the Workshop and Killebrew ordered his death, but it was his execution that finally activated Deadpool's healing factor. Now unable to be with Death at all, Deadpool finally went completely insane. He escaped with many other Weapon X washouts and took the name "Deadpool" for himself. After bumming around, he eventually found his calling as a mercenary. Typically, he worked for villains such as the mysterious Mr. Tolliver. This initially made him an adversary of Cable, Wolverine and the New Mutants (later X-Force). In one of his first few defeats by Cable, he was literally packaged up and sent back to his employer.

Eventually, Deadpool became less of a villain and more of a reluctant hero, though the element of his moral ambiguity always remained. It was later revealed that he had friends, such as Weasel and Blind Al, that he was loyal to and cared about (due to his insanity, he would mistreat them at times, such as stabbing Weasel in the leg over the last Cheesy Poof or confining Blind Al in a room filled with sharp objects). Wade also developed deep friendships with some of the staff at the interdimensional firm known as Landau Luckman & Lake. Particularly, Zoe Culloden. As the character became more developed it became obvious that although he carefully projected the guise of an invincible, merciless, gun-for-hire, he was actually an insecure and severely scarred man, emotionally and physically, who used his sardonic wit to cope with reality and deal with relationships.

The character frequented a hang-out spot for mercenaries called "Hell House" with its own odd cast of characters, had an often comedic rivalry with an undead man named T-Ray, and eventually the inclusion of Deuce the Devil Dog, who originally belonged to Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, best pal and partner of the Marvel superhero Daredevil. Deadpool ran into other mercenaries, such as the Taskmaster and Bullseye during his adventures. It was also at this time that Deadpool's relationship with Siryn was strengthened as she helped him deal with the loss of his full range of healing powers and with his insanity. Siryn's belief in him made Deadpool try to be a better person. It was at this point that Deadpool fought The Hulk and managed to impale him on a street sign. Deadpool also had a brief and disturbing relationship with Typhoid Mary.

File:DeadpoolBullseye.jpg

Deadpool acknowledges his existence in a comic book.

Deadpool has died twice in the past. In the first occurrence, Wade had decided to rejoin the Weapon X program to regain his good looks. However after witnessing his girlfriend, Copycat (Vanessa Carlyle) slaughtered by the program, he was heavily gunned down, while trying to get revenge on his former employers. Luckily, Thanos resurrected him because he was envious that Death was falling in love with Deadpool. In what may be billed as a parody of The Death of Superman, four false Deadpools appeared upon Wade's death, each personifying a different aspect of his personality. The first was an idealistic superhero with traditional ideals reminiscent of Superman's. The second was a Punisher-esque figure crime fighter and mercenary who took pleasure in killing his targets. The third was an absurdist pop culture star along the lines of Tom Green or Bam Margera. The final Deadpool was completely insane, and throughout the arc, spoke only the words "No Pickles." These four, as well as Deadpool's inner child, his feminine side, his inner geek, and what appears to be his inner mob boss were absorbed accidentally into T-Ray, mind-wiping the villain.

In the second occurrence, it appeared that Deadpool was killed in an explosion fighting the aristocratic (and telepathic) villain known as the Black Swan[2]. Swan had infected Deadpool with a virus that would erase his memory in retaliation for several of his successful mercenary hits which had been erroneously attributed to Deadpool. This led to an escalation of events in which Swan murdered a man known as Nijo (who initially had thought Deadpool responsible for his brothers death only to discover that it was Swan who had killed his brother) and a duel with Deadpool. Deadpool and Swan fought, but as result of a miscalculation on Deadpool's part, all parties were seemingly obliterated.

Weeks later, a mysterious figure showed up at the apartment of Deadpool's manager, Sandi Brandenburg. The man took the name Alex Hayden and together they started "Agency X," with Hayden dubbed Agent X after the company. Most believed that Hayden was Deadpool with a case of amnesia. In fact, the truth was more complicated, as shown when the Black Swan showed up with a "tabula rasa" Deadpool in tow (whom Hayden immediately shot in the head). It was revealed that "Hayden" was really Nijo's corpse, which had been revived and given Deadpool's healing factor by Swan's out-of-control mental powers (Swan had also received a copy of the healing factor) and whose mind was created from an amalgam of Deadpool and the Swan. Deadpool's own personality was slowly growing back (unwittingly accelerated by Hayden's bullet to his head).

Deadpool and Agent X, his erstwhile double, with his reluctant current partner Cable in the background. Art by Patrick Zircher.

In an attempt to regain the parts of his mind he had lost, as well as remove the pieces of their minds he wanted rid of ("You and Wilson have my skills, Mr Hayden. In return, I received a taste for Radiohead and an encyclopedic knowledge of pornographic knock-knock jokes. Yes, I'd like to switch back if possible"), including Nijo's sense of honor, Swan proposed a three-way mind meld. Hayden agreed. However the Swan, being an evil cad, attempted to double cross the other two and kill them as soon as the process was complete, but while he concentrated on Hayden, Deadpool immediately stabbed the Swan in the back. Deadpool, Hayden and Hayden's allies Outlaw and Taskmaster eventually defeated and killed the Swan and had him stuffed so that the healing factor couldn't resurrect him (Hayden would later be shown using the corpse as a surfboard). Shortly after, Deadpool became one of the villains to find the Identity Disc.

Deadpool is currently partnered with his former enemy, Cable. Recently, Deadpool and Cable were involved with a terrorist plot aimed at unleashing the shape-shifting "Façade Virus" upon the world. After both were infected with the virus, it was necessary to merge their DNA structure, so now Cable has some of Deadpool's DNA and vice versa. This means that whenever Cable uses his teleporter to "bodyslide", both he and Deadpool teleport together -- sometimes literally (a "bodyslide by one" results in them being badly integrated into a single body, forcing a messy separation, which, thanks to the DNA share with Wade, Cable is also able to recover from). As a result of the Façade in his system, Deadpool's face was temporarily cured of the hideous scarring. Once Cable shut down all infections of the virus worldwide however, Deadpool was returned to his usual self.

The X-Men, including Cable's father Cyclops, then hired Deadpool to put together the pieces of a mini-teleporter that they could use to stop Cable, who had achieved the peak of his powers and was causing worldwide political ructions in attempting to unite the world's populace, without quite knowing what it was.

After Cable then delivered a stark message to the world's leaders - deliberately setting them all against him by threatening to throw all their missiles into the sun - Deadpool and the X-Men mounted an attack on Providence, whereupon Deadpool promptly turned on the X-Men, shooting Wolverine and Bishop to prevent them attacking Cable. Cable then confessed to Deadpool that he'd wanted him to kill him, to show the governments that they could achieve something by working together. Cable was then attacked by the Silver Surfer and burnt out his powers in the ensuing battle, and Deadpool saved his life by removing the telepathic and telekinetic parts of his brain with the mini-teleporter, and then recovering non-viral techno-organic matter to replace the damage it had caused to Cable's body. The aftermath of this, however, left Deadpool unemployable - whereupon Cable began to covertly hire him to run missions for him, without revealing that he was the one doing so.

Shortly afterward, Deadpool would rescue Cable again, teleporting through several alternate worlds to retrieve him, and Cable returned the favor by repairing Deadpool's brain damage before his powers burnt out once more, though his personality remained unchanged.

Deadpool commonly develops obsessions with words and people, repeatedly mentioning the words duct tape, duodenum and chimichanga, the phrase "Sphincter says what?", and is frequently preoccupied by thoughts of Bea Arthur, Ernest Borgnine, and the Olsen Twins.

In the Widdle Wade special, Deadpool was revealed to have once been a sumo-wrestler, though this may merely be a dig at Wolverine's memories of his past life, at that time heavily Ninja-and-Japanese-culture-themed. He also has been made a member of the X-Men on at least two separate occasions (once in Cable & Deadpool, and once in a current alternate world version of Weapon X). Despite this, Deadpool is not a mutant, a fact that others (especially Cyclops and other members of the X-Men) have pointed out numerous times (this has not stopped non-mutants from joining the team; Mimic was not a mutant, for example).

In a recent issue of Cable & Deadpool, Deadpool sabotaged a portion of Cable's island paradise in an attempt by the United States Government to discredit him. Deadpool then maneuvers Cable into position, until they come face to face with the Six Pack, who are sabotaging the infrastructure of Rumekistan. Suddenly, Deadpool is introduced as the newest member of the Six Pack, and is depicted shooting Cable in the back of the head. Cable does, however, wake up a while later, confronting Deadpool and forgiving him for his actions, saying it was all a part of his "Plan." Deadpool is stripped of his equipment, and Cable, using his powers, throws Deadpool from Rumekistan (where the action was all taking place up to this point) and is told to never return. Deadpool is displeased with this turn of events. Cable then proceeds with connecting his mind to the infonet in such a way that he begins seeing all the people he has killed and brief becomes crazier than normal (Deadpool's own words are along the lines of "this isn't my average looney tunes kind of crazy, this is extra crispy handfuls of viagra kind of crazy"). This causes him to explore the morality of what he does, although he hates it with a passion. He finally convinces himself that the only solution is to take out Taskmaster and regain respect. He defeats Taskmaster relatively easily, only to find that the "malevolent" employers won't hire him because he is irresponsible. He then thanks Taskmaster for letting him win, and is surprised to find out that Taskmaster didn't let him at all - he won on his own. He later decides that the only solution is to become a superhero.

Powers and equipment

Deadpool has been artificially endowed with a superhuman regenerative healing factor by the Weapon X program. As Deadpool had cancer at the time of the gene therapy which endowed him with these abilities, it bound to the "healing factor" so that in a sense, the cancer is his healing factor, which is why his skin is still horribly scarred. This causes his brain cells to be in a constant state of flux and regeneration, rendering him immune to psychics such as Professor X and Emma Frost. A less welcome side effect comes in the form of apparent insanity. However this constant flux is not what causes him to have his witty banter and ADD-type personality; "that's just the way I am, bitch!", as Deadpool once put it. The healing factor enables him to regenerate damaged or destroyed tissue with much greater speed and efficiency than an ordinary human. He can regenerate whole organs and even severed limbs. In at least one instance, Deadpool, after breaking nearly every bone in his body, had himself strapped to a rack so his bones set properly. It is unknown if this was necessary for his healing factor to work or simply accelerated his healing. As a byproduct of his unique physiology, he possesses a degree of enhanced strength, stamina, agility and reflexes.

Deadpool was cursed for a short time by Loki, who had claimed to be his father; the curse made him look like Tom Cruise, rendered his face totally invulnerable, and his life to "fall to ruin." The curse was only to be removed when Deadpool reconciled with his father, who he met in a bar without ever realizing who it was (many believe this man to be Loki in disguise). This seems to contradict an issue of Cable & Deadpool when a conversation between Cable and Deadpool about their pasts and parents, Deadpool's father is shown dying when he was a teenager, however when questioned on the truth of the story by Cable, Deadpool responds, "I'll tell you the truth when you tell me."

Aside from his physical advantages, Deadpool is a superb assassin and mercenary. He is a master of multiple forms of armed and unarmed combat. He favors bladed weapons as his primary means of dispatching his enemies as he feels it is more honorable to meet opponents in single combat, but if he is having a bad day or in a hurry he will just shoot them. He typically carries a small arsenal of both experimental hi-tech and conventional firearms and bladed weapons. Deadpool has excellent, believed by many to be perfect, aim (though not with any given object, like Bullseye), which was temporarily destroyed by the Black Swan. He owns a personal teleportation device, usually located on his belt. This device, created by Weasel, is used to teleport him out of, and occasionally into, trouble and has been prone to numerous malfunctions over the years. He now shares Cable's "bodyslide" transporting technology, with the limitation that both Cable and Deadpool teleport at the same time. Early in his original ongoing comic, he also possessed an image inducer built by Weasel, which allowed him to manifest holographic disguises in order to go undercover, conceal his bizarre appearance or just plain goof off (on one notable occasion, while trapped several years in the past, he used the image inducer to masquerade as Spider-Man's alter-ego, Peter Parker.)

Deadpool has actually met and established a relationship with the personification of Death in the Marvel universe and as a result has been cursed by T-Ray, at the behest of Thanos, to be unable to die. This is a plot point that may or may not be advocated by some writers. However, Deadpool himself needed to seek outside assistance about the right method to kill himself, so Deadpool's status as immortal is unclear at this time.

Deadpool's speech and thought balloons and captions are usually colored yellow, to represent his distinctive voice (although nobody knows exactly what is distinctive about his voice, only that it sounds different). Cable has described his voice as having a "gravelly, Demi Moore" quality. Blind Al has also stated that Deadpool's voice sounds like a distinct mixture of "gasoline and gravel." In his earliest appearances, his speech balloons were normal balloons with red borders (soon changed to yellow borders); in later appearances, the interior would be colored yellow and the text would be written in a slightly mangled font. In his recent appearances in Marvel video games, Deadpool has a rather high-pitched, spaced-out voice (like he is drunk) speaking in a fast cadence and spouting nonsensical sentiments, maintaining his aforementioned "cerebral flux", but lacked any sort of gravelly or raspy quality to it.

A master martial artist, he is known to have beaten Wolverine on at least one occasion, though Wolverine did not have his healing factor at the time. He is also shown to have defeated Taskmaster with both his hands and feet manacled, and Taskmaster admitting to him openly that Deadpool was an excellent and quite possibly better combatant. The X-Man Gambit has such respect for Deadpool's fighting abilities that he once paid him off rather than risk battling him, admitting that fighting Deadpool is tantamount to suicide. However, despite his amazing fighting ability, he was still beaten, by Squirrel Girl in an attempt to apprehend the Great Lakes Champions; though Squirrel Girl has shown an uncanny ability to defeat foes out of her league, including Thanos and Doctor Doom (the former confirmed by Uatu the Watcher to be the real one).

Other versions

Age of Apocalypse

Deadpool's counterpart in the alternate reality Age of Apocalypse is Dead Man Wade, one of the Pale Riders, Apocalypse's covert strike team. In keeping with the dark tone of the setting, this version seems to have no knowledge of his existence as a comic book character.

His abilities are similar to Deadpool's, with a healing factor acquired through Apocalypse's eugenics program. However, whereas the Earth-616 Deadpool is psychotically fun-loving, Dead Man Wade is confused, depressed and disturbed. Wade mentions that his body is constantly rotting, not just healing.

Apocalypse sends Wade and the other Pale Riders to destroy the sanctuary known as Avalon. Once there, however, Damask betrays the team. In the battle that follows, Nightcrawler kills Wade, decapitating him by teleporting his head away.

Exiles

See also: Exiles (Marvel Comics)

The Exiles are a group of superhumans (originally mutants) from different realities recruited by the Timebroker to repair broken timelines. The Timebroker also recruited a second team, who called themselves Weapon X, created to deal with morally ambiguous missions, in which the timelines required assassinations and massacres in order to be corrected. An alternate version of Deadpool was a founding member of the team. Personality and power wise, this version of Deadpool does not differ significantly from the Deadpool of 616. This version of Deadpool was thought to be dead after Sabertooth broke his neck in a reality that was controlled by Sentinels. It was later revealed that any incapacitated members of “Weapon X” and the “Exiles” had been kept in stasis. Deadpool was one such member. Deadpool was revived by an alternate version of Dr. Strange who was attempting to research a cure for Mimic who was frozen in stasis due to injuries received fighting King Hyperion. After being revived, Deadpool instantly murdered Strange by snapping his neck. Deadpool took over the Exiles' base, unfreezing the Hulk (Jennifer Walters), using her as a potential ally. However, he was later defeated by Mimic, who had been revived earlier. Mimic had absorbed Deadpool's healing factor. After the battle, Hulk judged Deadpool guilty of various murders she had witnessed him committing. She then smashed him into pulp. This version of Deadpool is presumed dead.

Ultimate Deadpool

File:Ultimatedeadpool.jpg

Promotional art for Ultimate Spider-Man #93 featuring Ultimate Deadpool. Art by Mark Bagley.

Deadpool first appeared in the Ultimate Marvel continuity along with the Reavers in Ultimate Spider-Man #91, where they assaulted the X-Men's Mansion during a visit from Peter Parker. He and his team used disguising technology to impersonate the X-Men and surprise them one by one with mutant-gene-targeting stun guns. Deadpool was only truly seen in the last panel of the book, which confirmed the removal of his yellow-worded speech bubbles and a change of his costume from his standard marvel "616" counterpart. His outfit is predominantly black and red.

Ultimate Deadpool appears to be a human supremacist working with the Genoshan government to hunt down mutants on live television as sport. According to the network, he was a sergeant named Wadey Wilson and after surviving death-defying action in the Wakanda Wars in the early nineties, took the name Deadpool.

Likely as an ode to fans, in issue #93 of Ultimate Spider-Man, his subtitles on television while he appears talking are uniquely yellow. He breaks the fourth wall only to television audiences.

At the end of issue #93, it appeared that Ultimate Deadpool was actually Professor X, but this was quickly proved in the next issue to be a holographic ruse. Deadpool's true face was seen as having no skin and portions of his skull missing, covered by a clear plastic helmet that made his face appear human-shaped when masked. Kitty Pryde phased through him, seemingly causing his cybernetic enhancements to explode and kill him, but by the end of the story arc, someone resembling him, with a grip on his mask, was revealed to have survived.

While Ultimate Deadpool shares very few similarities with his mainstream counterpart, his backstory has much in common with Donald Pierce, who in the mainstream comics was a mutant-hating cyborg who led the Reavers.

Superman/Batman

In 2006's Superman/Batman Annual, Deathstroke's counterpart from an antimatter universe greatly resembled Deadpool, most prominently in mannerisms and the eye spot on his mask (among other qualities).

Although he is never explicitly identified by name (in fact, he tries three times before being shot, stabbed, and having his neck broken), he manages to yell out "Deaaaaaa--!" (as in "Dead—") when he is thrown off the boat by Batman.

In the antimatter universe, events in history are "backward" in respect to mainstream DC Comics history. In Deathstroke's example, he was abused by his father and followed in his methods of brutality, while Anti-Deathstroke was abused by his mother and chose to be "not so P.M.S.". In contrast to Deathstroke being a grim mercenary, the Anti-Deathstroke was sarcastic, and an apparent hero-for-hire. During the course of the issue, Anti-Deathstroke is shown to possess nigh-immortality, as he incurs what appears to be fatal damage multiple times without slowing down.

However, the story of the annual (an apparent retcon of Superman #76 from 1952) is told by Mister Mxyzptlk (who is dead, as of Superman #646) to a bizarro Jeph Loeb, so its believability is lax.

The writer and penciller of this issue were Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness, respectively. The two also composed the same creative team that launched the Deadpool solo series in 1997. (See publication history above.)

Appearances in other media

Video games

Deadpool has appeared in at least two video games based on Marvel comics. In both, he was voiced by John Kassir.

In X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, he appears as a boss character (brainwashed by Mister Sinister) and is also unlockable as a playable character.

Deadpool is a playable character in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.

Television

• In the X-Men Animated Series, Morph briefly transforms into Deadpool. Deadpool's face is also seen in a flashback while Professor Xavier is probing the mind of Sabretooth. In season 3 during the mini-series Phoenix Sage an evil psychic projection of Xavier also created an illusion of Deadpool while tormenting Wolverine.

Merchandise

Bowen Designs has produced 2 Deadpool Mini-Busts (one with a changeable, unmasked head) and a Deadpool Statue. Over the years Deadpool has also had a Toybiz X-Force action figure, a second figure with a removable mask from the revisited X-Force line, a 12-inch Toybiz figure and another figure in Marvel Legends Series 6. A review with pictures of this figure can be found here. He has also appeared in the Upper Deck Vs. CCG and Wizkids' Heroclix Collectible Miniature Game.

External inks

• Deadpool Biography from Marvel
• MarvelDatabase:Deadpool
• MarvelDatabase:Character Gallery Deadpool
• Yahoo! Groups Deadpool